Parkdale Baseball Faces Defeat From Roosevelt

After falling behind early and suffering a lopsided 27-1 defeat in the first game of Thursday’s baseball doubleheader against Eleanor Roosevelt, the Parkdale Panthers jumped out to an early lead in Game Two.

The early advantage was short-lived, though, as Roosevelt capitalized on timely hitting and several Parkdale errors to win the game, 11-5, and complete a sweep of the two-game set.

“That’s one thing about Bowie and Roosevelt: they don’t make too many errors,” Parkdale assistant coach Fred Howze said. “And like they say, defense wins ball games. Even the teams that we have beaten really have played better defense than we have, I’d say.”

The Panthers fell to 8-6 against Prince George’s County foes while the Raiders improved to 13-2.

Roosevelt wasted little time getting started, as it hit two home runs in the first inning of Thursday’s opening game en route to a quick six-run lead. The game was eventually stopped after five innings due to the 10-run mercy rule.

“The first game, [the coaches] thought we were scared, ’cause of the name ‘Roosevelt,’” Parkdale senior outfielder/pitcher Vincent “Scooter” Jenkins said, “but we really weren’t. We were playing our game and making plays but we had a few errors here and there and some bad plays out in the outfield."

"The second game, they talked to us like, ‘It’s just a name.’ We can really beat them, I think, if we just play our game," Jenkins added.

The Panthers struck first in the second game, as Jenkins hit a home run off of Roosevelt junior starting pitcher Bobby Browning to give Parkdale a 2-0 lead.

“I know I felt like it hit the biggest part of the bat,” Jenkins said of his homer, “and I caught it at the lowest point. I just took it and swung it through and it went over.”

The lead was short-lived, though. Roosevelt scored five runs in the second inning and five more in the third to put the game out of reach.

Parkdale didn’t help its cause by committing a series of errors that led to several Roosevelt runs.

“We’re just not making plays,” Howze said. “You’ve got to make plays. Just like in the outfield, I tell them, ‘You can’t not snag that ball in the outfield, you’ve got to put your body in front of the ball – at least keep it in front of you,’ and we just can’t do that. If it gets by you, it’s going to the fence, and now you’ve got to go all the way down, pick it up and then turn and throw.”

Despite the losses, Parkdale remains in fourth place among Prince George’s 4A teams as the season winds down.

“We’re good but we can be a lot better, though,” Jenkins said. “We can be way better. We’re a good team and we’re going to make it far, though. After this one, we’re going to be good.”