Seven-run fourth sinks Ridge View in 10-5 loss to Kingsley-Pierson

Kingsley-Pierson changed the game with one inning Friday? No, Thursday at Kingsley, when the Panthers scored seven runs in the bottom of the fourth and turned a tight Western Valley Conference matchup into a 10-5 win over Ridge View.

Ridge View had done enough early to stay in control of the pace. The Raptors led 2-1 after three innings and were ahead 3-1 in the top of the fourth before the inning unraveled. After that, Kingsley-Pierson seized the lead and never gave it back, forcing Ridge View to spend the final frames trying to claw back into a game that had slipped away in one stretch.

“We played a great game, but we gave the game away in the fourth,” Ridge View coach Eric Myrtue said. He pointed to two walks, several errors and a ball lost in the lights as the sequence that opened the door for the Panthers. The inning was less about one big swing than about the kind of small breakdowns that can snowball quickly in a conference game.

Ridge View did not generate much offense to offset the damage. The Raptors finished with only three hits, led by Owen Worthan’s two-run double. Ryan Barry and Eli Franken each added a single, and Kinnick Jensen scored two runs for Ridge View. Before the fourth inning, that was enough to keep the game within reach. Afterward, Kingsley-Pierson’s cushion made every Ridge View at-bat a chase.

Kinnick Jensen took the loss after allowing five hits and seven runs, two earned, in 3.1 innings. He walked three and struck out two. Aiden Myrtue followed in relief and gave up two hits and three runs over 2.2 innings, with three walks and two strikeouts.

The result came two days after Kingsley-Pierson beat Ridge View 6-2 in Kingsley, when Ridge View committed five errors. Back-to-back conference losses to the Panthers, combined with the defensive issues in both games, left little doubt about what decided this matchup: Ridge View was competitive early, but once the fourth inning got away, the Panthers controlled the rest.