Dwyer Dispatches Royal Palm To Reach District Final

Colton Rendon shut down the Wildcats with a complete game shut-out.

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The Dwyer Panthers continued their season long domination of the Wildcats of Royal Palm Beach on Wednesday afternoon at Dave Manzo Field in Lake Worth. It was the third time this year that the Panthers dispatched their district rivals, this time by a score of 1-0.

The win advances Dwyer to the 7A-13 championship game and earns the Panthers a berth in the regional playoffs. It also ends the two-year reign of Royal Palm as district champs.

“It was exciting,” said Panthers left fielder Travis Braun, who scored Dwyer’s lone run. “It’s always fun when you get the chance to go to the championship and win a district title.”

It’s not often that a pitcher throws a one-hitter and still takes the loss, but that’s exactly what happened to the Wildcats’ starter, Tristan McKenzie. After leading the district with 46 strike outs in the regular season, he recorded seven more against Dwyer and the only run he allowed was unearned.

Dwyer sophomore Colton Rendon matched him the whole way though, pitching the complete-game shutout, allowing five hits and striking out five in the process.

The only run support he needed came in the home half of the second inning. With two out, Braun reached on an error and then advanced to second when Rendon tallied Dwyer’s only hit, a grounder through the left side of the infield. Chase Coppersmith then batted a high fly ball into shallow right field, where three Wildcats converged on it. In the confusion, the ball was dropped and Braun was able to race home for the score.

“I just hit the ball in play and they made an error that got me on base,” said Braun of his good fortune. “My team picked me up afterwards.”

Royal Palm threatened to even things up by putting runners in scoring position in both the fourth and fifth innings, but both times Rendon was able to clamp down and work his way out of the jam. In both of those innings, he needed only one out to do so. When Sean Malynn doubled to lead off the top half of the seventh, then advanced to third on Jameel Edney’s ground out, it was going to take a little more work.

“You have a runner on third with less than two outs,” recalled Dwyer Manager Frank Torre. “You’re kind of hoping for a pop-up or strikeout.”

Tristan McKenzie pitched a one-hitter but still took the loss.

That’s just what they got when the Wildcats attempted a daring suicide-squeeze. Travis Jacklin’s bunt attempt was popped up and caught by Panthers first baseman Alex Neher, but Malynn was able to make it back to third before the throw to prevent the double play.

McKenzie ran the count full in the next at-bat before Rendon and the Panthers decided not to push the issue and dealt him an intentional fourth ball. With two out and runners on the corners, Rendon kept the crowd of on-lookers on edge, falling behind Sean Houck 2-0 before storming back with three straight strikes to end the threat and the game.

“With two out, you’re just hoping to make a pitch,” Torre said. “And with Colton, like he has all year, he made the pitch when he had to.”

Both teams were effusive in their praise of the opposing hurler.

“Colton’s very good,” said Kyle Houck, a senior and team leader for Royal Palm who had two base hits in three at-bats in the game. “This is the second time I’ve seen him and I’ve had some success against him, but he’s a great pitcher. He’s got really good stuff.”

Torre felt the same about Houck’s teammate.

“Tristan’s a great pitcher and he did a phenomenal job,” Torre said. “We didn’t hit the ball very well off of him; we just got a little lucky. Sometimes you need some breaks.”

After two closely-contested, regular-season games, Royal Palm Manager Bart Wible had a good idea as to what to expect from this one.

“We knew that’s what it was going to be going in,” Wible said in regards to the pitcher’s duel. “It ended up being a great match up and we made two mistakes there in that one inning that gave them the one run. It was unearned.”

Wible also admitted that he could not have asked for anything more from his own starter.

“Tristan did his job the whole game,” he said. “Just shut them down. I mean, one of the best games he’s pitched all year.”

For Kyle Houck, the loss is a tough one, as it was the last game of his high school career. But he’s thankful for the time he’s had and has fond memories of his sophomore season when the team won the district title. He is proud to pass the torch on to little brother and Wildcats teammate Sean.

Travis Braun scored the only run in a pitcher’s duel.

“He’s going to be really good,” Kyle said. “He’s a really talented kid and he had a pretty good year. He works hard, so he’ll be successful in the future and I’m proud of him.”

Kyle will also miss watching McKenzie, who’s only a junior, continue to develop.

“He’s virtually unhittable,” Kyle said of the pitcher. “He’s probably the best pitcher I think I’ve ever been around.”

For Braun, the beat goes on. The Panthers will face off against Atlantic for the district title at seven o’clock Thursday evening.

“They’re going to be big,” the senior said about his remaining games. “If we get into regionals and keep on winning, hopefully go to states and get a shot at that… That would be exciting.”

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