The wild card Panthers gave No. 1 seed Gates County a run for its money but in the end did they did not have enough punch to get past the Red Barons as they fell 1-0 in the first round of the NCSHAA 1-A playoffs.
Heading into the game Northside coach Keith Boyd knew hitting would play a pivotal role if the Panthers wanted to upend Gates, but a four-hit outing was not enough to get the job done.
“We felt like we were going to get some pretty good pitching and some pretty good defense, which we did, though a couple of errors did cost us,” Boyd said. “Ultimately, our inability to hit the baseball has haunted us all year long. We’ve lost a bunch of one-run ball games.”
Gates County (13-9, Tar Roanoke) scored the game’s lone run in the bottom of the first with two outs as it took advantage of three Northside errors that allowed the winning run to score.
From there, Panthers’ pitcher Ryan Arthur and the defense were solid but the damage was already done.
Arthur would go on to strike out four batters and allow five hits in a losing effort.
“He did exactly what we wanted him to do,” Boyd said. “He scattered five hits and he gave us what we needed. For the most part we played well behind him it’s just unfortunate for him to lose a game 1-0 on an unearned run, but that’s part of the game. We just have to learn from it.”
Northside entered the year having to replace some key players an ended the season 8-16. Overall, Boyd felt his Panthers gave a solid effort this year.
“To tell you the truth I feel like we had a great year,” Boyd said. “I think we overachieved and played hard. We were a sixth-place team that earned a wild card and we were able to battle a No. 1 seed that was undefeated in their conference and we gave them everything we had. It just shows the fortitude of the kids.”

Gates County 100    000    0    —    1    5
Northside    000    000    0    —    0    4
Hitting: N — Caleb Sherman 1-3, Neal Gibbs 1-3, Corbin Minor 2-2.