Panthers Grab First Ever Region Baseball Crown
ORANGE COUNTY, VA - The Potomac Falls Panthers continued their hot streak and captured their first ever Regional Championship with a 5 -1 win over the Orange County Fighting Hornets, in front of the Orange home crowd. Mike Detaranto and Eric Dimsey combined on a 4 hitter and the Panthers scored 4 runs in the 7th inning off Orange's ace D. J. Brown to add the title to their District titles.
The Panthers opened the scoring in the 1st inning when lead off hitter Ben Sweger was hit in the back with a pitch. Sweger advanced to 2nd when Mike Spring struck out but the ball was in the dirt and Spring was safe at 1st, with the dropped-3rd-strike. With two runners now on base, Ryan Miller laced a 1-2 pitch to right field for an RBI single that scored Sweger.
Detaranto started the game for the Panthers and was cruising until the 3rd when Fighting Hornet Nick Bledsoe hit a double to right field. After a strikeout, Corey Schmidt then hit a long double to left to tie the score at one. Eric Dimsey then relieved Detaranto and struck out Trey Maupin and induced Colston Bayless to ground out to short to end the threat.
Brown and Dimsey cruised through the next 3 innings with the score tied at 1's. In the 7th, the Panthers finally got to the JMU bound Brown who was throwing in the high 80's on the night. After an initial strikeout, Sweger ripped an 0-2 pitch to center field for a single. Ryan Mahoney then followed with an 0-2 single to right. Brown then buckled down and struck out Rob Malan on a called third strike. With 2 on and 2 out, Mike Spring then hit an RBI single to left to score Sweger and give the Panthers the lead. Miller then followed with a sharp ground ball to short that Bledsoe could not field cleanly and ended up throwing into right field for an error that scored Mahoney. With Spring at 3rd and Miller on 1st, Matt Rubino then chased Brown with a drive to left center that one hopped off the wall for a double scoring Spring and Miller, giving the Panthers a 5-1 lead. Nick Bledsoe relieved Brown and retired Matt Hoover on a fly out.
In the bottom of the 7th, Dimsey induced Brown to line out to Sweger before striking out Lazaro Torres. Chris Bittner then got the Hornets 4th hit of the night on a single to right. Dimsey then provoked Bledsoe to ground out to Rubino and the Panthers were celebrating yet another title, their 3rd this season, once again.
With the win, the Panthers (21-3) will now host Grafton on Tuesday night at Panther Park in the Quarter Finals of the State Tournament.
