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March 18th – Huntsville Panthers 1, Hewitt-Trussville 5:
The Huntsville Panthers faced the Hewitt-Trussville Huskies of Birmingham, AL for the Nike Gulf Shores High School Championship.
This was the second time the Panthers would face the Huskies. In the first matchup in early March
in Huntsville, the Panthers won by a margin of 12-1. This game proved to be a battle of
excellent pitchers.
The game remained scoreless for the first 3 innings. But the Huskies were determined
to revenge their early loss to the Panthers as they took a 1-0 lead in the top of the 4th inning. They
added 3 more runs in the 5th to grab a 4-0 lead taking control of the game with a fierce bite that one might expect
from a pack of Huskies – and they would not let go.
The Panthers managed only 1 run when Andrew Dennis hit a lead-off
double in the 5th inning. Anthony Rapiere followed with an RBI single that drove Dennis home.
While the loss may have
been disappointing, the Panthers found a lot of their game this week (defense, offense and pitching) that should help them
when they return home to start regional play next week. The Panthers open regional play on Tuesday, March
23rd in a double header at home against Austin of Decatur.
March 18th –Huntsville Panthers 7, Gardendale Rockets 1:
The Huntsville Panthers advanced to the finals of the Nike Gulf Shores Classic for the 2nd consecutive year and
to defend the Championship they won last year. They put their game together with the leadership of solid
pitching. Gant Weeks started on the
Mound for the Panthers and was relieved by Luke Leeth in the 2nd inning. Luke, who was fresh
off a “No-Hitter”, was able to go 2 innings and strike out 4 Rocket batters while allowing only 1 hit.
Casey Lambert came in to preserve the Panthers win in the 4th inning. He pitched 3 outstanding
innings completely stifling the Rockets by allowing no hits, walking only 1, and striking out 3. Gardendale took a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the
first inning. But CJ Urban answered by jumpstarting the Panther offense with a double in the bottom of
the first. Anthony Rapiere hit an RBI single that brought Urban home. The score remained
tie at 1-1 until the bottom of the 3rd inning when CJ Urban once again returned to slam a second consecutive double.
Next up, Andrew Dennis Slammed a 2xRBI homerun to put the Panthers up 3-1 and they would not look back. In the bottom
of the 4th inning, CJ Urban hit an RBI to put the score at 4-1, while Andrew Dennis hit a 2xRBI triple to put the
Panthers up 6-1 after 4 innings. The Panthers would add one more run in the bottom of the 6th
when Garrett Thornton singled and Evan Brindley connected on his 2nd consecutive base hit. Next
up, Clay Holcomb finished off the Panthers scoring at 7-1 with RBI that put the game away. With this win
the Panthers advanced into the finals as defending champions having won this tournament last year. This game will be
played today at 1:00 PM.
March 17th – Huntsville 3, Gulf Shores 2: The Huntsville
Panthers edged past the home town host, Gulf Shores High School, tonight to advance to the Semi-Finals of the Nike
Gulf Shores classic where they will play Gardendale High School (from North Birmingham area) on Thursday at 10:00AM,
Chandler McCully delivered an outstanding performance on the mound striking out 9 Gulf Shores batters, while walking
4 and allowing only 6 hits.
Garrett Thorton got the scoring in gear for the Panthers in the top of the 2nd
inning with a 2xRBI double that drove in AJ Cole and Daniel Koger who had each singled to earn their spot on base.
Garrett's double put the Panthers up 2-0, But the Gulf Shores Dolphins battled back by scoring a run
in the bottom of the 3rd and 4th innings to tie the score. From this point, the game was a beautiful pitching
duel between Chandler McCully and the Gulf Shores ACE pitcher, In the end, Chandler's mental toughness down the stretch
innings proved to be the Panthers' winning edge.
The game remained tied going into the 7th inning when
Garett Thornton and Evan Brindley each got on base with singles to put Panthers on 1st and 2nd second
with 2 outs. Next up, Clay Holcomb answered the call with an RBI single that drove Brantley Johnson (running
for Garrett) home. This proved to be the winning run.
