Students Strike First, but Staff/Faculty Have Last Laugh

Published 04.17.2013

News

A team of student challengersAwaiting the pitchStaff/faculty team extends winning streakAbove all, sportsmanship prevailsPenn College students who stopped a staff/faculty winning streak in volleyball last week were hoping to do the same on the softball field Wednesday, and, in the early going, that looked to be the case. The students scored three runs on four hits by Rafael Correa, Alex Eberly and Lane Ackerman, then added another run in the top of the second. The staff/faculty team remained calm and struck in the bottom of the second, thanks to a two-run double by Kanen Gavitt that brought the team within one run of the students. Ethan Kline took matters into his own hands, hitting one of his two inside-the-park home runs in the third inning to tie the game. After the students added another run in the fourth, on a double by John Wuest, there was no scoring for the students in the fifth inning due to the magical pitching of Chester Rogers. Rogers must have sparked the staff/faculty team, as he only threw four pitches and the team was back up to the plate before the outfielders could even get to their positions. Kline connected on his second inside-the-park home run early in the inning, and Scott Kennell added two runs to the staff/faculty score when he doubled down the right-field line to give the team a lead it would never relinquish. The students added two in the top of the sixth to make the score 10-7.  Jami Hughes led off the sixth inning with a single after an encouraging pep talk from Kennell, and the staff/faculty team picked up two more runs. Rogers finished his complete-game gem by throwing only six pitches in the last inning, sealing the victory and sending the staff/faculty team home with a four-game winning streak in the series.
Photos and game summary by Jeremy R. Bottorf, intramural assistant