PINE GROVE – The baseball gods were not very kind, nor very consoling, to Panther Valley on Thursday evening.

The Panthers didn’t look like a 20-win club that had just one previous loss heading into their Schuylkill League championship game with Pine Grove.

PV played its worst game in many moons at the least affordable time.

Pine Grove threw a wrench into the favored Panthers plans on capturing the school’s first-ever league title by posting a 7-3 win.

“I told our kids that it was unbelievable that we were even here, so let’s go and accomplish something and get a ‘W’,” manager Keith “Slugger” Lehman said to his Cardinal squad before the game.

Lehman - who has been Pine Grove’s coach for over three decades - then watched his team put on a near flawless display to do exactly that on it is own baseball diamond - which is a true Field of Dreams.

Meanwhile, the Panthers seemed star-struck on the championship stage, stuck in neutral for nearly six full innings. They booted the ball around defensively, committing three costly first-inning errors, and struggled to get a clutch hit offensively until a late seventh-inning rally made things interesting before eventually falling short.

Those early miscues opened the gates for a six-run Pine Grove first inning.

“We got ourselves in too big of a hole in that first inning,” said Panther Valley manager Rich Evanko. “I don’t know if any of them were earned. We should have had two outs after two pitches ... the next thing you know they put six on the board. We picked the worst time for our worst overall game we’ve had this season.

“But you’ve got to give credit to Pine Grove. They took advantage of the situation we gave them. We made a bunch of mistakes, and they made us pay.”

The Cardinals had just three hits in the inning, with Carson Lengle’s ground-rule double that chased home a pair of runs serving as the big blow. Quinn Brommer and Ty Drumheller both added singles during the frame.

Before the Panthers had one swing of their bats, they were down six runs.

PV got one back in the bottom of the frame when Chase Weaver scored on an RBI single by the hot-hitting Brody Breiner.

Thereafter, the Panthers couldn’t produce a timely hit to help them creep back into the game. They left 10 runners on base, including two in the first, second, third, fifth and seventh innings.

Credit winning pitcher Garrett Brandt with working his magic to escape threat-after-threat. The crafty senior hardly overpowers or blows fastballs past the would-be batters. But he is efficient and effective, and doesn’t hurt himself.

“Unbelievable,” was the way Lehman described Brandt’s style. “He was on his fifth day of rest, and if we make a couple of plays, he gets a complete game.”

Brandt was touched for only five hits and walked one, while striking out seven. He also had to pitch around several errors by his teammates before being replaced in the seventh by Lengle after reaching his 100-pitch limit.

The pitching change seemed like a breath of fresh air for Panther Valley in its final at bats as it mustered up a two-run rally. Weaver singled for the second time to open the seventh, Mike Pascoe drew a free pass and Cody Orsulak singled to juice the bases.

Hayden Goida would loft a sacrifice fly to plate a run, before another hit by Breiner reloaded the bases with just one out. Brad Hood singled to cut the margin to 7-3 and bring the tying run to the plate.

Drew Kokinda then drilled a hard grounder to first, but Brandt - who moved their after leaving the mound - was positioned perfectly and fielded the ball to turn a game-ending unassisted double play.

“We took advantage early on with their mistakes and put some hits together, and fortunately it worked out for us,” Lehman said.

TOUGH LUCK

… Panther Valley is a good team that doesn’t usually make mistakes the way it did Thursday. But Pine Grove is good too - and red hot - and it made the Panthers pay.

HOODLESS

… With star player Stephen Hood still dealing with a shoulder issue and not in the lineup, Evanko had to juggle the batting order. Hood is a very good hitter, but it appears like he might be limited at the plate during the postseason.

GEMS AND MORE GEMS

… Some superb shortstop play by Pascoe drew a lot of oohs and aahs from the stands. The kid is as smooth as silk.

NEXT STOP

… Panther Valley and Pine Grove will both open District 11 Class 3A tournament play next week. They could meet again in the district semifinals if they both win their opening games.

STILL ELUSIVE

… Panther Valley will need to wait another season to try and win its first ever a league title..Meanwhile, Pine Grove won its first league title since 2012.

Pine Grove 600 001 0 – 7 8 3

Panther Vy. 100 000 2 – 3 5 3

Brandt, Lengle (7) and Zimmerman; B. Hood, Pascoe (7) and Orsulak. W – Brandt L – B. Hood