The high school baseball season continued Monday night with Royal Valley hosting Holton in a Big 7 League doubleheader and in the opening game of the night on 103.9 KNZA the Panthers outlasted the Cats for a 3-1 victory.

The Panthers opened the game with a run in the bottom of the first inning after Kenny Bell was hit by a pitch to begin the game, Brady Klotz reached on an error, Jace Wege in a double and Cole Dressman picked up an RBI on a groundout for a 1-0 lead.

From there it was a pitcher dual as Royal Valley’s Preston Golden went five innings and allowed no runs on just two hits along with 10 strikeouts, while Holton’s Blake Mulroy settled in after the first and allowed just one hit in his next four innings of work while striking out eight.

That 1-0 Royal Valley lead held until the sixth inning when Holton made a switch on the mound and the Panthers took advantage as Klotz and Wege got the inning started with back-to-back doubles before a Holton error allowed a second run to score giving the Panthers a 3-0 lead.

Holton got one run back in the top of the seventh on an RBI groundout from Logan Dieckman, but Royal Valley’s Cole Dressman closed things out the rest of the way.  

In the win the Panthers got a pair of doubles from Jace Wege including an RBI and a run scored, while Klotz was on base twice and scored two runs.

Holton only mustered two hits in the game which included one each from Andrew Williams and Corbin Jamison.

In game two it was all Holton from the start as the Cats bounced back for a 15-3 victory.

The Cats scored three runs in the first, three more in the third, four in the fourth and five in the fifth to run away with the split.

Blake Mulroy finished 3-for-3 with four runs scored in the win for the Cats while Matthew Lierz added two hits and two RBI while Royal Valley committed seven errors on defense.

The Panthers only offense came from Preston Golden who had two RBI while Kendon Wege added an RBI.