Photo Credit - Reedsville Athletic Association
Despite falling in the Division 4 State Semifinals, the Reedsville Panthers baseball team is proud of what they accomplished this season.
The Panthers fell in a 2-1, 11-inning thriller yesterday (June 16th) to the Potosi/Cassville Chieftains and finished their season with a 19-6 record.
Head Coach Luke Ubersox tells SeehaferNews.com he takes great pride in coaching this group of young men.
“The biggest thing is, on the field and off the field, they’re just really fine kids,” Ubersox stated.
While Coach Ubersox gave praise to the whole team, he made sure to let us know why this group of seniors was able to accomplish what they did.
“Leading by example, doing the right thing, showing it,” Coach Ubersox told us. “We have vocal leaders. We have guys that lead by example. But out of the six, leading by example is what they all do as a group the best.”
One of those seniors is Ben Prochnow, who scored the Panthers’ lone run in the losing effort.
After his final game in the Reedsville orange and black, he said that this one stings, but that is not what he will remember most about this historic season.
“I’m going to remember all the jokes and laughs we had through all my time in baseball. Like when I was our time in practice to work hard, we got after it and got in the drills,” Prochnow said fondly. “But I’m just going to remember each and every one of the guys and what they’ve done for me and just the personality and friendship I have with them. I’m going to take that and cherish it for a while because they’re pretty awesome.”
While this loss is going to hurt for quite a while, for the underclassmen, it will be used as motivation for next year.
Coach Ubersox said, “One of our seniors actually did comment. He said that ‘this hurts.’ He said, ‘give it a day or two.’ He said, ‘but use it. Use it as fuel. You know, get better in the off season.’”
He added, “I’m hungry. I mean, I don’t want to play right this moment, but if we could play tomorrow, I’d play tomorrow.”
This semifinal loss brought an end to a nine-game winning streak for the Panthers, who finished as the most successful Reedsville baseball team of all time.
