Tournament Update # 3

 

Mother nature threw her best punch at the 2018 MCBL Postseason Tournament at Blandair Park on Monday night.    After a 45 minute delay in the 7th inning, the deciding game with the Gaithersburg Giants at the Putty Hill Panthers resumed.   Then the the rain came again.....   but the Giants and Panthers were not to be deterred and pressed on.

 

In the end Panthers defeated the Giants 12 - 5.  A quintet of Panthers pitchers were used to keep the Giants off balance.  The Giants actually outhit the Panthers with 13 hits.  Coupled with 3 walks and 3 hit batters, the Giants put 19 baserunners on base......managing to plate 5 runs.  The Giants end their season with their sixth campaign of 20 or more victories.

 

Meanwhile the Panthers were patient and coaxed 11 walks from the Giant pitchers.    Coupled with their 11 hits and 1 hit batter, the Panthers scored 12 times from their 23 baserunners.  The Panthers Jamie Naill led the team with 3 hits (2 of which were doubles) while Bryce Jackson and Jordan Moore had 2 hits each.   Jordan had 3 RBIs while Jake Rainess joined Jamie Naill with 2 RBIs each.

 

The # 2 seed Panthers will now advance to the finals to defend last years tournament championship against the # 1 seed Maryland Monarchs.  The first game of the best 2 out of 3 series will start on Tuesday, July 24th at 6:00 pm at Blandair Park.

 

This is the Panthers ninth consecutive appearance in the tournament.  They won the 2017 MCBL Postseason Tournament as a # 2 seed.

 

This is the Monarchs first tournament appearance in their second year back in the league.

 

It is the fifth time that the # 1 seed will face the # 2 seed.  In the previous four finals, the # 1 seed has won the championship twice and the # 2 seed has won the twice.  The Panthers have a higher team batting average while the Monarchs have a slightly better team ERA.  Should be interesting.

 

See ya at the ballfield !