Panthers claim Division 6 championship

The Maxwell High School softball team made history Saturday, becoming the first team in school history to win a Northern Section softball championship.

|The Panthers upended No. 2 seed Champion Christian 5-3 in the championship game, just two days after upsetting the No. 1 seed Hayfork 6-0 in the semifinals. Maxwell played both games on the road, but came home with the section crown.

The Panthers, who finished third in the North Valley League behind league champion Hayfork and second-place Champion, overcame a 3-1 deficit against the Mustangs with three runs in the fourth inning.

Kylie Word opened the inning be reaching on an error. She scored on Laura Wells’ double. Christina English then blasted a home run to put Maxwell ahead 4-3.

Wells added an insurance run in the sixth inning when she reached base on a bunt single, stole her way to third base and scored on Katrina LaGrande’s basehit.

While the Panthers were racking up the runs in the late innings, starting pitcher Molly Dennis was keeping the Mustangs off the basepaths. After giving up a run in the first inning and two more in the third, she threw four scoreless innings to pick up the win. Dennis also gained the shutout win over Hayfork in the semifinals.

English had a big day at the plate for the Panthers as she went 2-for-3 with a home run and a triple. She hit a three-bagger in the third inning and scored on Lucinda Wells’ double. Laura Wells also went 2-for-3 while Dennis added a triple.

The Panthers defeated the Timberjacks just two weeks after being swept by Hayfork in a doubleheader that determined the North Valley League championship. The two wins allowed Hayfork to win the league title and dropped Maxwell into third place.

On Thursday, the Panthers broke the scoreless deadlock in the third with three runs and then added two in the fourth and one in the fifth.

Dennis and Jennifer Azevedo both doubled in the third inning to score the runs. Azevedo’s two-bagger brought home Lucinda Wells, who had bunted her way aboard, while Dennis knocked in Azevedo and Jodi Perry, who was aboard after being hit by a pitch.

In the fourth, Laura Wells and Word both reached base on an error and LaGrande batted them in with a double.

Laura Wells scored the final run when she walked and came home on a Word basehit.

Dennis was 2-for-4 with two RBI in the win while going seven innings in the circle and giving up no runs on five hits with four strikeouts.
The Panthers end the season with a record of 17-8.