Pitchers Dominate Championship Series

 

The # 2 seed Putty Hill Panthers captured their second MCBL Post Season Tournament Championship with a close 3 -1 victory over the # 1 seed and regular season champion Gaithersburg Giants.

 

Pitching dominated the two games series with the pitching staffs of both clubs turning in great performances with both teams hitting being held below the Mendoza line.  Each team only had one extra base hit during the two game series.  No pitcher from either team gave up more than 2 earned runs.

 

It’s long been a baseball axiom that good pitching will stop good hitting.  And the Panthers needed good pitching to stop the Giants.

 

The Giants’ .312 team batting average during the regular season was the second highest in the league and well above the .282 league batting average.  Their 206 runs scored not only led the league this season, but was the third most in MCBL history.  Their pitching staff also posted a solid 3.94 ERA during the season, lower than the 4.16 league ERA average.

 

The Panthers mound staff simply held the Giants batters in check and showed why their team had posted a league leading 2.94 regular season ERA.  Alex Shafer, William Benson, Kieran Garner and Eric Niederhauser combined held the Giants over two nights to 7 hits and a .118 batting average.  They scattered 12 walks while striking out 11 batters.  Bradley Sawyer had 2 of the Giant’s 7 total hits.

 

The Giants mound staff was nearly as good.  Ronnie Orie, Daniel Ryczek, Colin Cunningham, Griffin Bubb, and Connor Brady held the Panthers to a .193 batting average over the two nights, with 11 walks and striking out 16 batters.  They had trouble with only one Panther batter, Matt Shephard who went 4 for 8 over the two nights.

 

In the second game, both teams had the bases loaded early in the game but squandered the moment.  The Panthers simply took advantage of their other opportunities a tad better.  The Giants had 12 total baserunners and plated one run while the Panthers had 10 total baserunners and plated 3 runs.  The Panthers also stole a page from the Giants playbook by executing a double steal to score their final run.

 

Congratulations go to both squads and the other playoff teams for having a stellar season.  

 

Stay tuned as we’ll be posting the 2017 MCBL All-Star selections soon.