By Michael Lindsay
Another stellar offensive performance Monday night led the Stone Memorial Panthers to a shutout victory over cross-town rival Cumberland County, 10-0.
“I’m really proud of the guys for staying in the moment there,” said Panther head coach Trent Stokes. “It’s a big district game, and we try to stay away from putting any extra pressure on it.”
The Panthers racked up 12 hits and 9 RBIs in their District 7-3A victory over the Jets.
“We’ve been doing a lot of work on staying backside on stuff,” Stokes said. “We’ve been putting runs up all year long, and now that we’ve got some things fine-tuned I’m excited to see what the rest of the season brings.”
Stone Memorial senior pitcher Braden Looper picked up his 5th district win of the season as he struck out 10 batters and gave up 6 hits in 6 innings on Monday.
“We had a really good game plan for him going in; it’s good to say that, but he went out there and executed that game plan,” Stokes said. “He had 74 pitches and really only missed one. He did everything we needed, and the goose egg on the scoreboard represents that.”
Panther shortstop Colin Tiegs had an effective day at the plate as he went 3-4 with 4 RBIs, 2 runs scored and a double. Nick Osmun went 2-2 with 2 runs scored and a double.
Cumberland County’s Jacob Hodge went 2-3 at the plate for the Jets.
Stone Memorial got the ball rolling early with 3 first-inning runs. A Tiegs single scored Osmun and Killian Diem followed by a Looper double to score Tiegs, making the score 3-0 after one.
Tiegs drove in two more in the bottom of the second as a double to left scored Wade Wilson and Osmun to give Stone Memorial a 5-0 advantage.
The Panthers’ offensive surge continued in the bottom of the third as a Tayln Hurd single with bases loaded drove in 3 runs to put the Panthers ahead 8-0. Hurd stole home two batters later to give the Panthers a 9-0 advantage after 3.
Stone Memorial ended the game via mercy rule in the bottom of the sixth as a Bryce Elmore single scored Colin Tiegs, making the final score 10-0.
Monday’s win sets up Stone Memorial with a chance to lock in the District 7-3A #2 seed on Tuesday with a win at Cumberland County.
“That’s what we’re chasing; we want that first-round bye,” Stokes said. “That’s another team over there that’s in our way of doing that. We need to come out focused and finish the job.”
