More than any other sport, baseball is the game where the best team doesn’t always win.
Combine that fact and place it within the confines of a single-elimination tournament and its easy to see why there are some unpredictable results this time of year.
After the Orange baseball team ended the regular season with ten straight Central Carolina Conference wins, they faced Person in the conference tournament semifinals. The Panthers probably greeted that news like a puppy getting a new bag of Pupporoni sticks from his owner.
On paper, it was the best matchup possible for Orange. The Panthers routed Person 9-1 in Hillsborough on April 6. Two days later, Orange piled up a season-high 16 hits in a 10-0 rout of the Rockets in Roxboro, the Panthers first run-rule win of the conference season.
Really, Person didn’t have much better fortune hitting the ball in the conference semifinals on Tuesday night in Hillsborough. They also didn’t make big mistakes.
A emotionally charged Rockets team, despite not getting its first batter on base until the fifth inning, stunned the Panthers 4-0 to advance to the CCC Tournament Championship game. Person (11-13), just 24 hours removed from a 10-inning marathon against Eastern Alamance, will travel to Northwood on Thursday night for the tournament title.
It was another big surprise in a tournament that has been filled with them. On Monday, 7th-seeded Walter Williams upset 2nd-seeded Cedar Ridge 6-1 in Hillsborough.
The Rockets got a tremendous performance from sophomore Dylan England, who came into the tournament without a win on the season. On Tuesday, he earned his second victory in two nights. England closed out the Eastern Alamance win by throwing two-and-a-thirds inning of relief.
On Tuesday, England replaced starter Keegan Holmes in the third inning and threw five shutout innings, allowing only one hit.
Orange (16-8)suffered its first loss against a Central Carolina Conference team since March 18, when they felt to Western Alamance.
“That’s baseball,” Orange coach Jason Knapp, looking dejected, said afterwards. “Person was more emotionally ready than we were. They’re playing for the #2 seed and a spot in the (state) playoffs. They definitely had more motivation and more energy than we did tonight. That falls squarely on me. I have to have us ready to go and more prepared. I didn’t do a good job of that tonight.”
Going into the fifth inning, the big question in some Orange fan’s minds wasn’t “Will we win?” It was “Can Ryan Hench throw a perfect game?”
Hench, in his 11th start of the year, retired the first 12 Rockets he faced, none of whom were particularly close to getting on base. In the fifth, Hench stretched that streak to 14 straight after a gorgeous diving stop by shortstop Jackson Berini, who threw out Person Tyler White.
With two out in the inning, Berini made another diving stop on a grounder hit by Person’s Bryce Thaxton and appeared set to end the inning. The throw pulled Orange first baseman Codey Snipes slightly off the bag. Snipes appeared to have got his foot back on to retire Thaxton, but dropped the ball in the process.
That set off a firestorm. After Holmes and Drew Mangum each drew walks, Jamie Martinez sent a pop-up to shallow left field that fell down amidst three Panther fielders. Thaxton and Mangum scored and Person, who had one run in 17 innings against Orange in the regular season, led 2-0.
A.J. Terrell replaced Martinez as a pinch-runner at first base, leading to Person executing a gorgeous double steal where Holmes slid under the tag of catcher Davis Horton at home plate. England lined a single to left field to bring in Terrell.
Hench went from being seven outs away from a perfect game to suffering his second loss of the season.
Orange’s offense, which was limited to three hits in a 2-1 win in eight innings over Eastern Alamance on Friday night, was held to two hits against the Rockets. The Panthers had some threats early. In the first inning, David Waitt reached on a fielder’s choice and Hench got onboard off an error. Bradley turned a 1-6-3 double play to wrap up the inning.
In the third, Jackson Berini drew a leadoff walk and Waitt lined a single to left field, which led to England being installed as pitcher by head coach Kyle Boyette. Hench was hit by a pitch to load the bases, but England got out of the jam after a strikeout, followed by a 4-6-3 double play triggered by Thaxton.
Orange left seven men on base.
The Panthers, which will still be the #1 seed from the Central Carolina Conference going into the 3A State Tournament, will resume play on Tuesday in the opening round of the state playoffs. The Panthers haven’t won a postseason game since 2018, when they upset Jacksonville.