Panthers fall in two games

Posted 5/18/23

The Alba-Golden Panthers lost their area round playoff match-up against the Beckville Bearcats in a two-game sweep, 5-1 and 6-0, Thursday and Saturday.  

Officially, its time for summer. …

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Panthers fall in two games

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The Alba-Golden Panthers lost their area round playoff match-up against the Beckville Bearcats in a two-game sweep, 5-1 and 6-0, Thursday and Saturday.  

Officially, its time for summer. 

After Thursday’s game, where-in Alba-Golden just could not overcome an early deficit and committed three uncommon errors, the Panthers continued to struggle against the Bearcats. 

It was going to be a tough comeback. Not that sports reporters are superstitious, but every single member of the Beckville team wore their baseball socks correctly – pulled all the way up – with their uniform trousers billowed just below the knee.  It was not a good omen for Alba-Golden. 

Baseball is a game of ‘what-ifs,’ and the Panther faithful did not have to wait long for the first one. With two away in the top of the first, Easton Campbell lifted a high-fly into shallow left field. The Bearcat leftfielder lost the ball in the sun. It dropped and Campbell ended up on second.

Conner Gibson stepped to the plate and promptly lined a hard ground ball single through the left side. The ball was sharply hit, but it slowed on the turf of Mike Carter Field. A play at the plate would have been close, but Campbell was held at third.

The inning ended on a fly-out. Campbell and Gibson were left on base.   

Perhaps had the Panthers been able to push that one run in, the nature of the game may have changed. As it was however, Beckville opened the scoring. In the bottom half an RBI-double off the Don’s TV sign in left-centerfield brought in a run. Beckville led after one inning, 1-0.

So it remained until the bottom of the fourth when a throwing error by Alba-Golden gifted Beckville a second run.  

The game broke open in the bottom of the fifth. An error, a walk and three run-producing base hits brought four more runs home for Beckville. 

Although Beckville put at least one baserunner on in every inning except the sixth, Alba-Golden’s starter, Gibson, managed to work through each inning except the fifth.  

Gibson surrendered seven hits on the day, walking three and striking out two. The damage was done in the fifth. It was too much for the Panthers to overcome. 

Alba-Golden could manage only three hits off Beckville’s starter, Aiden Brantley. The righthander stayed in the groove all day, denying the Panthers solid contact with the ball. 

As in every game, there are remarkable plays made in the field. There were two last Saturday. Left-fielder Luke Jones made a catch in deep left-centerfield which was reminiscent of Willie Mays’ over the shoulder catch in the 1954 World Series.

The other satisfying play came in the bottom of the third when Boogie Trimble, Michael Lacy and Gavin Dailey combined for a classic 4-6-3 double play.

Despite the loss, the 2023 Alba-Golden Panthers have put the school back in the conversation when it comes to 2A baseball. That made for a stellar season.