The Saint Jo Panthers won their bi-district playoff series against Vernon Northside on Friday, finishing up what they only briefly started the day before until storms came in to delay the game.
The Panthers won both games with authority 9-0 and 12-0 against the Indians.
Originally both games were scheduled for Thursday. Saint Jo had just scored the first run in game one in the top of the third inning when Trevor O’Neal put a ball in play to the shortstop which resulted in an error that allowed Blake Penaluna scoring.
With the Panthers up 1-0 heading into the bottom of the third inning, at first there was a lighting delay. Then a torrential downpour came after an hour which also brought with it a tornado warning that delayed the game until the next day.
When play was resumed, Saint Jo’s defense was led by pitcher Brice Durham picking up where he left off by striking out many Northside hitters.
The Panther bats continued to struggle until the top of the sixth inning. Sam Martin drove in a run with a single. Two batters later Kile Thurman’s hit to the shortstop resulted in an error that drove in one more run to extend Saint Jo’s lead to 3-0.
The Panthers pulled away in the top of the seventh. Cooper Harris drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Martin drove in a run with a double and later scored on a balk. With the bases later loaded, O’Neal drew a walk to score a run.
Mathew Everson and Collin Thomas were then hit by pitches in back-to-back sequences to score two more runs before out three, putting Saint Jo up 9-0 heading into the Indians final three outs.
Durham did not let them get anything going, striking out two of them and retiring the other one on a ground out to third base.
Saint Jo won 9-0.
O’Neal and Martin led the team with two RBIs each. The Panthers only had six hits in the game, but drew five walks, were hit by six pitches and took advantage of four fielding errors from Northside to score runs.
On the mound, Durham pitched a complete game shutout, allowing only one hit and one walk while striking out 12 batters. The Panther defense committed only one fielding error behind him.
Saint Jo did not have long to celebrate as game two started 30 minutes later.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.