BETHEL — An errant throw back to the pitcher opened the floodgates for North Pitt's baseball team Thursday night.
The homestanding Panthers exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the second inning — all of them coming with two outs — and drilled Franklinton 13-4 in the first round of the Class 2-A state playoffs.
Jason A. Frizzelle/The Daily Reflector |
North Pitt's Elias Ables, left, is greeted by Justin Leggett after Ables scored a run Thursday.
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"We were fortunate to catch some breaks and hit balls where (Franklinton players) weren't," North Pitt coach Ryan Meadows said. "We scored seven runs with two outs in the second inning. That was just clutch hitting. Our kids did a great job of competing tonight."
The second-inning rally started when NP baserunners P-Nut Dixon and Elias Ables advanced to second and third, respectively, on a wild pitch from Red Rams starter Garette Estes. Franklinton catcher Landon Vick tracked the ball down, but his toss back to Estes sailed over the pitcher's head and allowed Ables to score, tying the game 1-1.
Walks to Aaron Roberson and Justin Leggett loaded the bases with Panthers and Ethan Powell gave North Pitt (19-6) the lead for good when his two-run single to left field plated Dixon and Roberson.
Cameron Rollins followed with an RBI single and Zach Stoll tripled to right field, bringing Powell and pinch runner Octavious Andrews home for a 6-1 Panthers lead. Andrew Carson's RBI double off the left-field fence made it 7-1.
The Red Rams (11-12) answered with a run in the top of the third and two more in the fourth to trim NP's lead to 7-4. But the Panthers, who got 11 hits, six runs and eight runs batted in from the top four hitters in the lineup, scored four times in the bottom of the fifth and added a pair of runs in the sixth to put the game away.
"They're our four seniors," Meadows said of Roberson, Leggett, Powell and Rollins. "They're kind of playing with a sense of desperation. They're not ready to call it a season or call it a career in high school."
Rollins tossed four innings of three-hit baseball to earn the victory. He struck out eight, but was hurt by three walks, three hit batsmen and a solo home run by Estes in the top of the second inning. Powell followed Rollins on the mound with two perfect innings of relief and Andrews struck out the side in the top of the seventh to end the game.
Leggett went 4-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored to lead North Pitt's offense while Roberson was 2-for-4 with two doubles, three runs scored and two RBIs. Powell had three hits, a run and two RBIs while Rollins went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs as well.
The Panthers take on the Orange County-Southeast Guilford winner Tuesday. If Orange wins, NP will hit the road but North Pitt will host a second-round game if Southeast wins.
Tony Castleberry can be reached at tcastleberry@coxnc.com or at (252) 329-9591.
North Pitt 13, Franklinton 4
F ... 011 200 0—4 3 3
NP ... 070 042 x—13 14 1
WP — Cameron Rollins; LP — Garette Estes.
Leading hitters: F — Estes 1-3 (Solo HR); Landon Vick 1-3 (RBI); Spencer Addison 1-3 (RBI); NP — Aaron Roberson 2-4 (2 2B, 3R, 2RBIs); Justin Leggett 4-5 (2RBIs, 2R); Ethan Powell 3-5 (2RBIs, R); Rollins 3-4 (2RBIs); Zach Stoll 1-3 (3B, 2RBIs); P-Nut Dixon 1-2 (2R).
