Cougars End Season in District Play; Show Growth

Macon, MO — The Highland Cougars’ season comes to an end. They fell to Monroe City Panthers 9-4 in the opening round of district play.

Monroe City would start with the lead in the bottom of the first, 4-0. As they would continue to build on that lead in the second for a 6-0 lead. The Cougars would hold the Panthers scoreless in the third and fourth innings.

Then the Cougars’ offense would gain momentum in the fifth. Kaden Caldwell would get a leadoff walk. Heath Feldkam would hit an RBI double to score Caldwell. Senior Gavin Sayers would hit an RBI single up the middle to turn it 6-2. And a Balk would allow Dawson Hedges to score to make it a 6-3 game. But the Panthers would add another run in the bottom half to make it 7-3.

The Cougars would add one more in the sixth to make it a 7-4 game. Monroe City would secure the win in the bottom half with two extra runs to make it 9-4 and hold off the Cougars to move on.

The Cougars finish the season 3-16 under first-year head coach Clay Street, and assistant coaches Hunter Florea and Maxwell Hays. The Cougars would see significant growth throughout the season, as the last time they faced Monroe City, they fell 13-0. The Cougars will graduate two seniors, Chris Gaus and Gavin Sayres. Congratulations to the two seniors and good luck,

KEY STATS

Highland; 4 R, 5 H, 2 E

Brock Schneider (L); 5.0 IP,  6 H, 7 R, 4 ER, 2 K; (At Bat) 1-3, 1 RBI

Heath Feldkamp; 1-3, 1 RBI, 1 R, 1 2B

Dawson Hedges; 1-3, 1 R, 1 SB

Monroe City; 9 R, 7 H, 2 E

L. Jones (W); 4.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 K; (At Bat) 3-4, 3 R, 1 3B

Z, Johnson; 1-3, 2 RBI

G. Lyons; 1-2, 2 R, 3 SB