Chandler McCully returned to the mound in the
bottom of the 7th and protected his 1 run lead. With the pressure intense, he delivered stike-after-strike and
found a way to shut down the Dolphin batters. This was a game of great pitching, backed by and solid infield play
by both teams. This win proved to be the edge the Panthers needed to propell them into the Semi-Finals for the 2nd consecutive
year.
March
16th – Game 2: Huntsville 13, Brewbaker Tech 3: The Huntsville Panthers found their swing as they
seemed determined to amend their performance in game 1. Brewbaker took an early 1-0 in the bottom of the
1st inning. But, Anthony Rapiere slammed a lead-off solo home run over the right field wall
to tie the score after full 2 innings.
In the
3rd inning, Clay Holcomb singled to get on base and then used his speed to steal 2nd and 3rd.
He then used his base running to finesse to lure the Brewbaker catcher into making an errant throw to 3rd
base, upon which he sailed home to put the Panthers up 2-1 after 3 innings. The Panthers added one more
run in the 4th inning when Andrew Dennis lead with a hit to get on base and was then driven home by Evan Brindley’s
RBI single.
The Panthers broke the game wide open in the 6th inning as Clay Holcomb once again lead off with a triple
that was promptly followed by CJ Urban’s RBI triple. This was followed by Andrew Dennis’ RBI
single. This hitting caught on like a wildfire as Anthony Rapiere followed with an RBI triple that drove
Andrew Dennis home. Next up, AJ Cole connected on an RBI double that put the Panthers on top by a score of 7-1 after 5 full
innings.
But the Panthers offensive thirst was not quenched. They returned to bat in the top of the 6th inning
and added 6 more runs. Clay Holcomb once again jump started the scoring by earning a walk. CJ Urban singled,
Andrew Dennis walked, setting up Gant Weeks, who pinch hit for an ailing AJ Cole. Gant wasted no time as
he slammed a hard line drive to right field that drove CJ Urban home. Austin Hatfield hit an RBI single. By
then, the exhausted Brewbaker pitcher gave up 2 runs on walks. This put the Panthers up 13-1.
Although Brewbaker dug in to make a rally attempt in the bottom of the 6th, their rally stalled after scoring
2 runs. The final score ended with the Panthers up by a 13-3 margin. The Panthers move on to face the host
team, Gulf Shores on Wednesday at 5:00PM.
March 16th – Game 1: Huntsville 0, Northwest Rankin
4 - The Huntsville Panthers couldn’t get their bats going against the solid pitching of NW Rankin.
Daniel Koger turned in a solid job on the mound for the Panthers keeping the score within 2 runs until the 6th
inning.
AJ Cole, crippled by a thigh strain, hit two singles, while Andrew Dennis also singled, but the Panthers could
not find ways to bring them home. Next up, the Panthers face Brewbaker Tech of Montgomery.
March
15th – Huntsville 2, Friendship Christian Academy 0 – The Hunstville Panthers came together
today behind the outstanding pitching of Luke Leeth who pitched 7 innings and tossed a “NO-Hitter”.
Along the way, Luke struck out 12 batters while walking only 2. From there, the defense did their
part to keep the runners from getting home. The contest was a duel of pitchers through five and a half innings when, with the score stalled at 0-0 stalemate,
Andrew Dennis hit a lead-off Solo Homerun to start the bottom of the 6th inning. From there,
Anthony Rapiere followed with a double and Ryan Barnes singled to advance Rapiere to 3rd base. Anthony
then scored on an errant throw to 3rd base giving the Panthers a 2-0 lead going into the top of the 7th
and final inning. Luke returned to the mound and finished off his “NO-Hitter” retiring Friendship
Academy, from the Nashville, Tennessee area, in short order. The Panther offense was lead by Andrew Dennis who hit a solo homerun and a single, Anthony Rapiere
(double), Ryan Barnes (single), Steven Cole (single), and CJ Urban (single). Next up, the Panthers will
play NW Rankin of Mississippi on Tuesday at 11:30am followed by Brewbaker Tech at 2:00pm.
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