Late Panther rally quells Wolves' WIC title hopes

 IRWIN -- Just three outs removed from tying Logan-Magnolia for a possible Western Iowa Conference regular season softball title, IKM-Manning did everything but finish in Thursday’s latest clash between southwest Iowa powers.
 Building leads of 4-1 after four and 6-3 after five, the Wolves still led 6-5 in the seventh before Lo-Ma put together a three-run inning, capped by Kenzie Cunard’s two-run homer, and left Irwin with an 8-6 victory.
 The 11th-ranked (Class 2-A) Panthers, who scored seven runs in their final three at-bats, improved to 23-2 overall and 16-1 in the WIC, clinching the regular season crown and earning the top seed for this week’s conference tournament.
 The 15th-ranked (2-A) Wolves, who handed Lo-Ma its only WIC loss, 8-7, on June 6, dropped to 16-6 overall and 13-3 in the WIC, tied with Treynor for second place with two games left.
 “You’ve got to be focused all the way to 21 outs. You don’t get 23 or 24,” said IKM-M coach Joy Gross, whose team had a few unmade plays prove costly in the end.
    Peyton Gross (16-5) struck out six and walked none for IKM-M, allowing nine hits and five earned runs.
 Sporrer (2 runs), Crawford (3 RBI) and Youngren had two hits apiece to lead the Wolves.