Stuttgart second baseman Blake Rossignol receives the throw from home plate as Wiesbaden senior Andrew Meno tries to steal during a Division I DODEA European baseball semifinal on May 19, 2023, at Southside Fitness Center on Ramstein Air Base, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany – The Stuttgart Panthers entered the last-chance saloon in the bottom of the sixth inning of their Division I semifinal with Wiesbaden.

Time had expired early during the top half of the sixth inning with the Panthers then leading. But the Warriors dropped three runs to take the lead and force the game to go another half inning.

Not that Stuttgart panicked on Thursday at Ramstein’s Southside Fitness Center. In fact, the Panthers got straight to work.

Within three batters, Trenton Cook drove in two runs when his hit squeaked past the Warrior second baseman to punch Stuttgart’s ticket to Saturday’s final in a thrilling 8-7 victory.

“We wanted to win, and we just turned on a switch.” said Cook, whose teammates mobbed him at second base after the final run slid into home plate.

It was a back-and-forth game between the top seed entering the tournament but the second seed Thursday’s pair of games, Stuttgart (17-0-1), and the third seed, Wiesbaden (13-5). The two teams combined for three lead changes over the final three innings.

“That’s a baseball game right there,” Stuttgart coach Justin Ray said. “We love to play that kind of game. To be able to win a game like that, there’s many lessons that the boys can take from that.”

Wiesbaden sophomore Jack Lehr pitches during a Division I DODEA European baseball semifinal against Stuttgart on May 19, 2023, at Southside Fitness Center on Ramstein Air Base, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

From left, Stuttgart's Josh Zipperer, Jamie Arnold and Caiden Ray after Arnold and Zipperer scored in the bottom of the sixth inning during the Division I DODEA European baseball semifinal against Wiesbaden on May 19, 2023, at Southside Fitness Center on Ramstein Air Base, Germany. The Panthers won, 8-7. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

One lesson is resiliency.

The Panthers came back twice in the final two innings. First, in the bottom of the fifth, they dropped three runs after going down 4-3 in the top half of the inning. Then, after giving up three runs to the Warriors off doubles by Jonah Harvey and Jordan Reffeor and a single by Aidan Smith, Stuttgart’s Ryan Santana came on to close the door with three straight strikeouts in the sixth.

That’s when the Panthers responded yet again, ending with Cook’s at-bat.

Ray said his team missed that bounce-back ability last year but harped on it after last year’s title-game loss.

“It’s just something that we’ve preached,” Ray said of the team’s resiliency. “The players have bought into it, and we’ve had to do it a couple times. We did it against Vilseck in our last game of the regular season, and we did it two times today.”

Comebacks also were the story for Wiesbaden throughout the day.

The Warriors trailed SHAPE heading into the bottom half of the last inning, but scored a pair of runs to avoid an upset in the quarterfinal, 6-5. Wiesbaden coach Jon Ring said that win coupled with the sixth inning vs. Stuttgart showed the Warriors’ never-say-die attitude.

The problem in the semifinal was Wiesbaden didn’t get the last at-bat.

“The boys really rally,” Ring said. “When they know it’s on the line, they come together and get the bats going and make the offense work. So, I’m proud of them for that.”

Kaiserslautern junior Trygg Bredlow dives back to first base during a pick-off attempt at a Division I DODEA European basesball semifinal against Ramstein on May 19, 2023, at Soutside Fitness Center on Ramstein Air Base, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

Ramstein pitcher Christian Roy throws to the plate during a Division I DODEA European baseball semifinal against Kaiserslautern on May 19, 2023, at Southside Fitness Center on Ramstein Air Base, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

Ramstein 7, Kaiserslautern 3: Normally platooning in a game means the pitching staff doesn’t have enough starters.

The Royals, though, that’s not the case. Instead, it’s a sign of strategy and having almost too many pitchers.

On Friday in a Division I semifinal, Ramstein used three pitchers over five innings to defeat crosstown rival Kaiserslautern. Sophomore starter Christian Roy hit 49 pitches over 2-and-2/3 innings, but sophomore relievers Rueben Todman (34) and Conor McGinty (15) kept their pitch counts low.

That was by design.

“Actually, we had every single one of our pitchers today,” Ramstein coach Alfredo Rios said. “We were just going to go down the line, no more than 30-35 pitches throughout the day because we knew that we could do it.”

Roy said the Royals (15-1-1) are used to deploying numerous options, and they are not concerned with whomever may be the ace.

“We’re not really focused on stats here,” Roy said. “We’re just fighting for our brothers next to each other.”

Still, the Royals didn’t really pull away from the Raiders (8-11), and it wasn’t the first time that’s been the case.

The rivals faced each other five times this season, and three of them ended up being close – including two one-run games in the regular season.

On Friday, the Raiders jumped out to a two-run lead after the top of the first inning, as Nick Sullivan and Logan Bell crossed the plate. But Ramstein responded in the bottom half with three runs, two of which came home on a two-run single from Caden Nims.

Ramstein added two runs in the second and fourth innings to give themselves some breathing space.

“It would nice just to get one (over Ramstein),” Kaiserslautern coach Justin Bates said. “For some reason, we just can’t get over the hump. … Maybe next year when we’re a little bigger, little stronger, then we can get over that hump.”

Now the Royals square off with a familiar face in Stuttgart in Saturday’s final at Southside Fitness Center. First pitch is slated for 1:30 p.m.

The two met in last year’s final, and they also opened this season against each other. Those games ended with a tie and a Stuttgart win.

For the Royals, they have the advantage of playing one fewer game after getting a bye in the quarterfinal round. That means their pitching staff is less taxed than expected.

“It’s awesome to know that we have all seven of our starters to be able to go for the game tomorrow,” Rios said.