Pinch runner Yabnel Pabon attempts steal vs Park Hill South
with Israel Ramirez at the plate
Senior
Dayton Horn tossed a four-hit complete-game shutout against Park Hill South to stop a five-game losing streak for the Hornets in their victory over the Panthers 3-0. It also ended an eight-game losing streak against Park Hill South that stretched back to when
Breaking Bad was in Season 1.
Horn dueled with Panthers pitcher Dylan Graebner who, himself, didn't allow a hit until the fifth inning. But he did allow seven walks in five and two-thirds. The walk to
Diamonds Cooper in the fifth would prove his demise, as
Bobby Grado knocked Cooper in to put the Hornets on the board. That was all Horn would need as he went the distance allowing only four hits with only one walk. He allowed a two-out double in the seventh, but erased the final batter of the game with a strikeout, his sixth of the game.
The Hornets had seen this from Horn in games prior, but either the offense or defense would faulter. This time, all three phases of the game were clicking as the defense only committed one error, ironically, on Horn on a pickoff. There were multiple strong plays made in the always-windy Creekside outfield by
Wesley Mcfarland,
Diamonds Cooper, and
Chris Kelsey and a couple of incredible plays deep in the hole at shortstop byÂ
Elijah Benjamin Lewis Jr to limit any possible damage. The Panthers never had two baserunners at any point until the seventh inning when another 6-4 putout on a fielders choice from Lewis to
Josh Mathew set up the end of the game.
At the plate, the Hornets discipline showed and it was either feast or famine as they chalked up eight walks, but also struck out ten times. The dam finally broke in the fifth with the Grado RBI single, then Northtown tacked on two more insurance runs in the sixth thanks to a leadoff single by
Kevin Pelico, a sacrifice bunt by Mathew, a single by Lewis that scored Pelico, and a sacrifice fly by
Andrew Krueger that scored Lewis. The line kept moving to the tune of three runs on three hits in those final two innings.
The win is the first over Park Hill South since 2013 and the first at "home" since 2009. Northtown picked a great time to start putting all of the pieces together, as they host their district rival Oak Park at Creekside at 6pm on Wednesday, then head to Staley on Friday for a 5:00 first pitch. The victory makes NKC 8-12 on the season and makes South 14-12 on the year. The rematch is set between these two teams May 6th in Riverside at 4:00 pm.
