The Great Bend High School baseball team was seeded fifth in a Class 5A regional tournament over the weekend.
Today, the Panthers travel to Wichita to challenge No. 4-seeded Liberal in the semifinal round at 2 p.m.
“We had a really good practice (Tuesday),” GBHS head coach Randy Beck said. “The kids have been really focused on what they have to do. I’m confident that we’ll be ready to get out there are fight.”
Liberal, which Great Bend played earlier in the season as part of its Western Athletic Conference schedule, finished the season at 11-9.
Great Bend is 10-10.
“To whether its an advantage or a disadvantage (having played Liberal before), I’m not sure,” Beck said. “We’re familiar with each other. I’d say this is a game between two evenly matched teams. We split earlier this year. We have similar pitching. On paper, we’re a very close match.
“I think the game’s going to come down to who makes the fewest mistakes.”
The split came in the regular season. The postseason is a different animal.
“The postseason has a completely different feel to it,” Beck said. “When you’re backs against the wall, things happen, and our kids are ready to play.”
The Panthers are coming off a doubleheader sweep of Larned, which Beck said is helpful for his team.
“More than anything, the Larned games helped us mentally at the plate,” Beck said. “We had 16 runs in that doubleheader, and it helped our confidence level.”