Around Iredell Sports

2008 Jun-13

Warriors ace hits her marks to keep bats quiet

West Iredell pitcher Hannah Pennell tossed 10 shutouts this season in leading the Warriors to the second round of the 3A state playoffs and a 16-7 record.

By Brian Meadows

A ball and bat dominate Hannah Pennell’s extracurricular life.

There is spare time, however, and with it she does “what normal teenagers do, I guess,” Pennell quipped. “Be lazy.”

For the West Iredell rising senior, unwinding includes occupying a chair by the pool on a warm day.

When Pennell unwinds on the softball field, it’s someone else taking a seat.

The crafty right-hander was a strikeout machine this season, averaging 1.5 per inning.

Next year she intends to “strive for more.”

Say what?

Not good news for opposing batters, considering Pennell, the R&L county softball player of the year, fanned 215 in 142 innings of work.

Her brilliance toeing the rubber can be traced to a seven-pitch arsenal: change up, curveball, drop ball, rise ball, two-seam fastball and two real bat-freezers, the rise curve and screwball. But other variables weighed into a mind-numbing 0.79 earned run average.

“It’s not as much the speed as it is the spin and keeping the ball away from them. Hitting your marks is the biggest thing,” said Pennell, who surrendered 16 earned runs in 22 starts.

“I practice everything throughout the week. Normally, as I’m warming up, that’s when I see what’s working well and hope for the best.”

Complemented by a typically reliable defense, 10 of Pennell’s 16 wins were by shutout. She recorded a season-high 18 strikeouts in the regular-season finale, a 4-3 nine-inning victory over Carson.

On the heels of that performance, Pennell blanked R-S Central, a team with 18 wins, in the first round of the 3A playoffs. She mowed down 15 in the 1-0 marathon. The contest lasted 12 innings.

“She is an amazing pitcher and has a very good work ethic,” first-year Warriors coach Tiffany Haynes said. “In the R-S Central game, she pitched 12 innings and didn’t slow up any. … That impressed me a whole lot.”

Including a 17-strikeout masterpiece in a seven-inning win over Mooresville, Pennell amassed eight double-digit strikeout games.

April 18 wasn’t one those outings, but Pennell admits to cherishing most the 7-3 win over neme-sis West Rowan.

West Iredell had never beaten the perennial power Falcons since joining the North Piedmont Conference in 2006 — the Warriors were 0-6 during that time — but, for Pennell, the triumph had even more sentimental meaning.

Pennell arrived in Mt. Ulla that evening in time to warm up and take the pitching circle but did so after leaving the funeral for her cousin, who passed away three days prior.

“Her dad talked to me and said they thought they were going to be late,” Haynes recalled. “I was really worried about her pitching that game — Is she going to be OK? Is she going to be all right?
“She came out strong.”

With her cousin not far from her mind, Pennell struck out eight and helped her cause at the plate with three hits and an RBI.

“I played that one my best for him,” she said.

With command of the strike zone, Pennell limited her walks to 22 this season, with four hit batters.

Her plate prowess lacked the same wow factor, but Pennell managed to hit .378 with nine RBIs and four doubles batting behind cleanup hitter Kaylyn Chapman.

“Need to get that batting average up a little more,” she said, smiling.

Opposing hitters must be thinking the same thing after facing West Iredell’s ace.

Prep Roundup

Columnists

Search

Members

Local Connection

Syndicate

AP NASCAR

Site Statistics

Warriors ace hits her marks to keep bats quiet

Spring Sports Schedules

Polls

AP College Basketball

AP College Football