Panthers Claw Falcons; Set Up Showdown
BRAMBLETON, VA - Potomac Falls enacted a little revenge on Briar Woods for an earlier loss by beating the Falcons 6-2 on Tuesday night setting up the final game against Broad Run on Wednesday night. The Panthers got 3 innings of work from Brian Griffin and Mike Detaranto and 1 inning of relief from Jacob Kline.
The Falcons jumped on the Panthers for 1 run in the first inning when Gavin Scherer led off the game with a shot to third base. Pat Nightingale could not come up with the play and Scherer advanced to second on a wild pick off attempt by Griffin. After a groundout, Logan Harris stroked a single to left field to score Scherer. Ian Hickman then followed with a single and Alex Munro laid down a bunt that catcher Chris Pelto fielded and threw out the runner going into third. Griffin then struck out Chris Wade to end the inning.
Hickman took the mound for the Falcons and cruised through the first 2 innings before running into trouble in the third. Rob Malan led off with a single to center field that Victor Rizzardi made a good diving attempt on but ended up short handing it. Greg Woodlief followed with a single to left field. Aaron Sweger then battled Hickman on a 13 pitch at bat before singling to left field to score Malan and tie the game. Pat Nightingale then singled to right field to load the bases. Chris Pelto then followed with a single to left field on an 0-2 pitch to score Woodlief and Sweger. Eric Dimsey then moved the runners up on a sacrifice bunt to Hickman. With the runners on 2nd and 3rd, Chad McMichael laid down a suicide squeeze that Hickman fielded but only had the play at 1st. Kyle Haufler was covering 1st and initially dropped the ball but picked it up in time to get McMichael. While Haufler was looking at the umpire for the call, Pelto never stopped coming around third and scored without a play at the plate to give the Panthers a 5-1 lead.
Mike Detaranto came in to pitch in the 4th inning, and the Falcons got a run off of him in the 5th when Scherer reached on a throwing error and ended up on second. He then scored when Harris picked up his second run scoring single of the game. The Panthers answered that with a run in their half of the inning when Malan was hit by a pitch and stole second. He scored when Sweger hit a groundball to third and Chris Wade's throw was in the dirt at first for an error. That ended the scoring for the night at 6-2.
The Panthers brought in Jacob Kline to pitch the 7th inning and he recorded a 1-2-3 inning to preserve the win. The Panthers now face Broad Run Wednesday night in their final game that will decide the winner of the Dulles District regular season.
