Baseball Fights Back in Walk-Off Win

For weeks, the varsity baseball team and its head coach Rob Skowronek have been claiming to hate playing at home.

But this past Monday, they finally conquered their Knight Park demons, climbing back—from two separate deficits of at least two runs—to defeat the Overbrook High School Rams 8-7, with a walk-off base on balls in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Right-fielder Eric Cortez drew the walk after a late-game rally, which was sparked by inspiring offense from several other Panthers players. Junior shortstop Chris Michael tied the game with an RBI-single just two batters prior.

Michael's impressive day stretched from the field to at home plate. Cleanly fielding every ball he met, he also took base with every at-bat. Michael was 3-4 with two doubles, a single and a walk, and reached base on a throwing error in the first inning.

“I was just feeling real comfortable,” said Michael. “At the plate and in the field, we had a rough week, so I just wanted to come out and play hard.”

Though last week's two missteps were behind them, Panthers seemed to dwell on the past in the early part of Monday's game. Collingswood found themselves down 3-0 before even getting to bat in the first inning, and on the wrong end of a 5-0 score heading into the bottom of the third.

“What was I thinking?” asked Skowronek. “Here we go again. We have a tendency to find ourselves down early on, and in the position to have to play from behind. This team almost prefers to play on the road, and we’ve been saying that for weeks. We like getting out to early leads so we don’t have to try to come back all the time.”

In spite of earlier deficits, Panthers played with a gritty determination and a flare for the dramatic—with clutch performances from several players securing Monday's win.

Third baseman and relief pitcher Alex Irwin went 4-for-5 with a single in the seventh inning. Catcher Jake Tackett went 3-for-4 with one walk, two singles, a double, and four RBIs'.

“Jake wasn’t getting a lot of time in the beginning of the season,” said Skowronek. “But he’s just a gamer. He’s worked so hard to get where he is, and he’s ready to play all the time.”

Monday's victory left Panthers with hope that more good fortune will follow before they begin their playoff run.