Mineola’s aggressive base-running combined with 14 free passes courtesy of the Alba-Golden pitching resulted in a lopsided 17-6 Yellowjacket win April 12. In a lengthy game, where every at bat seemed to go to a full count, the Yellowjackets brought a disciplined mindset and hot bats. Mineola recorded 12 base hits on the night.

The Yellowjackets capitalized on four free passes in the first to take a 2-0 lead. Mineola catcher Jacob Dabbs gunned down a Panther stealing second in the bottom half.

Both sides went down in order in the second. Panther hitter Dalton Hendrix and Yellowjacket pitcher Cole Castleberry had quite a duel in the second. Hendrix fouled off numerous pitches before flying out to center field.

Mineola bats warmed up in the third. Five base hits in the inning and two Alba-Golden errors resulted in four Mineola runs. River Simonek picked up an RBI on a ball which dropped in short right-center between three Panther fielders. Cole Castleberry belted a run-scoring triple, and Conner Dobbs followed with a RBI double down the right field line.

The Panthers rallied in the bottom half. Two walks and two base hits, a triple by Kason Trimble and a single by Tom Mitchell resulted in three Alba-Golden runs. Trimble’s triple was a well-hit ball to right centerfield, and Mitchell’s RBI single was a hard liner which deflected off of Yellowjacket shortstop Dalton Rogers’ glove.

Mineola added two runs in the fourth on consecutive doubles by Simonek and Castleberry.

In the fifth the Yellowjacket scored twice taking advantage of two free passes, an error and a run-scoring Simonek single up the middle.

A single run in the sixth made the score 11-3 going into the seventh.

The seventh was an ugly inning for both sides. Defensively, the two teams lost their focus. Alba-Golden committed three errors and yielded six runs. Mineola loaded the bases for Alba-Golden and walked in three runs.