South Charlotte Panthers

The 18U South Charlotte Panthers finished second in the Perfect Game World Wood Bat 18U National Championships in East Cobb, Georgia.

The Panthers started first round pool play in the 154 team event 3-0 with wins over the US Athletes Nationals 2-1; Huntington Hounds 8-0 and the South Bergen Mets 5-2. The three wins advanced the team to championship pool play where the Cats suffered their first loss 7-1 to the Braves Scout Team. The Panthers bounced back with a come back win over the Florida Pokers 5-4 and a shut out over the Virginia Cardinals 4-0. The Panthers advanced into championship bracket play seeded 14th in the round of 16.
In the SWEET 16 the Cats knocked off the home town powerhouse East Cobb Astros 9-4. In the ELITE 8 the Cats held on versus the South Carolina Diamond Devils winning 5-3 to advance to the FINAL 4. In the FINAL 4 the Panthers beat a strong Savanah Chain team 9-1 to advance to the CHAMPIONSHIP. In the championship game versus Chet Lemons Juice the teams traded leads and the Juice hung on for a hard fought 4-3 win.

Hamilton Bennett led the Panther pitchers with two complete game wins including a shut out. Hammy struck out 20 batters while giving up 1 run. Mat Batts picked up two wins including the semi final victory over the Chain. Steven Neff also earned two wins including shutting down the Astros.

The offense was led by Whit Merrifield 11 for 28 (.393); Stephen Andrews 9 for 23 (.391) and Tyler Vogler 9 for 24 (.375). The Panthers had 24 extra base hits for the week including 8 HRs. Hitting homers were Byron McKoy (3); Stephen Andrews (2) and Preston Shuey; Garrett Koster and Tyler Vogler; one each.