Battling through hot weather the Powell Panther girls’ golf team finished third in its home tournament on Thursday and Friday, kickstarting a busy season on a high note.

The Panthers were led at the Powell Golf Club by Coy Erickson, who used a consistent scoreline of 87 both days to finish in fourth place, just one stroke behind a tie for second.

“Coy opened her senior season with a real bang, posting two sub-90 rounds and earning fourth in this field is a fantastic start,” coach Troy Hildebrand said. “She played very relaxed both days and really seemed in complete control of her game. Coy is a very good athlete and along with that over her four years in the program she has really learned how to manage her game and these rounds are exactly the start to her season that we were hoping for as a team.”

Behind Erickson in ninth place was Emery Hernandez, who had a strong opening round of 84 before a difficult second round 99 dropped her down from second place the first day.

“Emery had a great start with her 84 on Thursday, and while Friday wasn’t quite as smooth for her. She hung in there to earn a top 10 finish still which is an indication of her competitiveness and that will continue to pay off throughout the season,” Hildebrand said. “Emery is another of our players that has seen great success in other sports and being able to draw on that when things aren’t going perfect is a great resource for her.”

Third place for the Panthers went to Ali Scott, who finished with two rounds of 104 in her first tournament action to tie for 22nd.

“This was Ali’s first official tournament and she stepped right in and did an outstanding job for us,” Hildebrand said. “She was pretty nervous coming out of the gates but she has played a lot of golf growing up in her family and these two rounds are a strong start and a good place to start building both her season and career as a Panther.” 

Hildebrand added that “she is a player that could easily be under 100 over the next few weeks.”

Fourth for the Panthers was Maddie Croft, who posted scores of 120 and 117 to take 34th, showing improvement to start her second year as a Panther.

“Maddie has improved a great deal from the beginning of last fall until now, and these rounds give her a solid baseline that she can grow from,” Hildebrand said. “She had a couple holes each day that really hurt her overall score but she hung in there and bounced back from them each time with some solid golf. As Maddie gets more practice time in a couple of areas in her game I think she will be making big strides quickly over this season.”

The final tournament score for the Panthers was Grace Gordon, who came in just behind Croft with rounds of 122 and 119, gaining important experience in her first ever tournament action.

“This was Grace’s first ever tournament and she did an awesome job. She has a tremendous attitude and played both days with a great smile and for her first experience I felt like she played well,” Hildebrand said. “She is a very good softball player so we’ll do our best to take some of those skills and that competitiveness and see how it can translate to golf.”

Buffalo’s Addie Bettinger won the individual crown after shooting rounds of 83 and 76 to take the title by 14 strokes.

Campbell County took the team title with a final score of 544, just three ahead of Cody, while the Panthers were comfortably in third with 565.

Hildebrand said he was excited by the rounds, and is hopeful the Panthers can be among those contenders in a competitive field at season’s end.

“There are a number of quality individual girls’ players in 3A this fall and also the most good teams that we have seen in quite a while,” Hildebrand said. “The state tournament will be a very exciting team race for the 3A girls and we hope to keep improving and be a part of that battle.”

Powell had little time to dwell on its home tournament, immediately hitting the road Monday morning to take part in the Lander Invitational on Monday and today (Tuesday).

The Panthers then get some time to practice and settle down into a school routine, with the third tournament of the season not scheduled until Aug. 28-29 in Worland.