9-Run Inning Propels Hawks to Victory

Things weren’t looking good for the Eden Valley Hawks when they came to bat in the bottom of the eighth inning. They had already led at two different times in the game, but now they found themselves behind 3-2 to the Kimball Express. The Hawks first took the lead in the bottom of the second when Jeff Haag scored from second on Josh Schumacher’s single. But the Express responded with a run in the top of the third to tie the game. In the bottom of the fifth, Matthew Pennertz scored from second when, with two outs, Mike Arnold hit a hard grounder off of the third baseman that rolled a short distance away, allowing Pennertz to score. But again, the Express came back to score the very next inning, this time putting up two runs on the scoreboard to take the 3-2 lead.

So when the Hawks came to bat in the eighth still trailing by that one run, they knew they needed to get a rally going. After a leadoff strikeout, Chuck Geislinger doubled and was replaced by pinch-runner Nathan Geislinger. After a four pitch walk to Dan Hansen, the Express made a pitching change. The next batter was Josh Schumacher, who already had an RBI in the game. Schumacher came through again, this time doubling to left-center and bringing in Geislinger from second for the tying run. After a strikeout, the Express intentionally walked Joe Thiel to put a force at any base. However, with Pennertz batting, the second pitch got passed the catcher, allowing Hansen to score and the only force play to be at first base. That made a difference as Pennertz grounded to short, but the long throw pulled the first baseman off the bag, allowing Pennertz to reach and Schumacher to score. After a stolen base, Dan Berg singled to right, but the ball skipped by the right fielder, allowing Thiel and Pennertz to score and Berg to reach third. A Mike Arnold single brought home Berg, then another error on the shortstop allowed Haag to reach base. A single by Chuck Geislinger brought in Arnold and put runners on the corners with two outs and forced Kimball to make another pitching change. Hansen welcomed this new pitcher to the mound by doubling home two runs, and, when all was said and done, the Hawks had scored nine runs to take an 11-3 lead.

Matthew Pennertz, who had been pitching the entire game, kept the Express off of the scoreboard in the ninth to secure the complete game victory and improve the Hawks to a 7-4 record in the Central Valley League.

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