Pitching On Display As Dwyer Outduels Royal Palm Beach

Thom Szapucki led the way for Dwyer.

The race for the 7A-13 title is on and it’s a tight one. Going into Friday’s games, three teams remained unbeaten in district play. One was West Boca. The other two were the Royal Palm Beach Wildcats and the Dwyer Panthers. On Friday night at William T. Dwyer High School, the two met for an early season showdown that could have serious playoff implications down the road.

While the Wildcats are the two-time defending champs of the district, the Panthers are new to 7A-13; one of four new teams added in the off season. After a sluggish 0-2 start, they had won three straight, all within the district, to bounce to 3-2 coming into the match up. Royal Palm Beach, on the other hand, was riding a two game winning streak of their own and sat at 5-1 (2-0 district).

On Friday night, only one of them could walk away a winner. Starting pitchers Tom Szapucki of Dwyer and Tristan McKenzie of Royal Palm battled all night in a spectacular display of pitching prowess. But it was Szapucki, who added 10 strikeouts to his district leading 14 so far this season, and led the Panthers to a 2-0 victory.

After the game, Dwyer manager Frank Torre couldn’t say enough about the kids who took the hill.

“Those are both major division one pitchers out there,” Torre said. “I coached Tristan for a tournament or two in the past and I know what kind of talent he is. And he was great tonight. Thomas was phenomenal tonight as well.”

From the very first inning, it was clear what kind of night it was going to be. Neither pitcher allowed a hit until the fourth inning and Szapucki struck out the very first batter he faced. Not to be out done, McKenzie struck out the side in order in the bottom half of the frame. As if he were a poker player trying to call a bluff, Szapucki added even more chips to the pot by not only striking out the side his next time out, but did it by getting all three Wildcat batters swinging.

“I just stayed fastball, curveball pretty much the whole time. ” said Szapucki. “That seemed to be working out the best.”

Tristan McKenzie struck out 10 for the Wildcats.

One of the few times it did not seem to work was in the top of the fourth when, with two out in the inning, he gave up back-to-back hits. With two runners in scoring position, Szapucki regrouped though. He followed with his eighth strikeout of the night to get out of trouble, and the crowd of Wildcat fans on hand let out a collective sigh of disappointment, knowing that such opportunities would be hard to come by on a night like this.

McKenzie also showed that he was not invincible in the fourth. He allowed his first hit of the night when Alex Neher ripped a liner into right field. Neher was caught stealing to clear the bases but Duke Stunkle promptly took his place with a double down the right field line. A hit batter and a passed ball set the table for shortstop Brian Booker, who pulled a 1-2 pitch down the left field line for a two-run double.

“I was sitting back on a curve ball with two strikes,” said Booker of his go-ahead hit. “I just read it, took a swing and hit it down the line.”

McKenzie would only allow one more hit on the night for a total of four, while going the distance and striking out 10.

“I felt good on the mound,” said the soft spoken right-hander. “I felt like my goal out there was just to keep my team in it and I felt like I threw well.”

Royal Palm manager Bart Wible knows that in the future, his guys are going to have to hit the ball better, no matter the quality of pitcher.

“It came down to, we had second and third, two out, and we didn’t get a hit,” said Wible. “They had second and third, two out, they got the hit.”

Szapucki took a seat in the seventh, in line for the win having allowed no runs on just three hits.

“I just went out there, did my best,” said the Dwyer junior. “I tried to throw as many strikes as possible, let my defense make some plays, and they did.”

Sean Houck prepares for an at-bat.

With Colton Rendon taking Szapucki’s place on the mound for the Panthers, Wildcat Brian Hernandez gave Royal Palm hope for a rally when he led off the seventh with his second base hit of the night. Jessie Stebbins got a gasp from the crowd when he followed that with a loud first out on a fly ball to deep right field. Rendon then induced a grounder back to the mound and got a strikeout of his own to earn the save.

Torre was relieved to get the win and happy for the 4-0 district start.

“We’re still getting to know these teams,” he said in reference to being new to 7A-13. “But we know that they’re one of the best teams in 7A. We know that any time you come out and beat them, you have a leg up.”

For now, that “leg up” translates to a “game and a half” up on Royal Palm Beach in the district race. West Boca still looms though, and Dwyer will not get a shot at them until March 11th. In the interim, they will try to keep the streak alive when they visit Forest Hills on Tuesday.

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