Spring, Pelto Help Panthers Pound Titans 12-4
STERLING, VA - On Monday night, Potomac Falls and Dominion battled through a 9 inning pitchers duel with the Panthers emerging victorious after scoring 3 runs in the 9th inning. On Tuesday night, these same two teams faced off in a slugfest with the Panthers once again getting the upper hand to complete the two day sweep over the Titans and setting up a showdown with Broad Run on Friday for the regular season Dulles District title.
The Titans once again were the first ones on the scoreboard as they pushed a run across in the 2nd inning when Anthony Bartolotti led off the inning with a sharp single to leftfield. He advanced on a groundout to third base by Ryan Skeffington and scored on a single to leftfield by Jonathon Noro. However, the Panthers responded in the bottom of the inning off of Austin Behr when Mike Spring hit a single to leftfield. He advanced on an infield groundout and scored when Chris Pelto hit a shot to short that Noro could not handle and went into leftfield. Pelto advanced on the throw home and scored when Chad McMichael lined a single into centerfield to give the Panthers a lead that they would not relinquish.
With Michael Detaranto on the mound for the Panthers, the Titans were shutdown for the next three innings as Potomac Falls expanded their lead. In the 4th inning, Spring again led off with a single to centerfield and advanced on a passed ball. He was moved to third on a groundout by Pat Nightingale and scored on a wild pitch to up the Panther lead to
3-1.
In the 5th inning the Titans brought in Ryan Skeffington to pitch and the Panthers responded by scoring 3 runs. Rob Malan started the inning with a shot to the gap in centerfield for a triple and scored when the throw to third was wide of the bag and went into the dugout. Greg Woodlief then hit a single to right field and promptly stole second base on the first pitch. Woodlief then scored on an RBI double to leftfield by Aaron Sweger who ended up on third base after the throw. He then scored on a wild pitch to give the Panthers a 6-1 lead.
The Titans responded by scoring 3 runs of their own in the 6th inning chasing Detaranto from the game. Greg Smucker laid down a bunt that could not be handled for an error and Matt Sherrill then followed with a single up the middle. Bartolotti followed with the first walk of the game from Detaranto to load the bases and Coach Terango brought in Malan to try and escape the jam. Malan proceeded to strikeout Geoff McCowatt and Ryan Skeffington but then hit Noro with a pitch to force in a run. At this point it looked like Malan may escape with only giving up one run until Steven Smucker hit a clean single to centerfield to score Sherrill and Bartolotti and make the score 6-4.
The Panthers then closed out the game in the bottom of the 6th inning when they scored 6 runs. After a flyout, Malan walked, stole second and scored on Woodlief's single to right field. Sweger and Spring followed with walks to load the bases. Nightingale then executed a suicide squeeze which Skeffington bobbled and ended up not making a play on. With the bases still loaded, Chris Pelto then hit a shot to the gap in right field for a triple, scoring all three runners. McMichael then followed with his second hit of the game to score Pelto and give the Panthers the final outcome of 12-4. Dominion put two runners on in the 7th inning but Potomac Falls turned a 6-4-3 double play to end the game.
With the win, Potomac Falls and Broad Run have identical records in the District and will square off on Friday at Broad Run to decide the regular season champions. The Panthers won the first contest 2-1.
"Diamond In The Rough"
by Diamond Sports Training
Chris Pelto - Jr. OF, Potomac Falls
Pelto went 2-4 on the night, with a triple, and 4 RBI's, including a 3 RBI triple that that broke the game wide open for the Panthers in the 6th inning.
Chick-Fil-A Player Of The Game
Mike Spring - Jr. C, Potomac Falls
Spring had a great defensive game behind the plate for the Panthers, blocking 7 balls in the dirt, that potentially would have moved runners up on bases, and prevented 2 runners from scoring from 3rd base. At the plate, Spring went 2-3, with a walk, an RBI, and scored 3 times.
