At the beginning of conference play in April the Panther Creek baseball team had a stalemate with Apex. After ten innings the game was postponed for player safety with the score tied at two apiece. The game was picked up where it left off on Friday, May 2.

The Catamounts, who had the advantage of pitching first, kicked off the top of the eleventh inning by mowing down Apex’s first three batters in order. Apex found themselves just one pitch away from sending the game to another extra inning when Panther Creek’s Ross Moreau found himself with a full count (three balls and two strikes). Moreau swung at the sixth pitch of his at-bat and ripped a double past third to get on base with two outs. “With a 3-2 count, I knew [the Apex pitcher] was gonna throw it in the strike zone; he didn’t want to walk a guy on base with two outs,” said Moreau, “I knew he was gonna throw a strike and I just took it the other way.”

Next up at the plate was senior Jordan Hockaday. With a man on second and two outs, Hockaday needed to advance Moreau without getting thrown out himself. Keeping the ball away from first base, Hockaday hit the ball just past third base. Apex’s third baseman made a diving attempt to catch the ball, but missed, allowing Moreau to run home for a walk-off 3-2 win.

Panther Creek’s victory over Apex meant so much more than just another game. The victory over Apex gave Panther Creek the head-to-head tiebreaker over Apex for second place in the conference and, more importantly, clinched a playoff berth for the first time in school history. “It really is great, but with the group we had this year, we were expecting to do big things,” said Moreau, “

The baseball team has two more regular season games – a pair of road trips to Apex and Green Hope – before the playoffs begin. The Catamounts are surely excited for the uncharted waters the baseball team is about to venture into, and will support them the whole way through.

UPDATE: The Catamounts defeated Apex and Green Hope and will host Garner in the first round of the playoffs.