Photo by Samantha Davis. Tracy-Milroy-Balaton's Melaina Ankrum throws a pitch against Murray County Central in the Section 3A South subsection quarterfinals Thursday afternoon in Slayton. The Panthers fell to the Rebels 9-4, and finish their season 7-10 overall.

SLAYTON — The No. 7 Tracy-Milroy-Balaton softball team’s season came to an end with a 9-4 loss in the Section 3A South subsection quarterfinals against No. 2 Murray County Central Thursday night in Slayton. The Rebels pulled ahead with a four-run first inning, earning a spot in the subsection semifinals.

“The approach was to play the best game we possibly could play, and have fun doing it,” TMB head coach Karl Campbell said. “I think at times we play pretty tight … We just made too many mistakes at key points and got ourselves way down again … The biggest thing that sticks out to me is we play like a young team.”

The Panthers were down eight runs, 9-1, and went on a late push in the sixth inning with three runs to come within five. But, the Rebels’ efficient pitching and continuous hitting didn’t allow TMB to fully get back within reach.

Thea Schneider pitched the entire game for MCC, while Gretchen Lanoue took to the mound in the first inning for TMB.

Melaina Ankrum relieved Lanoue with one out in the first after the Rebels scored four runs, and pitched the rest of the game.

“The message I just gave the girls[postgame] was that we got to embrace the fact we’ve got a summer season coming up, and there’s opportunities,” Campbell said. “There’s so much situational ball … You have to understand how to deal with those situations based on the number of outs, based on who’s hitting, based on what position you’re playing, based on just so many different things.”

The Panthers were the first to get on the board with a run in the top of the first inning after Ankrum charged home from first base off a defensive error with a Piper Freeburg infield single, which was overthrown to first base by MCC.

Ankrum first got on base with a hard ground ball single to center field.

But, TMB’s lead was short-lived after MCC quickly found its offensive rhythm for four runs in response in its first at-bat.

Kate Blankenship initiated the scoring with a single RBI single to right field to run in both Emmi Peltola and Ava Deacon from second and third base respectively.

Peltola first hit a single line drive to center field, and Deacon was walked.

A Taylor Larson double out to right center field allowed Audrey Miller and Blankenship to score for a 4-1 lead, and Campbell made the pitching change to Ankrum. She struck out the next two batters to end the inning and halt the Rebels.

Miller was courtesy running for Schneider, who was automatically put on base with an intentional walk.

The next two innings were scoreless for the two teams, with MCC and TMB both making strong defensive plays.

With two outs in the bottom of the second, Panthers’ catcher Piper Freeburg threw down to Braelynn Kirk for the tag-out at second of MCC’s Peltola attempting to steal.

While manning the mound in the top of the third, Schneider accounted for a pair of outs after fielding two consecutive hits and throwing the force out at first.

MCC scored two more runs in the fourth inning to build its lead to 6-1.

“There were times during that game we maybe panicked in the moment, and you can’t do that against good teams,” Campbell said. “MCC has a good pitcher, a good team and is well coached. They played pretty spotlessly.”

The Rebels got bases loaded with two outs, Deacon on first, Kat Miller on second and Calleigh Doeden on third, when Schneider was hit by a pitch to advance all runners up a base and give Doeden home.

Kat also got home before TMB completed the final out off a Blankenship infield grounder.

MCC put the dagger on the game in the bottom of the fifth inning with another three runs to extend its lead to 9-1, sparked by Larson being walked and Doeden hitting a single pop fly to short center field.

Kat had the largest hit of the game with a hard line drive triple out to deep center field, to run in both Larson and Doeden.

The Rebels again got bases loaded with Kat on third, Deacon being walked and again intentionally walking Schneider with two outs.

Blankenship was walked to bring in Kat, just before TMB’s Lanoue caught a foul ball at the fence off the first base line to end the inning.

The Panthers’ embarked on their comeback attempt in the top of the sixth with a trio of runs to cut into a 9-4 deficit, ultimately becoming the final score.

Ankrum and Kirk both got on base with infield singles, and Ankrum got home off an Aliyah Loftness hard line drive to deep center field.

Kirk also got on base with a hit to right field, and her and Loftness scored from a Kendra Timmerman single to center field with two outs.

“The last time we played them [MCC], we did not hit the ball well against,” Campbell said. “We were putting the ball in play, and we’ve worked really hard on that this past week in the cage. That was basically our main focus.”

TMB and MCC both gathered three outs between the bottom of the sixth and top of the seventh, not allowing the Panthers’ another chance to get the bats going.

The win moved the Rebels to the subsection semifinals, while the loss ended the Panthers’ season.

The Panthers finish the year 7-10 overall, and graduate seniors Brianna Duscher, Timmerman, Brooklyn Elsen and Katelyn Ruppert.

“They’ve all been very good teammates,” Campbell said of the seniors. “They’ve all been supportive of their younger teammates, and we wish them well.”