County rivals and two of the top teams in the Big Seven League in softball meet up on the diamond on Monday night and it was the Royal Valley Panthers continuing their season in strong fashion with the sweep of Holton, winning 16-4 and 10-1.

Royal Valley pounced on the lead early in game one as Sarah Beam got things started for the Panthers with a home run and it was 2-0 just in the top of the first inning. The lead grew in the second inning as Royal Valley made it 5-0 behind RBI doubles by Leslie Schuetz and Masey Lafferty. Holton final got some offense going with a two-run double by Brianna Boyett midway through the contest but at that point the game was 12-4, Royal Valley. The Panthers added four more runs in the top of the fifth as Lafferty registered her third hit of the contest and her fourth RBI and behind the pitching of Kaileigh Gray-Milligan shut down Holton in the bottom of the fifth for the run-rule 16-4 win. Gray-Milligan earned the win on the mound, while Quinn Holaday took the loss for Holton in game one.

Game two the offense started off slow for Royal Valley but picked up late for the 10-1 win. It was Holton striking first in game two as Ali Morris hit an RBI single in the bottom of the first inning scoring Ashlyn Weilert who reached on an infield single, making it 1-0 in the Wildcats favor early. Royal Valley answered in the top of the second as an RBI double by Hannah Beam made it a 1-1 ballgame. Things opened up for the Panthers in the top of the fourth as they batted around and tallied five runs on four hits and error and walk in the inning with a RBI double by Leslie Schuetz and two RBI double by Hannah Beam highlighting the inning. Royal Valley kept the scoring going adding three more in the fifth and one in the sixth to lead 10-1. After the first two innings, Holton's offense struggled registering only two more hits and five total base runners in the final five innings of the game as Panther pitcher Hannah Beam earned the win giving up just one run on six hits, a walk and struck out four. Holton freshman, Sarah Bond took the loss on the mound.

For the Wildcats six different players registered a hit but no one manage a multi-hit game in the second game of the double header. Royal Valley was led by Sarah Beam who finished 3-3 with a double, walk and RBI, while Caitlyn Burns was 3-4 with two runs scored, a triple and reached on an error and Hannah Beam went 2-3 with a walk, double, three RBI's and two runs scored.

Behind the sweep the Panthers improved to 11-1 on the season, while Holton fell to 5-3 on the year with the two losses. Royal Valley welcomes Hiawatha to town on Thursday to continue their season, while Holton will participate in the Shawnee Softball Fest starting on Thursday against Shawnee Mission South.