Panthers polish off Notre Dame, advance to quarterfinals

Published 7:00 pm Tuesday, April 26, 2022

CHULA – Wesley Malone drove in four runs and was one hit short of a cycle Tuesday afternoon and Tiftarea Academy finished off their first round state baseball series against Notre Dame Academy.

The Panthers swept the series, taking the clincher by a 13-1 final score. Game two was slightly longer than the opener, lasting five innings.

They will next play Brookwood. The Warriors upset Trinity Christian in three games Tuesday, winning the finale, 10-8. Tiftarea will host the series.

Head coach Dusty Griffis believes there will be just one game Friday, with the rest of the series to play out Saturday.

Malone drove in two with a double in the 3rd and two more with a triple in the 4th.

Tiftarea, the visitors for the second contest, led even quicker than they did Monday. Leadoff hitter Hayden Murphy blasted the very first pitch he saw over the centerfield fence.

“His approach this year has been great,” Griffis said.

Unlike Monday, however, this did not lead to a massive amount of runs scored. Jacob Rowell gave up a single to Logan Moore, but nothing else in the initial frame.

The Irish Wolfhounds even tied the contest briefly.

Joseph Glime reached on an error in the bottom of the 2nd and came around from third on a second error by the Panthers in the inning. Notre Dame soon had runners on second and third after a one-out double by Andrew Montello, but starter Jam Presley struck out his next two men to escape further damage.

Immediately, Tiftarea got themselves out of the tie.

John Jackson’s double to left drove in Logan Moore. Hershel Moore followed with an RBI single. His courtesy runner, Kameron Brown, joined John Austin Lee on base after a single up the middle.

Malone knocked in both runners with a double to deep center to make it 5-1.

Lane Cole singled in Malone and stood on base with Parks Colwell (running for Presley) when Murphy cleaned up the bases with a ground-rule double.

The six-run 3rd was followed by a 6-run 4th that put the contest away.

Malone tripled to right, scoring Jackson and Hershel Moore, then came home on a single by Cole.

A Murphy hit plated Cole and Colwell before he became the last run, scoring on Logan Moore’s ground-rule double that bounced over the right field fence and again struck the middle school locker room building.

Robert Garner struck out twice Notre Dame hitters in the bottom of the 5th to complete the run-rule win.

Malone and Murphy notched three hits each for the Panthers. Both also drove in four runs. Presley struck out six in four innings of work.

The Irish Wolfhounds brought two female players with them to Chula and one, Faustina Barcena, briefly saw action Tuesday.

Griffis had nothing but good things to say about Notre Dame’s program, which is still just getting off the ground.

“They’re young,” he said. “You gotta be proud for them.” The Irish Wolfhounds set a school record in 2022 for wins and Griffis noted how hard they played. After the game, he said he specifically went up to catcher Andrew Montello to praise his work.

“They don’t even have their own home field,” Griffis said. “You see a program like that moving forward and you’re proud of them.”