Panthers GM calls season a success, despite semi-final loss to Barrie

It came down to a season ending tiebreaker with the London Majors to decide the IBL pennant.

The Panthers would eventually lose and finished second to London.

Kitchener would win a first round matchup in the playoffs against the Hamilton Cardinals and they would eventually lose to the defending IBL champions Barrie Baycats in the semi-finals.

“We felt pretty good about our regular season,” says General Manager Scott Ballantyne. “Barrie got hot at the right time and certainly a great team and proved it disposing of us fairly quickly in four games.”

Ballantyne says Barrie’s starting pitching was lights out in the semi-final.

“Guerrero pitched game one and game four and he had a no-hitter going into the 8th inning on Saturday in game four. Rowe threw game two was real tough against us throwing a complete game shutout and Matthew St. Kitts threw really well in our park in game three.”

“They executed really well in terms of hitting and running, picking their chances to steal off of us where most teams didn’t have the chance to do that against us. They seemed to just pick the right pitch to steal bases on and executed. The biggest difference was if we made a mistake, they immediately capitalized on it.”

Two IBL records were shattered this year for Panthers first baseman and designated hitter, Sean Reilly.

“Obviously, Sean Reilly having the hit and home run records broken this year was a pretty special moment for our franchise and a big moment for him in his career.”

Reilly broke both of those records against his former club the Guelph Royals.

Another big accomplishment for the Kitchener Panthers was being able to have three players from Cuba play in the Intercounty Baseball League. Frank Camilo Morejon, Ian Rendon and Noelvis Entenza all came over from Havana this year where they are teammates on the Industriales of the Cuban National Series.

Camilo Morejon has represented his country at the World Baseball Classic and the 2015 Pan American Games.

“Frank has played in the World Baseball Classic and various international competitions with a lot of teammates that have defected and now play in the Major Leagues and the Minor Leagues,” says Ballantyne. “All three are very experienced guys who knows what it takes to win, they fit in immediately right from the first practice on and despite some language barriers right off the bat, their english really improved over the course of the summer.”

Ballantyne adds Entenza and Rendon both pitched a lot for the Panthers this year to chew up innings for them in key situations.

“Ian and Noelvis gave us a ton of innings in our starting rotation. In the playoffs, they were going almost every other game and we’d throw Matt McGovern in there as our third starter,” says Ballantyne. “It was an experiment to start off with scouting players from Cuba and I’d say it was a very successful one and something we hope to continue in the future as well.”

One player who continued his success throughout the year is center fielder, Tanner Nivins. He lead the Panthers in home runs, average and RBI’s. His transition to the lead off spot this year compared to last impressed Ballantyne.

“Tanner Nivins is just a super athlete. He can run, he can hit for power, plays great defence, he has all the tools that you could ask for especially in a center fielder,” says Ballantyne.

“Nivins had a huge regular season offensively and is lined up to be pretty well the MVP in the league and we think he has a pretty good shot at winning that award.”