Panthers overcome deficit again, advance

If it proved nothing else Friday, the Hibriten Panthers again showed that it's going to take quite a punch to knock them out of the baseball state playoffs.

Or maybe a roundhouse and an uppercut followed by another quick 1-2 combo.

The resilient Panthers continued their best season in recent years, possibly ever, Friday night with an 8-4 win over Shelby in the third round of the 2-A West playoffs. Now, the Panthers have reached the sectional final and they're among the last eight 2-A teams standing in the state, four per region.

“It's unbelievable,” Panther leadoff hitter Thomas Mabe said following the recent win. “We want to make it keep going.”

Hibriten's playoff run is turning into a homestand. Next, the Panthers will host East Rutherford in the sectional final Tuesday night in Lenoir in what will be their fourth home game in as many rounds. East Rutherford (19-8) defeated Owen 13-1 Friday to advance.

Against Shelby, the Panthers were aggressive at the plate, totaling 11 hits, and every batter in the lineup reached base with all but one reaching twice. The Panthers scored three runs in the first inning and followed it with one each in the second and third to take a 5-2 lead through three innings.

“We really stressed this week getting runs on the board early,” Hibriten coach Terry Henthorne said. “The boys really responded.”

Hibriten (23-5), for the fifth straight game, had to come from behind to win. Shelby's third batter, Brett Mabry, hit a monster two-run home run to left in the top of the first off of Panther pitcher Bryan Tuttle. But the Lions had just two hits in the next four-plus innings against the junior right-hander, who improved to 12-1 on the season, throwing a complete game and striking out six.

“I thought he pitched a real good game on a big stage tonight,” Henthorne said.

It wasn't long before Tuttle had run support. In the first, Joel Woods continued his strong hitting of late by driving in Billy Copper with a double. Jack Howard was hit by a pitch and Dylan Crump reached base on a sky high single to left to load the bases. Trent Reynolds then punched a check-swing RBI single to shortstop to score Woods. Howard motored around for the go-ahead run on an errant throw.

Shelby (7-19) cut the lead to 5-3 with back-to-back doubles by Ryan Duncan and Ben Huff in the sixth, but three Hibriten runs in the bottom of the frame put the game away. Woods drove in one run and Howard knocked in two on a double. The third and fourth Hibriten hitters, respectively, combined to drive in four runs and both scored twice. Mabe, who had a key snag of a deep Mabry fly ball in the fifth, had a sacrifice fly in the second and the Panthers took advantage of three Shelby errors in the third to plate a run.

The Lions had six errors on the night.

“We didn't bring our ‘A' games tonight and that's the most disappointing thing about it,” Shelby coach Tommy Wease said. “That's a quality ball team. They keep pressuring your defense and hit the ball.”

Shelby's pitching situation was a bit of a mystery entering the game. But the Lions opted to start Wingate University recruit Andrew White, who had thrown seven innings in both of Shelby's first two playoff wins. White, a lefty ace, was in trouble from the beginning, however, and lasted just more than an inning.

“We knew we were pushing it a little bit with Andrew,” Wease said. “Sometimes the heart is there and sometimes the arm isn't. I wasn't going to push him.”

The Lions used three pitchers from there, including Cody Whisnant, K.J. Dotson and right-handed submariner Andrew Harnage, who replaced White in the second inning. His delivery, which took him well off the crown of the right side of the mound, was one the Panthers had not seen much of and it took some getting used to.

“I don't know how he does it,” Panther shortstop Billy Copper said. “I would fall down if I did that.”