Even without their ace pitcher junior Ryan Avidano, the Panthers still appeared unstoppable in their last three region games last week.

On Monday, April 22, the Panthers traveled to Drew High School and crushed the Yellow Jackets 15-2. Senior Artemis Kadkhodaian led the team with three hits and two RBIs. He also scored two runs. “I put the ball in play and good things happened,” Kadkhodaian said.

While Kadkhodaian led the team at the plate, junior Connor Dillon dominated on the mound. Dillon pitched five innings, striking out three batters and walking one. “It feels good to go out and pitch a good game,” Dillon said. “Knowing you had a big impact on the game and kept your team on top always feels good.”

The next day the boys faced Creekside at their home field. They shut them down 11-2 with junior Matt Buckalew pitching. He pitched seven innings and with seven strikeouts and gave up five hits. “I feel good about my performance and it helped me get my mental game back,” he said.

Then, on Wednesday, April 24, the Panthers faced crosstown rival Whitewater at home for the Region 4-AAAAA championship. In their first meeting against the Wildcats, the Panthers got run-ruled by the third inning, losing 11-1.

Sophomore Adam Goodman pitched all seven innings with four strikeouts and walked two batters. Goodman held it together to keep a one-run lead the whole game.

In the top of the seventh, the Panthers were up 3-2. In the dugout, coach Brent Moseley was a little nervous. “I knew it was very important to get the first person out. We also wanted to try and make sure we didn’t get back to the top of their order,” he said.

Whitewater’s lead off batter Taylor Turner hit a hot shot toward short and junior third baseman Seth White dove to make the catch for the first out of the inning. The next batter Evan Mask who hit a fly ball to shallow right which was fielded by junior second baseman Kyle Moseley for the second out. Goodman struck out Justin Trammell to get the last out and nail down the win to take the region crown.

As the region champions, the Panthers will host the first round of playoffs against Lee County today at 4:30 p.m..