The NorthWood dugout erupts after Dominic Miranda crushes a grand slam in the top of the seventh inning to give the Panthers a 9-5 lead. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

SOUTH WHITLEY – The NorthWood baseball team is good. For the second time in as many games the Panthers have rallied from behind to take the lead and the win from their opponent.

On Thursday night NorthWood used a 10-run fourth inning to deflate Tippecanoe Valley. The Panthers followed up their first round antics by taking a win right from under the Whitko Wildcats on Saturday afternoon. This time NorthWood tallied seven runs in the seventh inning to claim an 11-6 win over the Wildcats in the semifinal round of the IHSAA Sectional 21 Baseball Tournament at Whitko High School.

The Panthers had struggled all game to hit Whitko starting pitcher Ethan Nicodemus. The Wildcat senior was doing work on the mound for his team and was giving most NorthWood batters fits. The Panthers got to Nicodemus a little in the sixth inning as they scored three runs. Whitko still held a 5-4 advantage going into the bottom half of the inning but could not get that bats going, setting up NorthWood with a chance to save its season in the top of the seventh and the Panthers did not disappoint.

Vincent Miranda drove home Tanner Cleveland to tie things up at five but then Dominic Miranda, the older of the two, stole the show in one swing. Miranda felt no pressure with the bases loaded and crushed a grand slam over the fence to send his team’s dugout and fans into a frenzy. NorthWood took a 9-5 lead and kept pouring it on. The very next batter, Hunter Lane, also went yard for the Panthers before Blake Cleveland would add the seventh and final run of the inning for NorthWood.

“We’ll take what we can get,” said NorthWood head coach Zach Benko about his team’s two high-scoring sectional wins. “It’s not our typical style of play, we usually like to get one run an inning, but we kind of slept for six innings there before finally deciding to show up in the seventh.

“We have faced some adversity this season and these guys have never really panicked. We were hitting the ball well today, we were hitting balls hard, we just hit them right at Whitko’s defense. We finally slowed things down at the plate which took him (Ethan Niocodemus) out of his rhythm and we were able to control the game then.”

NorthWood did control the game for the past two innings, but it was Whitko that looked as if it would be moving on for most of the afternoon.

After falling behind 1-0 in the top of the first, Whitko responded with a solo home run from Zach Snep to tie things up. The two team exchanged runs again in the third innings before Whitko finally opened things up in the fourth.

Avery Robbins and Tanner Gaff both had RBIs in the fourth to help the Wildcats build a nice 5-2 lead. After that Whitko struggled to get the bats going and allowed for the Panthers to get back into the game. Whitko would add another run in the bottom of the seventh, but it was too little, too late.

“We were right there,” said Whitko head coach Erik Hisner. “We didn’t lose this game though, NorthWood won it, give them a lot of credit. They’re one of the better teams in this area. Ethan (Nicodemus) did a great job at keeping them down for a long time, he threw well today. But, that last time around they got the best of him and you just have to tip your cap to them.”

Whitko was productive offensively for the majority of the game as the Wildcats racked up nine hits. Tanne Hughes had two hits, and RBI and a run. Landen Goff also scored and had a pair of hits for Whitko. Nicodemus had an RBI and a run scored as well. Nicodemus pitched six and one-third innings, recording one strikeout in the loss for Whitko.

“We’re going to miss these seniors,” said Hisner. “It’s not just what they do on the field, but off the field as well. These guys are true leaders and while we will miss their physical abilities next year, they will be missed as leaders more. We lost a lot from last year’s team and we really exceeded out level of talent this year and those seniors are a big reason why.”

Whitko finishes the season at 20-10. NorthWood will meet Fairfield in the championship game at Whitko High School on Monday night with first pitch slated for 5:30 p.m.