Hibriten takes first CVAC loss

Terry Henthorne said he hadn't seen fire like that from his Hibriten baseball team all year.

It didn't matter that it was pouring down rain.

Facing their first conference defeat of the season, Henthorne's Panthers wouldn't leave the field as the umpires contemplated whether their game with Foard would continue. Hibriten (11-2 overall, 9-1 Catawba Valley Athletic Conference) trailed 5-4 after five innings - a game is official in the books after five complete - and a steadily-increasing downpour eventually turned the game final. But the Panthers weren't letting go that easy. If the game was going to get called off, it wasn't going to happen without the Panthers voting in unison for it to continue.

So there they stood near third base as an entire soaked unit, voting with their presence that the game should be resumed.

“We would've done anything to get back out there,” Hibriten catcher Trent Reynolds said.

Instead, Foard took advantage of a strong start, multiple Hibriten miscues and the weather to hand the Panthers their first loss since March 6, one day after Hibriten edged Foard 10-8 in the teams' first meeting. The Tigers walked out of Lenoir having snapped the Panthers' eight-game win streak, despite Hibriten cutting their 5-0 lead through three-and-a-half to 5-4, with runners in scoring position in what proved to be the final inning.

“No doubt about it, the rain helped us,” Foard coach Marcus Greer said. “But I'm not taking anything away from my kids. I don't think it was a gift. It was our night.”

The Tigers (9-5, 7-3) led 5-2 entering the bottom half of the fifth and in the conditions, both teams knew the Panthers' at-bat would probably be the final of the night. Jon Easton was hit by a pitch to lead off and Matt Edwards followed by ripping a double past third to bring the tying run to the plate. Pitcher Dylan Crump then grounded out to second, but Easton scored. Then Billy Copper grounded out and also drove in a run. With two outs, Reynolds drew a walk and Gavin Christian was hit by a pitch to give the Panthers runners on first and second. Joel Woods then hit a grounder in the hole between first and second in a spot where Tiger second baseman Landon Isenhour had to field it and then, with first baseman Andrew Wyant out of position after trying to track down the grounder to his left, Isenhour and Woods had a mud race to the bag. A quarterback in the fall, Isenhour beat Woods by a step to end the inning and the umpires stopped the game.

Henthorne praised his team for having a chance to win at all, because the Panthers got off to a rough start.

The Tigers jumped on Hibriten in the top of the first, scoring three runs on two hits, three fielder's choices and two Panther errors with the bases loaded. The Panthers also had a sure out at third in a pickle play that turned into a free pass back to second for a Tiger runner who later scored.

“The difference we saw tonight was one team showed up ready to play and one team was waiting to play,” Henthorne said. “As a coach, it's my job to make sure we're ready.”

Foard added a run in the third on a passed ball with the bases loaded, then its last run in the fourth when the wet baseball slipped out of Crump's hand for a balk. Both Tiger runs after the first inning came with two outs, just before a Crump strikeout.

Hibriten scored two runs in the fourth on RBI-singles by Woods and Jack Howard.

The Panthers, one game into the second half of the CVAC season, retake the field Tuesday at Patton. With the way things ended Friday, motivation should not be an issue.

“All losses feel terrible, but knowing we didn't play the full length makes it tough,” Reynolds said.