Big innings seemed to be a theme throughout the quarterfinal round of the Kansas Class 4A Division I State baseball tournament and Paola joined in on the party as well.
The Panthers put together two big innings to defeat Hayden, 8-4, and advance to the 4A Division I semifinals. Paola sent seven batters to the plate in the top of the third inning, scoring three runs off RBI singles by Stephen Locke and Ben Rodriguez.
Not to be outdone, Hayden sent six batters to the plate in the bottom of the third, hitting three singles and scoring two runs. Hayden then took the lead with two runs in the sixth inning to go ahead 4-3 only to have Paola tie the game in the seventh inning on a two-out single to center fielder by senior Seth Slayman.
Paola came up huge in the ninth, scoring four runs in the top of the inning. Senior pitcher Trey Taylor pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth to close out the win. Paola will play the winner of De Soto vs. Tonganoxie in the semifinals on Friday at 1:30 pm.
