No. 5 seed Paola built an early lead and held on to upset top-seeded Fort Scott, 8-5, Monday to advance to the championship game of the Kansas 4A Division I playoffs.
Paola built a 6-1 lead in the first two innings and got out of several jams throughout the day. Costly errors were the downfall for Fort Scott, especially in the second inning when a pair of Tigers errors helped Paola score five runs and knock starting pitcher Ryan Pickert from the game.
Fort Scott did respond in the third inning with two runs courtesy of a two-out single from Zach Denton. The Tigers
pulled to within 6-4 in the fourth off a single and a Panthers error.
However, errors by Fort Scott in the fifth and sixth innings led to two more runs for the Panthers, who took an 8-4 lead into the bottom of the sixth.
Fort Scott made some noise in its final two at-bats, loading the bases with one out in the sixth and prompting Paola to bring in Seth Slayman to finish the game on the mound.
Slayman proceeded to cause a ground out and fly out to end the inning. The bottom of the seventh wasn’t a cake walk either as Slayman walked the first two batters and hit another one, but Paola would eventually record the final out and advance to the state championship game.
