The Benton Panthers were down big, came back to take the lead, but couldn’t hold on in the end of a 9-7 loss to the Conway Wampus Cats in the semifinals of the Central Arkansas Invitational Tuesday at Panthers Field in Benton.
The Panthers held a 7-6 lead going into the top of the seventh, but the Wampus Cats picked up four hits on senior Drew Dyer to take the 9-7 lead the Panthers couldn’t overcome.
“The game we tied against Catholic we had the lead going into the last inning and we didn’t shut the door,” Benton Coach Mark Balisterri said. “(Tuesday) we thought we were in a really good position with Dyer only throwing 30 pitches (Monday). He got squeezed a little bit and caused him to have to throw right down the middle. To their credit, when we did it, they hit it.”