Panthers slip by Tribe
Fish, Harris leadig hitters for PHS
A win is a win, but sometimes that win can come in a fashion that leaves one more stressed out than relieved. And that’s exactly what happened in the case of Porterville High School’s 10-8 win over Tulare Union in Monday’s East Yosemite League game in Porterville.
A win is a win, but sometimes that win can come in a fashion that leaves one more stressed out than relieved. And that’s exactly what happened in the case of Porterville High School’s 10-8 win over Tulare Union in Monday’s East Yosemite League game in Porterville.
The Panthers (14-51, 6-2 EYL) were sitting comfortably ahead with a 10-2 lead going into the fifth inning after PHS senior Derek Harris turned a two-run Rbi-double into an inside-the-park home run thanks to an error at third by Union. But a four-run top of the fifth, led by a three-run home run off the bat of TUHS’ Ben Pedersen put the Panthers back on their heels.
“After watching that game, Abner Doubleday (the founder of baseball) is rolling in his grave,” PHS head coach Mike Hill said. He went on, explaining, “We didn’t play defense. I mean we were OK offensively, but we were flat. We were really flat.”
Harris and junior Cameron Fish were the top hitters for Porterville with Harris going 3-for-3 with three runs scored and three RBIS while Fish was 2-for-2 with two runs scored as well as getting on base on an error and being hit by a pitch. But despite the two being able to get on base in the sixth, the Panthers were held scoreless in both the fifth and sixth innings after Porterville scored four runs in the second and three in the third.
Porterville still looked to have the game in the bag until the top of the seventh when relief pitcher, junior Will Hipps, delivered two walks and allowed a hit to load the bases after striking out the inning’s leadoff batter. Hipps retired the fifth batter of the inning, but on the next at-bat he tripped getting off the mound to field a grounder headed toward third base which allowed a runner to score. On the next at-bat, an Rbi-walk to TUHS’ Matt Dias scored the final run of the game and ended Hipps’ time on the mound.
With the bases loaded, Fish came in and forced TUHS’ Peter Gonzalez to fly out to right field on the third pitch to end the game.
“Good to see him come in and get out,” Hill said about Fish. “He’s going to come in and get strikes. He hasn’t thrown a lot for us this year, but it’s nice — he came in and he did a good job of throwing the ball in the strike zone.”
Junior Ricky Carranza got the start and win on the mound after going five innings for the Panthers. During his outing, Carranza allowed six runs on seven hits and three walks. At the plate, Carranza went 1-for-2
with two runs scored as well as reaching on a hitby-pitch and a walk.
“I thought Ricky gave us a good performance, he usually doesn’t start,” Hill said. “He gave up the big three-run homer, he was getting a little tired. He hasn’t thrown that much this year. When you got three games in one week, you know you’re kind of spread
thin. And we actually have some depth on the mound, but still.”
Makeup games due to rain are causing the Panthers to play three games instead of two in one week, a scenario they’ll repeat next week as well including an important 4:30 p.m. game at Tulare Western who Porterville shares first place in the EYL with.
Before that, Porterville travels to Union for another game before finishing the series at home Friday with another 4:30 p.m. game.
“The good thing is getting to win this, we’re back on our rotation,” Hill said. “We’ll go with Munoz Wednesday and Harris on Friday so we do feel good about the rest of the week.”