Plant’s Satin drives in three, shuts out Jefferson
By Brett Goodrich, Correspondent
TAMPA – Plant senior Robert Satin only needed 86 pitches to complete his utterly dominant, two-hit shutout against Jefferson on Tuesday. Satin also paced the Panthers on the offensive side going three for three with three RBIs in the 5-0 victory.
Satin, working at a pace that would make MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred proud, finished the night with eight strikeouts and one walk, facing only three over the minimum. Working to dominate the zone, the University of Florida commit threw a first-pitch strike to sixty seven percent of the Dragons’ hitters and only found himself in a two-ball count three times.
As a pitcher, regardless of the level at which you play, if you throw strikes, you will find success. Satin was living proof of this. Mixing his fastball and slider well all night, Satin was able to locate 66 strikes compared to his 20 balls, most of which came from nibbling with two strikes.
Postgame, the southpaw said, “I was just trying to get ahead of guys and throw strikes like I have been doing all season and let my guys work behind me.”
Plant senior pitcher Robert Satin (813Preps file photo).
Behind Satin’s success was a stellar Panthers defense, led my middle infielders Trey Freeman and Tanner Swank. Anticipating late bats against the 86-89 mile per hour fastball, the infielders were favoring hitters toward their opposite field direction. Perfectly positioned all night, the duo up-the-middle made several sensational plays that took hits away from Jefferson.
Jefferson’s Cameron Mallo and Jayden Vazquez collected the two hits for the Dragons.
Outside of the first inning, Jefferson (13-6) starting pitcher John Valle was excellent on the mound to counter Satin. Toeing the slab, Valle seemed a bit off to start the game, struggling to find the strike zone during pregame warmups. This carried over to his first five hitters, starting each with a first pitch ball and working each count full.
Jefferson starting pitcher John Valle (813Preps file photo).
To open the game, Plant senior Jack Meade reached first on an infield single, and moved to third on two passed balls. Satin then hit a shallow fly ball to right field, and Meade bluffed a tag-up towards home to force a throw and the ball sailed over the catcher’s head, allowing Meade to score the first run. Clean-up hitter, Bryce Pelleritti then approached the plate and hit a moon shot that stuck the light pole halfway up before returning to the field of play.
Plant senior Bryce Pelleriti hit his second home run of the season to left field in the first inning of Tuesday’s win at Jefferson (813Preps file photo).
After the two run first, Valle settled in and only allowed two more hits on the night, both to Satin. Needing 32 pitches in the first inning, the Dragon senior only threw 62 pitches to get through the next five scoreless innings, where he would strike out three.
It wasn’t until the top of the seventh that another run was seen. Freeman started the inning against Jefferson reliever Cameron Copple with a humpback line-drive double down the left field line. Followed by a walk and a fielder’s choice, Cash Strayer smacked a line drive to right field for an RBI single. The late throw home allowed both base runners to scoot into scoring position. With two outs, Satin climbed the ladder on a 3-2 pitch, depositing a line drive into the right center field gap to collect his second and third RBI of the game.
With the victory, the Panthers improves to 15-4 on the season and will travel to Lennard on Thursday; while Jefferson hosts King on Thursday in a district match.
⚾⚾⚾⚾
#5 Plant 5, #8 Jefferson 0
P 200|000|3 – |5|7|0
J 000|000|0 – |0|2|2
W – Satin (7-0); L – Valle (2-3)
2B – Freeman (P); HR – Pelleriti (P). Records – P (15-4); J (13-6).
