MARRIOTTSVILLE, MD — Two years ago, Patuxent's Alex Thompson was only a freshman warming on the bench when his Panthers ended Marriotts Ridge's season on a passed ball in the bottom of the seventh inning of the 2A South regional championship game.
On Wednesday, when the Panthers traveled to Marriotts Ridge for a rematch two years in the making, Thompson played a much bigger role.
The junior went the distance for an 8-5 victory in the 2A South Section I final, allowing three earned runs on 10 hits, two walks and one hit batter, while striking out 12 and firing more than 130 pitches in the comeback performance.
"We've been fighting the whole year when we get down," said Thompson, who also hit a two-run double in the sixth, when the Panthers (12-10) broke the game open with four runs. "I was rattled at first and my change-up wasn't on, and I was trying to overthrow my curveball, but I just settled down and did my thing and made the right pitches at the right time."
The Mustangs (14-6) were trying to win their 10th consecutive game, and took a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the third on singles by Chris Morath, Brian Forman and Brandon Barrett (4-for-4, 2 RBI), three wild pitches, two errors, a walk and a balk. But the Panthers battled back, tying the game in the top of the fifth against Mustangs sophomore starter Gunnar Barnard, then blowing it open in the sixth.
Tyler Crounse hit a leadoff double to deep right field in the fifth, and then his younger brother, freshman shortstop Reese Crounse, drew a walk. Thompson hit an RBI single to plate Tyler Crounse, then Dane Overstreet sent Reese Crounse home with a sac bunt.
Marriotts Ridge reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the fifth on back-to-back one-out singles by Mark Augustino and Barrett, but couldn't keep control in the sixth, when the Panthers collected four hits against three different Mustang relievers, and took advantage of an error and a hit batter.
"We did it as a team," Thompson said. "All you've got to do is put the ball in play and things can happen, so that's what we did."
The inning could have been worse, but Morath caught a fly ball in left field, then fired a strong relay throw to third baseman Collin Kratochwill, who nailed the Patuxent runner at the plate to end the inning without further damage.
Thompson pitched a 1-2-3 sixth, and then Mustangs sophomore reliever Tyler Bohan kept it a three-run game by retiring the bottom of the Panthers line-up in order in the top of the seventh, getting help from an interference call at second base for an inning ending double play.
The Mustangs brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the seventh after a two-out single by Barrett followed by a Kratochwill walk on full-count, but Thompson got a fly ball to right field to end the game.
"I'm going to give these seniors all I've got, and I know they're going to give me all they've got," Thompson said.
Marriotts Ridge coach Paul Eckert said that even though his team has now lost to a team from the Southern Maryland conference in the playoffs three years in a row, this spring was still a resounding success. The Mustangs started the season 2-4 in conference play before their turnaround.
"My message to them afterward had very little to do with this game. (The Panthers) are a very good team and their kid was a bulldog. Our kids battled and put five runs up," he said. "They hit the ball later in the game and (Thompson) got into a groove. But I'm very, very proud. We have six sophomores and two freshmen on our roster, and our seniors played very well this year. If you had told me we would host two playoff games and finish where we did in the county, I'll take that.
"It stings, you would like to win, but I couldn't be more proud of the kids overall, and that's what I'll remember from this group more than an 8-5 ball game," he added. "They got better every time they stepped on the field, and that's what I was looking for. They really made great strides ... were we better on May 1 than we were on March 1? And I think we were. We were still pretty good on May 13, just not quite good enough to win this one."
Patuxent advances to play Southern in the 2A South region championship on Friday.
P (12-10) 002 024 0 – 8 11 2
MR (14-6)004 010 0 – 5 10 1
Thompson and Witte. Barnard, Stump (6), Feldman (6), Bohan (6) and Rumrill, Fellona (6).
2B: P — T. Crounse, Thompson.