BY RYAN O’CONNOR

Tim Panella more than made up for his pitching difficulties with a potent bat. In the process, he kept Bow’s postseason run alive.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, following a Will Marvin leadoff single, Panella drove a two-run home run to straight-away center field to tie the game at 8-8.

From that point, he held Suncook to one unearned run in Bow’s 10-9 win in the losers bracket of the District 1 11- and 12-year-old Little League all-star baseball tournament on Monday, July 2.

Panella, who took the mound in the top of the fourth inning, gave up four runs, six hits, four walks and hit a batter, but struck out four in his three-inning, 70-pitch victory.

But the outing almost didn’t last that long. After allowing three runs in his first inning of work, Panella looked at his coach and said he didn’t feel comfortable taking the mound again.

The home run changed his mind.

“He came back to me and said, ‘Coach, I still want to pitch,’” said manager Gary Clifford. “I just threw up my hands and said, ‘Yup, you’re still pitching. There’s no doubt about it.’”

Joe Clifford impressed at the plate and in the field. He went 1-for-2, with two RBI, two walks and one run scored and, in the top of the fifth, threw out a Suncook runner by 10 feet from medium-depth right field.

Prior to playing Suncook, Bow lost a two-night heartbreaker to Nashua, 9-8, after the game was suspended due to lightning in the bottom of the seventh with Bow ahead, 7-5.

Jack Yvars hit a two-run shot in the first inning after Anders Hanson reached on an error.

Jake Rand hit a two-run double in the sixth to extend Bow’s lead to 5-1.

Nashua tied the game at 5-5, but Mike Penney, Marvin and Hanson loaded the bases with three safeties in the top of the seventh inning. Yvars walked to bring in the go-ahead run, and Clifford brought in another on a single.

The next night, however, Nashua tied the game with a two-run home run in the bottom of the frame.

Marvin hit a solo shot to lead off the ninth, but Bow left the bases loaded.

The team’s failure to score proved costly, as Mike Fox ended the game with a two-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth.

“Despite the bad outcome from a Bow perspective, it was a great game for both teams,” said the elder Clifford.

Bow then beat Pelham, 5-0, on a complete-game shutout by Yvars, his second in two starts. He has yet to give up a run in the tournament.

Clifford delivered an RBI single in the first inning, and Jonathan Patch added a two-run single in the bottom of the fifth.