Why TJ surgery?

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Hardin County's Derek Wood threw 126 pitches. Jackson Central-Merry's Mike Panthofer threw 138.

And it's a good thing Hardin County rallied in the ninth inning to win 7-3 over JCM, or somebody's arm might have fallen off right there in the middle of Hollywood Park Monday night.

"I'm absolutely dead right now," Wood said after the game. "I'm just going to go home and lay in the tub for hours after this one."

In a classic high school pitching duel, Hardin County (18-9 overall, 2-0 district) outlasted JCM to stay in the driver's seat early in district play.

Wood, a senior left-hander, stole the show for the Tigers, pitching all nine innings while striking out 11 and giving up three runs.

"He's a terrific competitor and that was an awesome game," Hardin County coach Ryan Miller said. "But JCM's (Panthofer) pitched a great game, too. He's as good as they come in high school."

Panthofer lasted until the ninth inning before finally giving up Hardin County's decisive rally.

But the junior right-hander was electric after giving up three first-inning runs, throwing eight innings while striking out eight.

"I couldn't ask for anything more out of Mike," JCM coach Richie Conway said. "Tonight, we just didn't get any clutch hits when we needed them."

The Cougars' Brad Ferrell connected for a solo home run in the fourth inning and Chase Treadway hit an RBI triple in the fifth, later scoring on a wild pitch, but that was about the only offense JCM could muster.

JCM (6-10-1 overall, 1-1 district) had good chances to score in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, but Wood was there to stop any Cougar rallies.

Hardin County didn't have much luck on offense either until the ninth inning, when Justin Davis hit a bloop RBI single to break the 3-3 tie. Then Brandon Gant did the real damage with a two-run single down the left-field line.

"I didn't know if we were ever going to score," Wood said. "But I knew I couldn't let my teammates down, they were playing too hard behind me."

After the Tigers rallied, Wood made sure there wasn't any drama, setting down JCM 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth inning for the victory.


Game sketch


Score: Hardin County 7, JCM 3

Player of the game: Both pitchers were awesome, but Derek Wood got the win by pitching nine innings and striking out 11 while walking none.


Noteworthy: The two starting pitchers combined to throw 264 pitches