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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

MOUNTAIN BROOK – The Pelham Panthers improved to 5-0 on the season with a pair of big road wins on Saturday, Feb. 22.

Pelham defeated the Mountain Brook Spartans 5-3 before earning an 11-0 victory over the John Carroll Catholic Cavaliers at Mountain Brook High School.

The Panthers’ undefeated season would come to an end a couple of days later when they lost 7-0 to one of the top teams in Class 7A in Hewitt-Trussville on Monday, Feb. 24. Pelham would also lose on the road on Tuesday, Feb. 25 against the Briarwood Christian Lions by a score of 14-4.

In the first game of Saturday against Mountain Brook, neither team scored until the bottom of the third when the Spartans capitalized off a lead-off walk with a pair of one-out RBI doubles to take a 2-0 lead.

However, it was just about all Panthers the rest of the way. A Dylan Smith one-out single followed by a hit by pitch set up Fitts to hit an RBI single on the first pitch he saw to cut the deficit to 2-1.

Pelham then loaded up the bases in the top of the fifth with a Funderburk single followed by a walk and a hit by pitch.

Now with full bases and an empty out count, the Panthers brushed off a strikeout and got a bases-clearing double from Smith to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead.

Two batters later, Fitts came up with another big hit as he doubled to score a run and end the inning with a 5-2 lead.

The Spartans clawed back a run in the bottom of the seventh, but Pelham limited them after that to take the two-run win.

Woodall got the win with three strikeouts in five innings against two runs, five hits and two walks. Six got the save by allowing no runs in an inning of play, surrendering just one walk in the process.

Smith finished 2-for-4 with three RBI while Fitts was 2-for-3 with a pair of run-scoring hits.

The Panthers carried that momentum into the second game of the day against John Carroll and dominated from first to last pitch.

After a one-out double and a walk in the top of the first, the Panthers survived a pop out to load the bases when Fitts was hit by a pitch and score off a walk on Lee.

Smith came home off a wild pitch during the next at bat to make the lead 2-0 going into the second.

Two walks and a pair of wild pitches gave Pelham runners on the corners to start the second, and a third wild pitch brought Jett Hopwood home for the third run of the game. Funderburk scored on the next play to increase the lead to 4-0.

While the Panthers didn’t score in the third, an error with one out in the top of the fourth put Funderburk on second. Two batters later, Andrew Petrock ripped a triple to make it a 5-0 lead before coming home on a Smith single on the next play.

From there, a Fitts RBI single, Lee RBI triple and Ryan Hurd RBI single capped off the scoring as Pelham took the 11-0 win.

Fitts allowed just one hit in five shutout innings while taking six strikeouts to earn the win.

Smith went 2-for-3 at the plate with a walk, two RBI and two runs while Petrock had a 2-for-4 game with three runs and an RBI triple.

While Pelham lost its next two games, it will look to add to its 5-2 record on Saturday, March 1 at 11 a.m. against the Orange Beach Makos.