“It felt like a momentum killer, so definitely worried coming back out.” Panthers coach Mark Pelfrey said. “Fortunately guys just stepped up and came up with some big hits.”
Ben Veletean’s sacrifice fly, Jacob Cane’s two-run triple (his third three-bagger of the regional tournament) and Nick Hutchinson’s RBI single completed the five-run inning.
And the Panthers were well on their way, even with a bumpy seventh inning, to an 8-6 victory over defending state champion Mason that ended at 11:14 p.m. The Panthers will play in the their second state tournament and first since Pelfrey guided the program there in 2019.
Their semifinal opponent will be Medina or Perrysburg at 7 p.m next Saturday at Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium in Canton. The final is the next day at 4 p.m. at Canal Park in Akron.
“They enjoy each other, they play for each other, it’s amazing how that permeates throughout the team,” Pelfrey said. “They just want to stay together for another week.”
The rain did affect the pitchers. Mason changed pitchers right out of the delay, but Pelfrey stuck with sophomore starter Dylan Brabston. However, with a 6-2 lead he walked the first batter in the fourth inning and hit the next one, showing just how difficult it is to come back after a long delay.
“We were definitely debating,” Pelfrey said. “It was getting towards the bottom of the order and we’re hoping he could get us maybe another inning.”
Pelfrey turned to junior Jacob Rhinehart and got what he expected. He pitched two innings the day before in the semifinal win over Beavercreek and got out of the jam and gave the Panthers 3 1/3 innings.
“To be honest, the arm was feeling really good,” he said. “This mound, this field, I just really enjoyed pitching out here. I was just trying to get an out, just trying to pitch to contact, trying to make them get themselves out. In my second inning, I was really feeling myself, hitting spots really well with every pitch, and they were just swinging and missing.”
The Panthers added what turned out be necessary single runs in the fifth and sixth to build an 8-2 lead. Rain began to fall again in the seventh, and Mason used a couple errors to score four runs, one of them earned.
“I was not happy when the rain started coming down there at the end,” Pelfrey said. “We’ve had a couple games this year in the rain, and we did not fare well.”
Rhinehart, who said he struggled with his grip in the rain, left the mound with the score 8-4. Blake Patterson, who saved three games this season, took off his catching gear and took the mound. After a wild pitch let in a run and groundout let in another on the all-important second out, Patterson induced a pop up to shortstop Micah Brandon to end the game.
“I’m a pretty easy going guy, just trying to be myself and get it done for the team,” Patterson said. “I’ll say it’s a mindset, just being calm.”
Calm will be a good quality in the whirlwind of state tournament week. And no rain.
“I’m hoping,” Pelfrey said, “it’s dry and sunny.”
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