Murphy, Texas


Panthers show signs of being winning team

Collins says pitching, defense current areas of strength

By Greg Ford
Sports Editor
gford@wylienews.com

Like a lot of coaches around the Metroplex, Travis Collins could only wait to see if Mother Nature gave his team a chance to play last weekend.

“We want play. We’ve got guys who need to throw. If we can get a couple of games in Saturday, I’ll be happy,” he said Friday afternoon.

The Panthers did just that, losing 3-2 to Cedar Hill and 9-2 to Denton Ryan at the Art Blair Classic in Duncanville.

A few days earlier, they defeated Lake Highlands 3-2 in a March 5game that had more impact on PESH’s postseason aspirations. It was the District 9-5A opener, and the win meant the defending district champs are now 1-0 in 9-5A heading into this week’s game with Plano West, which took place Tuesday. The results were not available until press time.

The Panthers play again Monday, March 17 at home versus Richardson, starting at 7 p.m.

“We played like we’ve been playing,” Collins said. “(We) got a timely hit here and there, got great pitching and played some pretty decent defense. That’s what this team’s about, pitching and defense for the most part right now.”

Collins added, “We think we can (get off to a good start). We’ve just got to limit our mistakes defensively and start driving the ball a little bit better. Hopefully, that will come as we go along.”

Once area of strength is pitching, where PESH can call on the likes of Jeff Emens, Mark Roberson and Derek Bell. Roberson hurled a five-hitter in last week’s win over the Wildcats.

“We’ll be fine on the mound. That hasn't been a problem. We’ve been pretty strong there all year, aside from a couple of outings. We’ve got quite a bit of depth there,” the coach said.

East collected five hits versus Lake Highlands, with Conner Zmolik getting a double.

A strong outing will be needed against Plano West, which Collins expects to be strong again.

“They’ve got a lot of kids back, so we’ll have to play well if we want to win,” he said.

Collins added, “We think we have a good baseball team. We just need to put it all together.”

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