Nightingale, Malan Spark Late Panther Win 5-4
STERLING, VA - Pat Nightingale's pinch hit RBI single with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning tied the game for Potomac Falls and Rob Malan's sacrifice fly with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning propelled Potomac Falls to a come-from-behind 5-4 victory over the Heritage Pride, on a windy night at Panther Park.
Nick Clayton led off the game for the Pride with a single, off Panther starting pitcher Jacob Kline, to right field, and moved to second on a walk to Brenton Peters. John Rogerson followed with an RBI single to center field to score Clayton. Both runners then advanced on a groundout and scored on an infield error to give Heritage an early three run lead.
Potomac Falls managed to get one run back in the second inning when Mike Spring led off with a single to right field. He moved to second on a passed ball and scored when Kline hit a single to center field. The Panthers scored their second run in the fourth inning when Jake Orpin reached on an error and was followed by a walk to Chris Pelto. Eric Dimsey was then hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. Leadoff hitter Greg Woodlief then worked the count and managed to draw a base on balls to force in the second run. Heritage pitcher Rogerson then settled down and struckout the next batter and induced a groundball back to the mound to end the threat.
Heritage added a run in the fifth inning when Peters' bunt was mishandled by Kline and Peters ended up on second base on the throwing error. Rogerson helped himself with his second hit of the game, with a single to right, but Peters was forced to stop at third base. After an infield fly, Trey Reed stroked a single between first and second base to score Peters and give Heritage a 4-1 lead.
The game remained this way until the bottom of the seventh inning. Reed took the mound for Heritage and was greeted by a single to left field by Malan. Mike Spring then drew a base on balls and both runners advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Kline. Reed then threw a wild pitch to allow Malan to score and Spring to advance to third. Pat Nightingale then pinch hit for Orpin and smacked a 1-0 pitch to left field for a single, scoring Spring with the tying run.
Kline was replaced in the eighth inning by Mike Detaranto who got the first batter but issued a base on balls to Cody Beard. Beard was sacrificed to second and then Tom Polkowski followed with another walk to give the Pride two runners on with two outs. Detaranto then buckled down and got Marco Verdi to strikeout on three curveballs to end the threat.
In the bottom of the inning, with the Panthers having new life, Woodlief led off the inning with a bunt single and advanced to second on the wild throw. He was sacrificed to third by Chad McMichael. With last year's Dulles Player of the Year, Aaron Sweger, coming to the plate, Heritage coach Ryan Price elected to intentionally walk Sweger to get to Malan. Malan then stroked a line drive to right field that Polkowski make a good catch on but had no chance to make a throw on Woodlief who was tagging at third base to end the game.
Highlights for Potomac Falls was Rob Malan going 2-3 (game winning RBI), Pat Nightingale (game tying RBI), and Jacob Kline (7 innings, 5 hits, 2 BB's and 7 K's).
