OROVILLE, CA (MPG) – A bid for a ninth Northern Section title ended in heartbreak for the Maxwell Panther baseball team after it was edged 2-1 by the No. 1 seeded Los Molinos Bulldogs in the Division VI championship game held at Butte College on May 24.
It was the second meeting between the two squads this season, with Maxwell having gotten the best of the Bulldogs 4-2 at the Durham Tournament last month, but such was not the case last Saturday in another tightly contested matchup.
on May 24.
Getting the start on the mound in his final game for the No. 3 seeded Panthers, Massey Baker went five shutout innings, where he struck out four and conceded just one hit, but faced a pitch limit after going five innings in the semifinal win over Biggs on May 20.
Twice the senior bailed out his team, overcoming miscues in both the third and fourth innings to keep Los Molinos off the board and drawing praise from his coach, Tyler Wells, who said this about his ace, “Massey pitched great. He had made quick work of those five innings he had.”
Yet prior to Baker vacating the mound in the bottom of the fifth, Maxwell scratched out the games’ first run, when with two outs, Wyatt Roach doubled and took third on the throw, bringing Vincent Orozco to the plate.
Orozco put the ball in play with a hard shot to short, but the ensuing throw was dropped by the first baseman, allowing Roach to come in to score.
game on May 24.
However, the lead would not last long as Los Molinos rallied for the tying run in the bottom of the sixth.
After both teams were retired in order in the seventh, the game moved on to extras.
In the eighth, Brody Jones recorded a two-out hit, only the second for Maxwell and unfortunately its last, but nothing came of it.
Meanwhile, in the home half of the frame, with two outs and runners at first and third, Los Molinos came through with a walk-off single.
title game played at Butte College.
It was a frustrating day with the bat for the Panthers as Wells explained, “We needed to capitalize in the first three innings before they brought in their ace. We had our chances, hit a ball or two hard, but right at them. Also, we did not do a good job of getting our leadoff hitter on, so we were always in tough situations where we needed a hit, rather than playing situational baseball.”
In the end, the Bulldogs outhit Maxwell six to two and produced in the high leverage situations.
To get to the championship game, the Panthers outlasted No. 2 Biggs 8-7 in a game on the road.
Up 7-2 going into the bottom of the sixth, Maxwell saw the Wolverines rally to tie, but then pulled back ahead after Alex Krug smashed a two out double down the left field line to plate Luke Pearson, who had walked.
Krug had himself a day finishing 3 for 4 with three RBI while Orozco, Roach, Jones and Yahir Alcaraz each had one hit apiece.
Baker and Orozco handled the pitching duties, fanning seven and yielding five hits in a combined effort.
Despite the disappointing end to the current season, the Panthers, who finished with an overall record of 20-7, have much to look forward to next year as they lose just Baker and Jones to graduation.
With a solid core of returners, Wells looks forward to picking up where the team left off saying, “Out of today’s starters, there were two freshman, three sophomores and two juniors. We are young at key positions, so the future is wide open and I’m very excited to see what these guys can do. There will be some big shoes to fill, but I think there are guys who can do it.”