Panthers still have a shot

After breezing through the first two games at the state tournament on Saturday, the Panhandle Panthers 13U baseball team fell 7-2 Monday morning to Fossil Park.

Even with the loss, the Panthers are still just one game away from another run at a state championship. A win today puts them in the finals, scheduled for Wednesday.

Panhandle defeated Tom Brown Park in their first game Saturday 19-4 in four innings, before handing Northwest St. Pete an 11-5 loss Saturday afternoon.

The Panthers sent Reid Long to the mound in the Tom Brown matchup. He went two innings, giving up one run, one hit and two walks, with one error committed behind him before giving way to Trent Moats.

Moats went one inning, giving up two runs on one hit and two walks. Grant McDonald closed out the final inning, allowing one run on one hit and one error.

Offensively for Panhandle, Joshua Taylor, Miles Edwards and Hunter Jordan were all 2-for-3, with Hunter Johnson and Trent Childs both going 1-for-2. Johnathan Sikes and Long were both 2-for-4, while Payton Dixon was 1-for-3.

In the game against Northwest St. Pete, Panhandle started Dillon Bennett on the mound. Bennett went 3 2/3 innings, giving up three runs on three hits and four walks while striking out three. Johnathan Vickers came in for two-thirds of an inning, giving up two runs on two walks with one strikeout ,before giving way to Hunter Jordan to close out the final three innings. Jordan allowed no runs on one hit and one walk, and struck out two.

Offensively, the Panthers were led by Sikes, who was 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored, followed by Trent Moats, who was 1-for-1 with a double and one run scored. Vickers was 1-for-2, was hit by a pitch and scored two runs. He was followed by Taylor, McDonald and Miles Edwards, who were all 1-for-4.

In Monday’s match up with Fossil Park, Dixon got the nod on the mound for Panhandle, going 1 2/3 inning, allowing four unearned runs on three errors, with one hit, and two walks.

Sikes came on for 4 2/3 innings, allowed three runs, two earned on two hits, three walks and one error before giving way to Hunter Jordan to close out the final inning. Jordan allowed no runs on one hit and no errors.

Offensively, the Panthers struggled, with Bennett recording a double and Moats a single for the only hits of the game. Vickers walked and scored, with Trent Childs drawing a walk and Trint Clark scoring as a pinch runner for Childs.