The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Panthers on way up
Elyria Catholic has scored at least seven runs in past seven games
Elyria Catholic was prepared for a new challenge this year when competitive balance moved the Panthers up to Division II.
But with eight returning starters and its entire pitching staff back for the 2019 season, confidence was high.
Unfortunately, the first few weeks of the season couldn’t have gone much worse for the Panthers.
Elyria Catholic lost six of its first seven games and was left frustrated and out of sorts. After all, a team with two returning All-Ohioans, including Nebraska commit Leighton Banjoff, and a bevy of talented seniors shouldn’t be losing so many games.
The manner in which the Panthers were losing was especially maddening.
In each of those six losses, Elyria Catholic scored three runs or fewer and uncharacteristic errors marred many of those games.
The play appeared to sort itself out and the Panthers headed to Florida for a week of spring-break baseball on a four-game winning streak. But the trip didn’t go quite as planned — at least in terms of wins and losses.
Elyria Catholic went 0-4 on the trip.
But it arrived back in Ohio with a renewed sense of purpose and has since gone 6-2, including a dominant first-round playoff win, 24-0, over Lincoln West May 13.
The Panthers never let up, they never slowed down and they showed they’re ready for a shot at their first regional tournament appearance since 2016.
“We’ve been winning a lot more games this second half of the season than we did the first half,” Banjoff said. “With our competitive schedule this whole season and going down to Florida for spring break, we played some very competitive teams down there. So I think getting that exposure to teams like that will benefit us in the long run and it’s showing now.
“Many times you’ll see, with us especially, if we’re not playing a team up to our caliber that we kind of stoop to their level, and we did not want that to happen today, especially with it being an elimination game in the playoffs. I’m glad these guys didn’t really horse around and we took care of business.”
The biggest improvement, according to Coach Bruce Lisicky, has been the team’s approach at the plate.
The Panthers struggled to put together quality atbats in the early part of the season, but have found a way to score at least seven runs in their last seven games and totaled 14 hits and eight walks in their win over Lincoln West.
“I think we’re starting to peak at the right time when we need to,” Lisicky said. “When we came back from Florida we’ve been playing a lot of good baseball. The first half of the season we weren’t hitting and now 1-9 are hitting and I even got guys on the bench now who are hitting, too. Everything’s starting to come together at the right time for us.”
The fifth-seeded Panthers await the winner of No. 13 Padua-No. 4 Firelands for a sectional final to be played May 15, and the mission remains the same since that disappointing, extra-innings loss to Apple Creek Waynedale in a 2016 regional final.
“We know what we want and that’s to at least go to the regionals this year,” senior Grant McClure said. “We’ve been there before. We got a taste of it and we’re definitely hungry for another playoff run.”