Photo by Chris Drummond: Tracy-Milroy-Balaton pitcher Kamryn Peterson throws from the circle during the Panthers’ 14-4 home win over Murray County Central Friday afternoon.

TRACY — The Tracy-Milroy-Balaton Panthers softball team handed the Murray County Central Rebels their second straight loss, winning 14-4 in five innings on Friday evening. This was both teams’ regular season finale as they will face one another in the first round of Section 3A playoffs starting next Tuesday in Edgerton.

The Rebels struck in the first and held a 2-1 lead over the Panthers in the first two innings. In the second inning, a wild pitch was thrown by Taylor Larson and TMB tied up the score at two-all. Then Emma Edwards would untie the score, ripping a rise ball pitch to left field, scoring two and grabbing the lead for the Panthers, 4-2, at the end of three innings.

The Rebels responded with a sacrifice fly to trim the lead to one but, in the ensuing inning, four Rebel errors allowed the Panthers to score two more runs and push the lead to 6-3. Edwards came up to bat again and hit an infield single but the Rebels committed another error and allowed Hailey Gernentz to score. Edwards also scored later, making it an 8-3 game. Piper Freeburg hit an RBI single and Kamryn Peterson smoke a pitch to the fence in deep left-center field and drove in two more runs, giving TMB an 11-3 lead. Gernentz ripped a single to center field and scored two more. MCC committed seven errors and that was the difference in the ballgame.

Morgan Winter had a game-high three hits for the Rebels and drove an RBI in. Her teammate, Emmi Peltola, had a two-run double in the loss.

“We just left a lot of girls on base and we didn’t adjust to the speed of the pitches,” MCC head coach Elissa Wieneke said. “We do have some injuries right now and hopefully we can all be healthy by Tuesday so we can use a different approach than we did today. If they’re not back, then this is the team we have to roll with. We got to continue to battle, not dwell on this and move on. We have to make our adjustments and I know it will be completely different on Tuesday.”

The Rebels struggled getting their third out and the Panthers scored 10 runs in the bottom of the 4th inning, leading 14-3 heading into the 5th. MCC played today’s game without two key players in Mary Lou McNab and Thea Schneider. Coach Wieneke is hopeful both will return by start of playoffs Tuesday.

Kamryn Peterson pitched a complete game for the Panthers and had a base hit that went all the way to the fence. She drove in two RBIs and struck out six batters on the mound.

“I wasn’t doing too hot in the beginning with my pitching,” Peterson said.” I started to slow down and was a little bit better. I didn’t expect to hit the ball like that at all but it felt really good. It was great to see us put up a big inning and it took a lot of pressure off me to pitch knowing I had a big lead in front. Getting ready for playoffs, we’re going to focus on the baserunning and tune things up in practice on Monday.”

Edwards finished with three hits and drove in three RBIs. Gernentz also had two hits and drove in two RBIs. Grace Dolan scored a game-high three runs.

“It seems like hitting goes in cycles,” TMB head coach Karl Campbell said. “When one hits the ball, it seems like everyone believes they can. The reality of it is we go as Peterson goes for our team. She started slow but settled down and threw strikes. She is also so fast on those base paths and she is just a fantastic ballplayer. Edwards has been hitting the ball great lately. She has great hand-eye coordination and she is starting to find her power. Gernentz may have the best batting average on the team. She is just so calm and cool. Nothing really bothers her in those pressurized moments and that’s just fantastic.”

The No. 4 MCC Rebels and No. 5 TMB Panthers will face off in the first round of the subsection South 3A playoffs on Edgerton on Tuesday at 4 p.m.