By Mark Schafer | The News-Review
 FAIRFIELD – They weren’t expected to be there.
In fact, many people didn’t even expect them to make it out of the first round, let alone getting within a run of the class 1A State baseball tournament.
Pekin seemed to defy all the odds during the class 1A substate 5 tournament.
The regular season didn’t quite go the way the Panthers wanted as they finished with a 9-9 overall record. Because of that they were forced to have a longer path to a potential State tournament berth. Making things even harder, their first round opponent was one that had previously bested the Panthers.
On July 5 the Panthers were seeking revenge as they played a rematch against Van Buren County. A month earlier, on June 5, the Warriors had bested Pekin 14-3. The rematch would turn things around as the Panthers were able to win 12-1 and keep their post season hopes alive.
Sophomore Henry Adam would pick up the win after pitching for three and two-thirds innings, striking out seven batters and allowing just one run.
The win advanced the Panthers to play against top-seeded Moravia. Once again the Panthers showed up, winning 4-0 over a 20-5 Moravia team.
With that victory the Panthers moved to the substate semifinal played in Sigourney where they played New London. Like they had against Van Buren County, Pekin was searching for a revenge win.
On June 2 the Panthers had been bested 2-1 by New London. The rematch was another 2-1 game as Pekin plated a run in both the first and second inning and didn’t allow a run until the bottom of the sixth.
That win pushed the Panthers one win away from the State tournament.
On July 15 they played against Hillcrest Academy. The Ravens scored off an error in the bottom of the first inning.
Despite Pekin limiting the Ravens to just one hit the entire game, Pekin fell 1-0 and so came a close to their remarkable post season run.
“Baseball is one of those games where sometimes you have to get lucky and tonight we didn’t have that luck,” said Pekin head baseball coach James Lyman after the game. “We played hard, we had great defensive plays. We put the ball in play and made Hillcrest Academy work for every out. It just comes down to a little bit of luck, really.”
Photos by Mark Schafer
