Cougars earn at least share of NTC

South Central’s baseball team  remained perfect in its first season of play in the National Trail Conference, clinching at least a share of the conference championship with a 5-4 win against Neoga last Thursday.

Noah Powless homered  during a five-run third inning – his three-run blast being his fifth of the season for the Cougars (13-3-1, 8-0 NTC).

Neoga scored twice in each the second and fifth innings.

Kyle Bray earned the win, tossing 4 1/3 innings and striking out five. Powless pitched the final 2 2/3 to earn his first career save, striking out one and allowing just one hit.

On Tuesday, the Cougars were to take on Windsor to try to win the outright conference championships, but that game was canceled due to rain. A makeup date had not been set as of press time.

Scores from South Central's non-conference games in the past week appear on Page 4B of this issue.

Thursday, Sept. 20
South Central 5
Neoga 4
N: 0-2-0-0-2-0-0—4-7-2
S: 0-0-5-0-0-0-X—5-4-3
WP: Bray (4-1); 4 2/3 IP, 5 K
LP: Romack; 6 IP, 4 K
SV: Powless (1); 2 2/3 IP, 1 K
Cougars: Powless, 1-for-3, HR, 3 RBI; Daniel Diss, 1-for-2, RBI; Brett Harmeier, 1-for-2; Fischer Tharp, 1-for-3.
Record: 13-3-1, 8-0 NTC)