(See results of final round in A-section.)

By DAN BISER
Sports Editor

VINEGAR HILL – Whiteville High baseball standout Robbie Penny had a difficult time trying to subdue the West Bladen Knights with his pitching in the seventh inning of Tuesday’s semi-finals of the Jiggs Powers Memorial Baseball Tournament at the South Columbus High School field.

So, the Wolfpack senior decided to do it with his bat instead.

After West Bladen erupted for three runs with two outs in the top of the inning to take a 4-3 lead, Penny stepped to the plate in the bottom of the inning and delivered a one-out bases-loaded double to bring in the tying and winning runs in a 5-4 decision and salvage his seventh pitching win of the season without a loss.

“Robbie is known more his pitching, but he is also one of our most consistent hitters,” said WHS coach Brett Harwood. “He was able to come back and win his own ball game.”

Penny had delivered three doubles in the Wolfpack’s 12-10 comeback victory over North Stanly in Monday’s first round.

In Tuesday’s other winner’s bracket semi-final, West Columbus got a steady pitching by Timothy “Batman” Brown and some timely hitting by Cory Duncan and Kenyarta Smith as the Vikings topped host South Columbus 5-3.

In Tuesday’s second-round loser’s bracket games, East Columbus topped North Stanly 11-1 in six inning with Gator lefthander Caleb Andrews striking out 14 Comet batters.

Also, Harrells Christian Academy defeated Concord 8-4.

Whiteville 5
West Bladen 4

The Wolfpack appeared to have a 3-1 win well in its clutches as Penny quickly got the first two West Bladen batters out in the top of seventh inning. But a walk to Andy Coates and an error of a ground ball by Garrett Brisson made way for a two-run double to right field by Knight shortstop Jonathan Benson to tie the score. Jon Sweeney followed with a single down the first base line to score Benson for a 4-3 Knight advantage.

With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Whiteville’s Ian Hooks, Quan Gaddy and Charlie Gore loaded the bases with consecutive singles. Penny stepped to the plate and drove his double off the fence in right-center to easily bring home Hooks and Gaddy for the victory.

Prior to the final inning, West Bladen pitcher Jonathan Locklear had held the Wolfpack to three hits.

Whiteville scored runs in each of the first two innings on singles by Lloyd Enzor and Gaddy, and the Wolfpack added a run in the fifth when Penny’s ground out to second scored Hooks from third.

West Bladen got its first run in the second inning on back-to-back singles by Blake Sykes and James Davis.

Penny allowed five hits and struck out five batter, putting his season strike-out total at 85.

It was Whiteville’s second win over West Bladen in three meetings this season. Whiteville won its first game with the Knights 2-1 and the Knights took a 14-4 runaway in the second game.

Locklear and Davis; Penny and Enzor.

West Columbus 5
East Columbus 3

Timothy Brown held South Columbus to five hits as West Columbus took its first win in three meetings with the Stallions this season. Brown recorded six strikeouts.

Cory Duncan drove a two-run triple in the third inning and scored on an error. Duncan finished the night with three hits Kenyarta Smith drove home a run with two outs in the sixth and later scored on bases-loaded walk. Smith and Matt Russell each had two hits for Coach Ricky Young’s Vikings.

Ethan Ward had two hits, including a run-scoring single in the second inning for SCHS. Back-to-back singles by Dakota Piver and Buster James produced a Stallion run in the fourth inning.

Pat Worley went the distance on the mound for South Columbus.

Worley and Piver; Brown and Duncan.

East Columbus 11
North Stanly 1

(6 innings)

The top eight batters in the East Columbus line-up hit safely as Coach Karl Bracey’s Gators bounced back from Monday’s 14-4 loss to West Bladen to dominate the Comet squad.

Chad Malpass hit a bases-loaded double and made it all the way around the bases on a throwing error. Laython Ward drove in three runs with a pair of singles and Demetrius McKelvie also had two hits. Alex Williamson opened the game with a double. The Gators scored four runs in the third inning to make the score 6-1 and added four more in the sixth.

While tallying up his 14 strikeouts, Caleb Andrews allowed four hits, all in the first two innings.

Jack Kelly drove in the lone run by North Stanly with a first-inning single.

Andrews and Malpass; Ingram, Austin (4) and Sells