Odessa, TX – The much anticipated clash between Permian and Midland Lee fell far below the mark, or at least for the Rebels, on Tuesday afternoon at McCanlies Field. The Panthers roared to a 13-3 five inning run-rule victory to take over the top spot in District 2-6A.
This afternoon’s contest opened the first of a three-game series scheduled between the two teams. Most likely, the series will also determine the first and second place finishers as the district games enter the back stretch of the 2021 slate. Frenship (8-3, 14-11) remains in the hunt in third.
Lee (9-2, 18-5) opened the game putting two runners on base. A double-play off of a foul ball to right field squelched the potential threat. Permian (12-2, 22-6) immediately went to work and set the tempo in the bottom half of the inning. Aleck Villa started things off with a single to centerfield. After a Rebel fielding error, Caleb Boswell drew a walk to load the bases for the Panthers.
Mojo would plate its first two runs courtesy of another base on balls and hit batter. Ashton Coats and Cade Tschauner contributed back-to-back RBI singles for a 4-0 lead. Sebastian Bravo’s sacrifice fly to left field gave Permian a five run lead. A total of 11 batters would see action for the hosting Black Cats in the inning.
The Rebels would mount another assault in the second frame by loading up the bases, but were again turned away with no runs to show for it. Midland Lee fared much better defensively in Mojo’s next at-bat, striking out two and forcing a flyout to left field to close the scoreless inning.
Lee stranded another pair of runners in the third. Permian added four more runs in their next turn at-bat to take full control of the game. Coats led off with a walk, Tschauner got aboard on an error, and a base hit by Bravo would load the bases. From there, a walk and wild pitch would green light two more runs. A sacrifice fly by Xavier Melendez and Boswell’s RBI single pushed the Mojo lead to 9-0.
Lee broke its silence in the fourth inning. Finding themselves in a deep hole, the Rebels found something to get excited about when a two-run homer made it over the left field fence. It was followed with an RBI double to cut the deficit to 9-3. Permian would match that output, scoring three runs of its own. Bravo accounted for all three, adding a two-run RBI and then scoring on a passed ball to up the tally to 12-3.
Midland Lee sent four batters to the plate in the top of the fifth, leaving the door open for Permian to collect the 13-3 run-rule victory in the bottom of the inning. Melendez had led off with a single. Gus McKay joined him courtesy of a walk. Cooper Golden was hit by a pitch to once again load the bases for the Panthers. Adding insult to defeat, the final run scored was caused when Tschauner drew the base on balls to push the runner in from third.
Bravo went 2-for-3 at the plate with three RBI and two runs for Permian. Coats was 1-for-1 with two walks and a run. He also gave four innings on the mound, striking out three. Golden took over in the fifth to strike out one and walk one.
| ON THE SCOREBOARD | |||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | ||
| Mid Lee |
0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | x | x | 3 | 5 | 3 | |
| Permian | 5 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | x | x | 13 | 9 | 1 | |
| WP – A Coats | LP – H Weidner |
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Permian takes over the top spot in 2-6A with a rematch coming on Friday 6:00 p.m. at Ernie Johnson Field in Midland. The pair will close out the three-game set on Saturday afternoon back here at McCanlies Field.