Connie Mack: Brandon Tressler drives in five as Mustangs top Panthers
The Summerlin Panthers baseball team fields players from Palo Verde High School during the summer.
And while the squad doesn’t have all of its key components from the spring season, that doesn’t take away from the fact the program just won the high school state championship exactly two months ago.
Just ask the second-seeded Las Vegas Mustangs, who delivered a message in the opening round of the Connie Mack state tournament Wednesday night at Faith Lutheran with a 12-6 victory over the Panthers.
The Mustangs will face the Las Vegas Wildcats on at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday. The Southern Nevada Falcons will meet the Panthers in an elimination game at 6 p.m.
“We wanted to win really bad, it took a team effort and we all understood that we were below them, so it motivated us even more,” said Branson Tressler, who led a 13-hit attack for the Mustangs by going 4-for-4 with a double, home run, five RBIs and two runs. “We wanted to show everybody that we had would it takes.”
Jacob Schilder went 3-for-5 with four runs scored for the Mustangs,.
“They’re in our division (in high school) and for the last two years we’ve seen three times (each year); they got us this past year, swept us,” Mustangs coach Frank Tousa said. “So they kind of wanted to put their name out there, we’re someone to be reckoned with.”
The Mustangs, based out of Shadow Ridge, wasted no time in jumping on Panthers starter Michael Stanley, scoring two runs in each of the first two innings, and chasing him in the third, when they plated four.
Ashton Caniglia opened the third with double to straight-away center, ending Stanley’s night on the mound. After a bases-loaded walk, a sacrifice for an RBI and an RBI fielder’s choice, Tressler’s run-scoring single made it 8-1.
The Panthers made things interesting, cutting the deficit to 8-5 after four, but the Mustangs added three in the fifth and two more in the sixth on Tressler’s homer over the left-field wall to put the game out of reach.
“I’ve actually been struggling hitting, so I’ve been working really hard trying to figure out all the little tweaks and things I need to make,” Tressler said. “I just tried to make contact today, I had a good day today so I’m happy with it.”
Las Vegas Wildcats 1, Southern Nevada Falcons 0 — Leonel Anaya struck out 13 in a pitchers’ duel that saw Falcons starter Kelton Lachelt fire a no-hitter in the loss.
Layne Adaro opened the bottom of the seventh by walking on four pitches and came around to score when Jacob Peters hit a sacrifice bunt to Lachelt, who fired the ball over his first baseman’s head.
Lachelt had the only hit for the Falcons.