SOFTBALL NOTEBOOK: PANTHERS END IN SECOND.

Byline: Ramona Shelburne Staff Writer

After losing an opening-round game Wednesday night to the Colorado Pony Express and dropping into the losers' bracket of the 16-under national championships in Marietta, Ga., Panthers Gold's chances of winning the title seemed to be slim at best.

In order to win the title, the Panthers would need to win 13 straight over the next four days.

For a team that had won the 14-under title the year before and entered this year's tournament ranked second in the nation at the 16-under level, Wednesday's loss was especially disappointing.

But instead of packing it in, the Panthers called a team meeting after Wednesday's loss and decided to take it one game at a time and see how far they could go. Eleven wins later, they were in the national-championship game.

On Saturday alone, the Panthers won five times. The last of those games - a 5-4, nine-inning win over the Orange County Batbusters - didn't end until 2:30 a.m.

Running on only desire and heart, the Panthers returned to the field Sunday morning at 8 a.m to defeat the Southern California Aftershocks 6-1 and the West Bay Nuggets (Ca.) 2-0 to advance to the championship game. But in the end, fatigue caught up with them in a 6-0 loss to the California Cruisers that put them in second place.