Jacksonville- The Ridgeview Panthers took their traveling road show to Paxon School For Advanced Studies in Jacksonville’s industrial district to play the Golden Eagles after the Panthers decided to take the longer road to the Championship with their bottom of the seventh inning loss to Ponte Vedra last Thursday. The Panthers didn’t disappoint the journeying fans as they got out to an early lead, allowed Paxon to tie, and once again, went into extra play to finally end the Golden Eagles season with a four-run top of the eighth inning rally that Paxon could not answer. In the end, Ridgeview posted a 6-2 victory, sending the Division 6A, District 3, 10-0 champs home for 2017.
Head Coach Roger Harvey knew coming into tonight, he had one issue his team had to conquer. “The biggest thing this week was trying to hold the pressure off; to negate the pressure. It still got by. I mean, we looked loose, we looked relaxed, but the pressure was there, especially on the seniors, you know it’s got to be there on them, but they handled it.” The game got off to a great Ridgeview start when the lead-off batter, Sarah Anderson was hit by a pitch and put on first base. Kelsey Solomen bunted to try to advance the runner, was safe on first and advanced Anderson to second. Chloe Chambers was next up and walked on four pitches. After a KK Sutherland fly out, Alyssa Adams grounded to third, scoring Anderson. Paxon would retire the inning with the 1-0 Panther lead. Both teams would go through the top of the third inning without doing any more than getting one runner on base.
In the bottom of the third, the Panthers gave up a line drive double to set Paxon up with a runner in scoring position with no outs. Sarah Anderson had a minor struggle and walked the next batter with four pitches. The next batter hit a ground ball to shortstop Alyssa Adams who made an error allowing the runner to get on. With no outs and bases loaded, the Panthers did what they have done all season by digging deep and playing spectacular defense. The next batter hit a fly to Chloe Chambers who riffled the ball back to hold the runner on third. The next batter popped out to pitcher Sarah Anderson. With two outs and bases loaded, Anderson walked the tying run in. Alyssa Adams had the next ball hit to her and she easily made the out, killing off Paxon’s advance. Paxon Coach Steve Brown commented between innings, he just beat two teams with slow pitchers, a combined 26-2, why can’t his girls hit off Anderson tonight. When I told that to Coach Harvey he said “I don’t know. I wish I knew the answer. She (Anderson) restores your faith in slow pitching. You know when everyone is looking for 60-65 miles per hour, hey we’ll live on 48 all day long. I guess it’s the defenses work so well together and goes in with the mindset we’re going to work our plays because she’s going to let them hit the ball.”

In the top of the fifth, after an Anderson double and a Kelsey Solomen walk, Chloe Chambers grounded out to second base as Sarah Anderson crossed the plate for the 2-1 Panther go ahead run. In the bottom half of the inning, Paxon singled, then had a batter hit by a pitch to put two on base. A sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third with one out. The next batter popped out holding the runners. The next batter hit a line drive to center field that Becca Medrano initially misplayed. By time she grabbed the ball and threw it in play, Paxon tied the game at 2 each. With the go ahead run on third, Paxon grounded out to Kelsey Solomen to end the inning.

In the sixth and seventh inning, neither team did anything with the single base runner they got on. In the top of the eighth, Ridgeview showed why Head Coach Roger Harvey calls his girls quietly dangerous. KK Sutherland got it started with a screaming line drive single to left field to get things going quickly. Alyssa Adams followed right behind with another shot to left field earning a single and pushing Sutherland to third. After Raven Little struck out, Cheyanne Vincent laid down a textbook sacrifice bunt down the third base line. Paxon picked the worst time to commit an error. The third baseman overthrew the ball to first and brought Sutherland and Adams home as she scored a standup double bunt, putting the Panthers up 4-2. Max Torres followed and after two uneventful visits to the batter’s box, she became Mad Max! On the first pitch, Torres ripped a line shot right through the third baseman’s legs for a standup single and moving Vincent to third base. Torres stole second and Reggie Boyd popped out. With runners on second and third and two outs, Sarah Anderson hit a fly to right field that dropped in front of the right fielder. Vincent and Torres both scored giving Ridgeview a nice four-run cushion going into the bottom of the eighth as Solomen grounded out for the final out. After two quick outs on grounders to third baseman Kelsey Solomen, Anderson walked the next Paxon batter. After a single to center field, the next Paxon batter followed suit grounding out, this time to KK Sutherland to close the game out.

Ridgeview will face Ponte Vedra at their field Tuesday night. The Panthers have lost to the Sharks 11-0 in March, 18-8 in April and most recently 5-4 in the bottom of the seventh inning for the division title on April 27th. About facing the Sharks once again this season, Harvey said “Well we run back up against our nemesis, Ponte Vedra, over there, on the road which is what we like. Deep down, I feel like they don’t want to see us again. We’re dying to see them again! We’re chopping that tree down, taking a hack every time. They (Panthers) are hungry. They’re hungry with their accomplishments this year knocking Clay off early. They are like- what’s next? What are you guys capable of? And Ponte Vedra is standing in the way. Quietly Dangerous. I like quietly dangerous. I think I’d put that on a Tee shirt.” With Ridgeview’s confidence in their defense and with a good night of batting, the Shark hunting could bring back the big prize as the fourth try this season could be the charm.