Centralia is familiar with the marathon game this season.

Centralia at Mexico Photo Gallery

The Panthers lost a 6-5 game at Eldon in 10 innings on April 12 and a 13-7 game against Macon on April 15 at home but were on top of an 18-16 eight-inning game at Mexico on Thursday. The game took three and a half hours to play and had Centralia trailing 10-2 after three innings.

Head coach Mike Rodgers said his players are definitely used to playing long games by now, whether they be extra innings or feature plenty of runs. Most importantly, he said Centralia (8-6) is used to coming through late in games based on two early walk-off wins this season, including a 10-9 comeback over Harrisburg.

“It’s so fun to be around kids that don’t quit when things go bad,” Rodgers said. “They refocus, they readjust, they stick together and we use every single guy in the dugout. You climb that hill, climb that hill and climb that hill, and we finally got over the hump tonight.”

Nine pitchers were used in the game, including four on Centralia’s side. Rodgers said the next pitcher the Panthers would have thrown after Luke Waltemate was a freshman who had never pitched before. 

The game didn’t need to go any longer thanks to Centralia scoring 13 of the game’s 20 two-out runs and outscoring Mexico 8-2 in the final three innings. The Panthers took advantage of 15 walks — out of a total 21 in the game — and three hit by pitches thrown by Mexico (11-8).

“They’re 100 percent comfortable being in a two-strike situation,” Rodgers said. “They’re going to make pitchers attack them. Mexico is having a really great season and hit the heck out of the ball, but our guys are just really resilient.”

Rodgers said Centralia had “team at-bats” throughout the game, meaning not a single Panther put himself before the success of the team. This was clear in the five-run innings by the Panthers in the fourth and seventh innings.

The No. 3 hitter Anthony Ford finished 4-for-4 with four RBIs and two doubles but also took three walks, including an intentional walk. Ford reached base every single time he stepped up to the plate. 

“Tougher teams have to come out and win,” Ford said. “That’s what we believe as a team, and that’s what I believe in. We’re mentally tough. After the first inning, we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. That’s only on us, and it’s on us if we want to come back and win this game.”

Ford said Centralia is a tougher team after being in situations like trailing 10-2 to Mexico including being down 9-0 to Macon after two innings at home just two days before Thursday’s game. The Panthers fought back in the next two innings and trailed 9-5 after four innings but couldn’t quite complete that comeback. 

Luke Waltemate had a good game for Centralia by going 2-for-5 with three RBIs, Grant Kendrick went 2-for-4 with three runs and two RBI, Ian Arellano went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and Chase Kempker went 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Waltemate hit a lazy-fly two-RBI single to tie the game at 14 in the seventh inning before Centralia took its first lead 15-14, and Kendrick had two singles that scored runs in the seventh and eighth innings.

Rodgers complimented freshman Hank Lee for having a “team mentality” by laying down a bunt that gave Centralia some momentum following a full-count walk by Quin Eckler to lead off the inning. Lee also had a hook slide at first base on that bunt, and freshman Cooper Gehring had a hook slide in the seventh inning to remain at third base with two outs. Those freshmen along with Kendrick’s clutch at-bats boosted the team.

“They’re just ballplayers,” Rodgers said. “Hank put the bunt down where it needed to go and hustles his butt off. It really just comes down to getting Centralia wins so they don’t care how it’s done or when it’s done.”

Ford said the Mexico game wasn’t quite as long as the 10-inning game at Eldon and was happy Centralia scored the necessary runs to win this extra-inning game.

“You got to dig deep for those late runs in extra innings,” Ford said. “The team has to grow, come together, put runs together and find a way to do it and we just did that better tonight.”

Rodgers said he just really wanted his players to get some sleep before the team’s bus left at 7:15 a.m. the next day for a tournament. He said he hopes there will be some long-term benefits for this season after Centralia climbed over the hill.

“It’s always fun when you can play a baseball game that’s close and back-and-forth,” Rodgers said. “That’s how you learn.”