Cypress Lakes Pitches Its Way Past South Fort Myers

Austin Davis collected two of the Panthers nine hits.

On a Thursday night match up between the Cypress Lake Panthers and South Fort Myers Wolf Pack, a combination of strong pitching and timely hitting heledp propel the Panthers to a 8-1 victory.

Panthers starting pitcher Austin Hayman threw five inning without allowing a single runner to cross the plate. He collected a total of eight strikeouts in his five innings of work.

“I just tried to fill up the zone as much as I can,” Hayman said.

Panthers catcher Austin Davis had the first hit of the night when he was able to beat out a throw from the Wolf Pack’s shortstop for an infield single. Good base running allowed Davis to reach second with a stolen base. He later advanced to third on a ground out by Ryan Stewart, putting a runner on third with two outs for the Panthers clean up hitter Janmikell Bastardo. Bastardo delivered big for the Panthers with an opposite-field single, allowing the Panthers to score the first run of the game for a 1-0 lead.

The Wolf Pack was able to collect their first hit of the game in the top of the second inning when Chase Ross reached first base with a hard hit single. A sacrifice bunt from Patrick Doyle allowed Ross to reach second base. With a runner on second and only one out Panthers starting pitcher Austin Hayman quickly eliminated any chance the Wolfpack had at scoring with a strikeout and ground out.

The Panthers added to their lead in the bottom of the second. Anthony Davis delivered with a two-out single over the head of the second basemen to score both Robert Wegielnik and Jared Batiz and increasing the Panthers lead to 3-0.

John Morel prepares to field a ground ball at third base.

They added a total of five runs in the fifth and sixth inning.

“We were able to score runs throughout the game, and I think that is what was able to put us over the top,” said Cypress Lake manager Rick Little.

South Fort Myers avoided a shutout by scoring a run late in the game. Kenny D’Vincente reached base with a single. D’Vincente went first-to-third on a single by Alberto Oliveras. Justin Hughes then hit a deep fly ball that traveled all the way to the back of the warning track, allowing Kenny D’Vincente to score on a sacrifice fly.

It was solid execution that the team just didn’t have enough of.

“We need to do a better job at putting the ball in play,” said South Fort Myers manager Nathan O’Jibway.

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