Jackfish blanks Panthers in opener

WELLAND – Teodoro Ortega struck out eight over eight scoreless innings, and the league’s best regular season team opened the playoffs with a 7-0 victory over Kitchener on Thursday night at home.  

Ortega (1-0) only allowed four baserunners – two walks and singles off the bat of Yosuke Fujie and Petey Kiefer.  

Offensively, Robert Mullen went 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs. Greyson Barrett and Brandon Hupe each had two hits and an RBI, Brendan Luther singled twice, and James Smibert and Gianfranco Morello both drove in a run.  

Andy Vargas (0-1) took the loss for Kitchener, which entered the playoffs as the No. 8 seed. He allowed five runs on five hits over five innings, walking three and striking out four. 

Game 2 is Friday night at Jack Couch Park.