The Lady Panthers opened regional play with a 5-0 win over host Murphysboro Tuesday. The game was scoreless until the sixth inning when Maddy Keith and Kortney Crawford hit back-to-back singles. Mo Ramsey followed with a walk to load the bases. Emily Miller broke the scoreless tie with a double off the left center field fence driving home Keith and Crawford. (click on the image to view the photo gallery)
Dani Jenkel then hit an icing-on-the-cake homer to complete Panther scoring. Sara Malanowski shutdown the Redbirds in the final frame to record her 17th victory. The Panthers are 34-1 and take a 19-game winning streak into the regional championship at 11 a..m. Saturday. They face the winner of Wednesday's A-J-Sparta game.