Hibriten rolls on

Turns out the reports of Hibriten's baseball demise were greatly exaggerated.

The Panthers made a statement to the rest of the Catawba Valley Athletic Conference and to all potential playoff foes with a 21-3 massacre of county rival West Caldwell Wednesday in the first round of the CVAC tournament. After dropping three straight in mid-April, the Panthers have now reeled off four straight wins at the most critical time of the year.

“There are a whole lot of ways this group could be going,” Hibriten coach Terry Henthorne said. “They could be going flat, finishing things up, ready to turn things in. Or you could get a group that works through some problems and decides to get busy. This group has done the latter.”

Hibriten (18-5 overall) pounded out 18 hits in four innings en route to the mercy-rule shortened win, including two two-run homers in the bottom of the first inning. The Panthers opened the game with five straight hits (and a walk) to take a 5-0 lead before a single out was even recorded.

“Lately, it just seems like we are seeing the ball really well,” Panthers third baseman Joel Woods said. “We are picking it up out of pitchers' hands, and we are hanging some runs up on the board.”

Dylan Crump and Matt Edwards each knocked a ball over the left-field fence for a round-tripper in the opening inning, and 14 different Panthers reached base in the game. It came as a great contrast to the last time these two teams met, when Hibriten trailed 3-2 heading into the sixth before rallying for a 7-4 win.

“Everybody just contributed and did what they were supposed to do,” Crump said. “I'd say this was one of our better games of the year.”

Woods and Edwards went 3-for-3. Woods had four runs batted in on two doubles, and Edwards had three RBIs on a home run and a single. Crump, Thomas Mabe, Jack Howard and Trent Reynolds each had two hits in the game. Crump also took the win on the mound.

The Panthers scored seven runs on six first-inning hits, then added nine more runs on seven hits in the second to take a 16-1 lead before West Caldwell even knew what had hit it. Thirteen of the first 17 Panther batters to come to the plate ended up scoring.

“Hibriten really hit the baseball tonight,” West Caldwell coach Kevin Abee said. “They looked like a first-place team, without a doubt.”

The Panthers look to be peaking at the perfect time, by design, of course.

“I think we are a team that thrives on pressure,” Edwards said. “In the more important situations, we usually come through. And we came out tonight and made it a good start to the playoff run.”

The victory sets up Hibriten for a second-round showdown with No. 5 seed Hickory, who dispatched No. 4 Patton 4-2 Wednesday to advance. The game will be played at 7 p.m. Friday at L.P. Frans Stadium in Hickory.

For West Caldwell (9-15 overall) , starting pitcher Jeffrey Rousselle was the only batter to record multiple hits. Rousselle went 2-for-3 in the game. Caleb Gragg recorded West's only other hit of the night.