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Panichi dominates on mound as Ely avenges losses to Taconite
Twice in a span of three weeks, Ely’s American Legion baseball team came up on the short end of close games with area rival Taconite.
But the opponents from the west side of the Iron Range hadn’t dealt with Louie Panichi yet.
The lefthander proved to be the difference maker in Sunday’s playoff rematch, retiring the last 10 batters he faced and finishing with a two-hitter and nine strikeouts in a 6-2 Ely victory at Veterans Memorial Field.
A four-run fifth inning snapped a two-all deadlock and Panichi took care of the rest as Ely improved to 19-5 and advanced to a winners’ bracket showdown with Esko, set for Friday.
Panichi, a senior-to-be at North Woods and part of Ely’s Legion team for three seasons, wasn’t going to be denied against Taconite.
A leadoff walk led to an unearned run in the top of the first and a fourth-inning error led to Taconite’s only other run.
But Panichi locked in from there, never allowing another baserunner and setting the visitors down in order in the seventh including a pair of strikeouts.
“Louie was just locked in,”said Ely Head Coach Tom Coombe. “You could just tell from the fifth inning on they weren’t going to do anything against him. He also showed a little more emotion and fire than he usually does. He wasn’t going to be beaten.”
Ely was kept off balance by Taconite’s Joss Parantala, a college freshman, until the bottom of the fifth.
After a leadoff walk to Drew Marolt, Panichi helped ignite things on the offensive side with a bunt single.
With one out, Caid Chittum’s single to left brought home Marolt with the goahead run, and college freshman Erron Anderson doubled to the gap to make it 4-2.
Two Taconite errors led to insurance runs and Ely was on its way.
Anderson, who finished with two hits, scored from second base on a passed ball to score Ely’s first run, and Drew Johnson drove in another run in the bottom of the second.
Anderson and Panichi both had two hits for the winners.
Panichi, meanwhile, raised his record to 4-1 and lowered his earned run average to 0.67.
The win set the stage for this weekend’s Northeast Substate Final Four, back at Veterans Memorial Field.
Aitkin and Taconite were slated to play an elimination game at 2 p.m. Friday, with Ely and Esko squaring off at 4:30 p.m., for a berth in the finals.
Another elimination game would take place at 7 p.m. Friday, with the championship game set for 2 p.m. Saturday. A second game, if needed, would follow at 4:30 p.m.
The substate champion advances to the state tournament, set for next week at Bird Island.
“Certainly Esko is the favorite given the success they’ve had the last two years in high school baseball and most of those players are part of their Legion team,-said Coombe. “We’ll have to play awfully well and catch a break or two to have a chance.”
• Ely opened the playoffs with an easy, 18-3, five-inning win over Two Harbors.
A nine-run eruption in the bottom of the second inning, aided by numerous errors and just two hits, finished things off.
Senior pitcher Brecken Sandberg struck out seven batters in three innings and raised his record to 4-0 for the summer.
Brothers Sam and Ben Leeson both had two hits for the winners, with Sam scoring twice and also knocking in two runs.
Deegan Richards and Chittum both scored three runs for Ely, while Elliot Levens singled, scored twice and drove in two.
Marolt and Talen Jarshaw both added run-scoring doubles for the winners, and both Levens and Hunter Halbakken pitched scoreless innings in relief.
