Little League District 9 tournament
By Jay Morrison
Staff Writer
HAMILTON TWP. — The Hamilton West Side Little League players may be a lot of things, but superstitious isn’t one of them.
Even before Jake Pennington threw his first pitch Friday night in the winners’ bracket final of the District 9 tournament, West Side players were talking about keeping the no-hit streak going.
Pennington shrugged off the breach of protocol and did, in fact, throw the team’s third consecutive no-hitter as West Side rolled to a 25-0, four-inning victory against Lebanon at Testerman Park.
“Yeah, I felt some pressure to keep it going,” Pennington said after extending the staff’s string of no-hit innings to 14. “Our pitching has really grown from the past two years. We’ve got five guys who can go out there and do it on any day.”
Pennington gave himself all the offense he would need on the second pitch of the game, launching a monstrous, opposite-field home run to get West Side’s 24-hit attack going.
Hamilton sent 45 batters to the plate in four innings, batting around in the third and fourth innings and twice in the second.
“It was a bit embarrassing, but we just have to come back and play (today),” said Lebanon coach Mike Tuggle, whose team will face Hamilton/Fairfield at 1 p.m. today in the losers’ bracket final.
The winner of that game advances to the finals, where it will have to beat West Side twice in two days, beginning with a 2 p.m. contest Sunday.
“We want another shot at them,” Tuggle said. “We want to come back and show them what we’re made of. We’re a good team.”
Vince Sanford added a grand slam and an RBI single for West Side, Shaun Brandenburg hit a three-run home run and No. 8 hitter Zach Evans added three hits, including his first career home run.
“I’ve never even hit one in practice,” said Evans, who also doubled and drove in five runs. “When I saw the ball go over the fence I just thought it was just a ground-rule double. When I realized it was a home run, it felt great.”
Pennington also had three hits and scored four runs, Ryan Kellum added two hits, two RBIs and three runs and Cameron Stapleton went 4-for-5 with three RBIs and two runs.
“This team is going to pitch, and this team is going to play good defense,” West Side coach Josh Sams said. “If we hit, we’re going to be very tough to beat.”
Hamilton/Fairfield 11, Loveland 2: Shayne Rice went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored and also picked up the win in relief as Hamilton/Fairfield won its fourth game in a row to stay alive in the losers' bracket after a first-round loss to West Side.
Joshua Partlow (2-for-4, run), Noah Bauman (2-for-3, double, two runs), Davaughn Sneed (2-for-4, two runs), Drew O’Donnell (2-for-4, two RBIs, two runs), J.R. Combs (2-for-4, two RBIs) and Jared Berger (2-for-4) also had big games for Hamilton/Fairfield, which will face Lebanon at 1 p.m. today in the losers’ bracket final.