Big Fifth Inning, Pennington Lead Speedway over Lapel
April 30, 2013
By Ben Grossberg
Lead Scout, PBR Indiana
Speedway, IN – Conference foes Lapel and Speedway faced off against each other Monday afternoon in a game that featured a good pitching matchup. Speedway sent Senior Bryce Pennington (Parkland commit) to the mound and Lapel had sophomore Brady Cherry on the bump. Pennington sat 83-86 and really settled in after the first inning. Cherry was 85-86 in the first, touching 87 once.
In the top of the first Lapel got on the board with three runs. After an error to start the game Cherry doubled into the right centerfield gap bringing in sophomore Todd Sherwood. A single from Senior Jacob Troxell moved Cherry to second and Senior Adam Taylor drove him in with an RBI single to left putting Lapel up 2-0. Another error put runners on second and third and a RBI groundout from sophomore Cade Luker brought in the third run of the game. That is all that Pennington would allow though.
In the bottom of the first Speedway got a run back. Pennington led the inning off with a double and Senior Austin Gosnell drove him in with a RBI single cutting the deficit to 3-1.
Cherry worked through the next three innings fairly easily allowing just one hit, but ran into trouble in the fifth. Pennington led off the fifth with a double and scored from second on an error. A walk and a bunt single from Matthew Turk loaded the bases with no outs. Cherry got a groundball to third and a groundball right back at him, both getting the runner out at home. With two outs now and bases still loaded, Cherry threw a good changeup to sophomore Sam Ahrens getting a soft grounder to third, but Ahrens beat the throw to first allowing the tying run to score. Junior Cameron Kinnick came up next and ripped a two run single to right field. Sophomore Collyn Carson followed with a RBI single of his own, and Pennington drove in two more with his third double of the day giving Speedway a 8-3 lead.
In the sixth Turk drove in a run with a RBI triple and Senior Quentin Billington brought Turk in with a groundout giving Speedway a 10-3 lead.
Pennington was dominant on the mound after the first. In the first he allowed three hits and three runs, only one earned. After the first he allowed just one more hit, an infield single in the third and then retired the next nine batters in a row. Pennington finished the day with seven strikeouts and just one walk to help Speedway get a 10-3 win over Lapel.
