The statistics from Thursday’s District 11 Class 3A semifinal game between Panther Valley and Palisades were as close as they can get.

Both teams had eight hits. The Pirates made two errors while PV commited one. The Panthers left five runners stranded, while Palisades had six men left on base. Nine Palisades batters struck out, while eight Panther Valley hitters went down on strikes.

But the number that mattered the most – runs scored – was claimed by third-seeded Palisades.

The Pirates got most of their runs early in the game and held on for a 5-4 victory.

Palisades jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the top of the third. The Panthers battled back to within one, and got great relief pitching from freshman Stephen Hood, but just couldn’t pull it out.

“We battled right through the end,” said PV head coach Rich Evanko. “We didn’t quit.

“In the fifth inning, we scored two with two outs to get within one.”

In the seventh with two outs, Panther Valley threatened by getting runners on first and second. Despite that flicker of hope, they came up just short.

“We are a young team,” said Evanko. “There are times we didn’t play young, but there’s times we did play young.

“Our seniors did a really nice job of being on-field leaders. We have a very young group of freshmen and sophomores that are coming back, and hopefully they can take the torch and take the next step.”

Three of the starters are freshmen - including Hood, who took the mound in the fourth inning with the Panthers trailing 4-2. He introduced himself to the Pirates by collecting three straight strikeouts.

In his four innings of pitching, he gave up one run on two hits. He had four strikeouts and allowed just one walk.

“I thought he did an excellent job,” said Evanko of Hood’s performance. “He kept them on their toes. He got a couple strikeouts. He did a phenomenal job today. I couldn’t be happier with the job that Stephen did. I wish we could have gotten him a couple more runs, or battled back to help him.”

Palisades coach Gary Koenig said those early runs were key to the victory, as was his junior pitcher, Jaden Newton.

“Thankfully we had those (runs) in the beginning, because they’re a pretty good team,” said Koenig. “They did a really nice job against us.”

Newton pitched six-and-two-thirds innings, collecting eight strikeouts and giving up eight Panther hits.

Palisades took a 2-0 lead in the first when leadoff hitter Kyle McGrath hit a ball into deep center field for a single, and a couple of batters later catcher John Donato unloaded a two-run double off the center field fence.

The Panthers answered with one run in the bottom of the first when starting pitcher Derek Pavlik singled, reached third on a bad pick-off attempt, and scored on a single by Johnny Byers.

The next run for PV came in the bottom of the third. With PV trailing 4-1, Brad Hood walked, reached second on an overthrow and scored on a double by Pavlik.

In the fifth, the final runs for PV came when Louie Clouser singled and got to second on a sacrifice bunt by Pavlik. Mike Pascoe hit a double to score Hood, and later scored when Stephen Hood laced a single.

NEXT UP ... Palisades will face Notre Dame-Green Pond on Monday in the District 11 Class 3A finals at DeSales University. The loss means the end of the season for Panther Valley.

BASE HITS ... Pavlik had two hits for Panther Valley, a single and a double. Also getting hits were Byers, Pascoe, Hood, Hayden Goida, Chase Weaver, and Clouser. Six players got hits for Palisades.

GOOD ATTENDANCE ... A large crowd was on hand for the game at the Panther Valley High School stadium. At the beginning of the game, Superintendent David McAndrew introduced the starting lineups for both teams. He was assisted by Panther Valley Athletic Director Kristin Black.

Palisades 211 010 0 - 5 8 2

Panther Valley 101 020 0 - 4 8 1

Newton, Gurthier (7) and Donato; Pavlik, S. Hood (4) and Orsulak. W - Newton. L - Pavlik.