The PECI Panthers went into the Bay of Quinte Finals at Melrose Park in Tyendinaga Township last week knowing the St. Theresa Titans were hungry to avenge last season’s heartbreaking loss.

The Panthers had walked off the Titans at Field of Dreams, claiming the Quinte Pennant in dramatic fashion.

This time around, there was no dramatic finish and no joy in the Panthers’ dugout at the end of seven innings. Their first loss in this year’s campaign was at hand. After four scoreless innings, the Titans cruised to an 8-2 win, taking the title and earning top seed at the Central Ontario championships played in Melrose on the Monday. The winner of that four-team tournament, which featured the top two squads out of the Kawartha Pine Ridge School District,  PECI and St. Theresa, goes on to play in the East Regionals championships early next month.

The secondary school baseball circuit in Quinte are the Panthers and the Titans and not always in that order. Then the rest of the teams making up the Bay of Quinte Conference.

“It always seems to be us and them at the end,” said PECI Skipper Kyle Gould. “It’s an intense rivalry and it’s not going away anytime soon.”

Forever Rivals

PECI had reason to believe they would back-to-back the championship given they had not tasted defeat all season long. The Bay of Quinte went with a divisional set up this season; the Titans and Panthers didn’t hook up during the regular season. 

But the Panthers knew the Titans were out there, waiting.

Starting off the year, Coach Gould wasn’t exactly sure what he had in a squad hit hard by graduation.

“We had a lot of question marks this spring on how the team would look and perform. We like to have a lot of depth and use our bench as an advantage.”

PECI was able to get great mileage out of sophomores Ethan Thompson and Grady Holmes as well as rookies like Avery Longwell.

“It was really the perfect storm for us. A lot of these players were able to come in, learn on the fly, use their skills and talents and really buy into the program we have built.”

At the top of the order, Mitch Sills provided a little bit of everything for the Panthers. On his way to play with the Kingston Ponies of the Premier Baseball League of Ontario this season, he dominated from the mound for PECI. “Mitchell Sills is an elite baseball player and leader on and off the field.”

Meanwhile, graduating veterans Daiken Jones and Charlie Smith swung big bats.

Flip the script

It was Mr. Sills cutting through the Titans with ease in the final game, no-hitting St. Theresa through four innings and striking out ten of 12 batters. But PECI made a series of bad base running mistakes in the early going and couldn’t put the pressure on. 

With Sills and the opposing St. Theresa pitcher reaching their innings limit for the day, PECI couldn’t keep the Titans offence quiet and were unable to generate much at the plate.

Down 6-0 in the sixth, Mr. Sills was chased home thanks to a triple by Mr. Smith. Mr. Jones drove home the second PECI run of the day and the Panthers had a bit of life heading into the final inning. But the Titans answered right back with a pair of runs as PECI uncharacteristically threw the ball around.

“We talked about giving outs to teams this season and against teams like the Titans, they make you pay every time. We had chances in the early going and we made three base running mistakes in a row and that really cost us,” the coach said.

One silver lining the Panthers were clinging to after the loss was that after besting St. Theresa’s in last year’s Bay of Quinte final, PECI wound up bowing out of the first game of the 2023 COSAA championship while the Titans won the tournament and moved on to the Ontario championships.

“We will be definitely looking to flip the script like they did,” Mr Gould added.