Maxwell's run ends

The Maxwell High baseball team came into Saturday's Northern Section Div. V title game looking to wrap up their fourth consecutive championship and fifth in six seasons.

But the Panthers could muster just two hits and left 10 runners on base to drop a tightly contested 6-3 decision to visiting Fall River.

"It was a tough one," Maxwell coach Eric Lay said. "But a play here and a play there and we're right in it."

Fall River (18-11) took a lead in the second inning when starting pitcher Brad Kyle lined a single to right and came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Jered Vestal to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.

The score remained the same until Fall River exploded for five runs in the fourth inning.

A single, an error and a walk loaded the bases before leadoff hitter Garrett Barnett drew a walk to plate the game's second run.

The walk was the final pitch for Maxwell starter Steven Perry, who allowed four hits and struck out three while battling the stifling heat.

Perry, a freshman, was replaced by Gustavo Rangel who was rudely greeted by Mitch Pena, who clubbed a 2-0 offering over the fence in left-center for a grand slam, staking the Bulldogs a 6-0 advantage.

"I though we could've stemmed the tide a little bit that inning," Lay said. "But we got behind in the count and the kid ran into one and hit it out."

Maxwell got back into the game in the bottom of the fifth.

Hunter Stillwell started the inning by reaching on an error and Perry drew a walk one out later to set the table for Mitchell Barsotti with two outs.

Barsotti came through by crushing a 2-2 pitch over the wall in left-center to bring the Panthers within three runs, 6-3.

The three-run shot gave Maxwell (27-4) the momentum as well, as the Panthers drew three consecutive walks to load the bases after the Barsotti homer.

But Barnett, who came on to replace starting pitcher Brad Kyle after the Barsotti's blast, recorded a strikeout to leave the bags full and gave the Bulldogs some momentum heading into the final two frames.

Maxwell had another golden opportunity to cut into the lead in the sixth, but Barnett recorded two strikeouts with the bases full to quell that rally.

"We had our chances and more times than not we come through in those situations, but today we didn't," Lay said. "We had the bases loaded twice, but they got the key hit that we couldn't find."

Rangel settled down after the grand slam to finish the game with seven strikeouts in 32⁄3 innings, but the Panthers couldn't find the big hit when it mattered most.

"We worked the count well, we just didn't hit the ball like we usually do," Lay said. "You can do things right all year long, but sometimes baseball is just baseball."