~ by Trevor Phipps ~
The Panther boys’ baseball team fought all year long for a spot in the postseason.
Unfortunately, the boys fell short at the close of the 2018 season. The Panthers suffered an end-of-season losing streak by losing their last two league games.
At one point this season the Panthers were doing well with a nearly undefeated league record. They had some ups and downs with non-league play including when they played a tournament in Arizona. They came back after their spring break tournament, and played well, winning some key league games.
However, as the season neared to an end, the team started to struggle. At one point, they were battling in a three-way tie for first place in their league. But to end the season, the Panthers fell to 4-4 tying in fifth place in their league with Mesa Ridge.
Canon City and Elizabeth tied in first place with 6-1 league records. The Classical Academy Titans and Widefield tied in third with 5-2 league records.
The end of the season slump started last Saturday when the Panthers fell to Mesa Ridge during a rescheduled home game by a score of 21-3.
Then during their last home league game, the Panthers started off well at first but then fell to the TCA Titans 7-1.
Despite the fact that they missed the playoffs, the Panther boys do have some reasons to celebrate.
With their overall .500 record of 9-9, they received a rank of 147th in the state and 8,938 in the nation, which isn’t too shabby.
The better news is that possibly two of the Panther baseball players will be on the diamond next year playing college ball!
According to Baseball Coach Neil Levy, the team’s 6’5” pitcher Dempsey Battin will be going on to play baseball in college next year. Coach Levy also mentioned that Camden Russell of the Panthers may also be on the diamond during his freshmen year in college next year.
Woodland Park High School Girls Soccer Records Winning League Record
The Lady Panthers soccer team ended their 2018 season last week on a good note, but it was not quite good enough to make the playoffs.
The girls won their very last game of the season, However, they were stung earlier by losing three games in a row. Even though the Lady Panthers did not make the playoffs this year, they did not finish too badly in their league.
The girls finished the season with a losing 5-8-1 overall record, but they received a 4-3-1 winning record in their league. Their league record was good enough to earn them fourth place in the 4A Colorado Springs Metro league.
The TCA Titans took first place in the league with an 8-0 league record. The Elizabeth Cardinals took second at 7-1, and the Canon City Tigers came in third with a 6-2 league record.
The Lady Panthers played their last two games last week on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Last Tuesday they played the Elizabeth Cardinals on the road and got shut out by a score of 8-0. During their last game on Wednesday, the girls played the Mitchell Marauders at their home field at Meadow Wood Sports Complex. They stomped the Marauders with a score of 8-0.
The girls overall had a decent season with their winning league record, their huge final game triumph, and their fourth place 4A finish. In fact, the Lady Panthers ranked 163rd in the state and 2,893th in the nation.
