South Charlotte Panthers

The Panthers swept the weekend event and claimed the championship of the Greensboro First Horizon Showcase Tournament.

In Game 1 the Panthers won 6-2 versus the Heat Showcase 08's behind starting pitcher Mat Batts (6-1). Mat pitched 5 innings; giving up an unearned run and struck out 5. Clay Watson earned the save with 4 innings of one run relief while striking out 2. Leading the offense were CF Casey Gebhardt 2-4; 1B Richie Shaffer 2-4 and SS Garrett Koster 2-4. 3B Ryan Arrowood had a huge 3 run home run to put the game in the bank.

The Cats took care of the Heat Showcase 09 team 5-2 in the second game of the twin bill Saturday. Starting pitcher Corey Roberts pitched 6 strong innings; striking out 8 to pick up his team leading 9th win for the 2007 season. Justin Setzer pitched 1 inning of scoreless relief and Kurt   Semeniuk picked up a save with 2 innings of work; striking out 2. SS Richie Shaffer pulled an offensive hat trick going 4 for 4 with an RBI double in the game. C Ben Redmond contributed 2 hits including a double.

The Panthers came from behind twice to knock off the determined North Carolina Baseball Academy squad 4-3 to earn a spot in the tournament finals. Starting pitcher Ryan Arrowood (1-1) pitched 5 solid innings; striking out 7. Chris Fogleman picked up his 8th win with 3 innings of hitless;scoreless work. The Panther offense was led by C Ben Redmond going 3 for 4 and RF Tyler Tewell was 2 for 4 including the game winning RBI.

 In the Championship game versus the Heat Showcase 08's the Panthers won 4-0 behind the dominate pitching of starter Alex Wood (5-1) with 8 strike outs in 5 innings and closer Richie Shaffer pitching 2 innings; striking out 4. 2B C.A. Clayton led a 12 hit attack going 2 for 3 for the game and rookies Brett Austin  and Kurt Semeniuk hit back to back doubles to help ice the game.

RF Tyler Tewell and RF Shane Basen both had rally killing outfield assists to help lead the defense for the weekend. Catchers Ben Redmond and Tyler Tewell kept any running game in check; throwing out 3 of 4 base runners.

Fourteen Cats contributed 43 hits for the 4 game weekend. Leading the offense were Richie Shaffer 8 for 13; Ben Redmond 6 for 9; C.A. Clayton 4 for 8; Casey Gebhardt 4 for 10 and Shane Basen 4 for 13. Tyler Tewell collected three hits while Garrett Koster; Ryan Arrowood; Brett Austin; Chris Fogleman and Drew Casella all had two apiece. Other Panthers getting a hit were Joe Shealy; Mat Batts and Kurt Semeniuk.

The Panthers return to action the weekend of October 12 at the University of South Carolina Showcase in Columbia, South Carolina