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By TYLER RALEY | Staff Writer

COLUMBIANA – Taking the field to close out the month of February, the Shelby County Wildcats made smooth work of the Priceville Bulldogs to carry momentum into March.

Shelby County secured a solid 6-2 win over Priceville on Friday, Feb. 28, putting on another defensive showing thanks to a strong outing on the mound by Cooper Pennington.

Pennington did not just make a statement on the mound however, as he created solid plays at the plate as well. After Colby Matherson led off the bottom of the first inning with a walk and later stole second, Pennington stroked a single into center field, bringing Matherson all the way around to put the Wildcats up 1-0.

Soon after, back-to-back walks and two strikeouts saw the bases loaded with two outs on the board, bringing Amare Pickett up, who hit a ground ball to the third base side. An error by the Bulldogs’ third baseman allowed two runs to score, extending the early lead to 3-0.

The damage from the first inning was done, but Shelby County wanted to continue to pile on. In the bottom of the second, Matherson drew yet another walk before handing the bat to Pennington. 

After Matherson stole second, Pennington hit a ball to the Priceville shortstop and reached on an error. Matherson scored as a result of the error, putting the score at 4-0.

The Wildcats’ offensive production halted for a moment, but soon returned. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Pennington reached once again after being hit by a pitch with two outs on the board. Tucker Busby replaced Pennington at first base and soon advanced to third thanks to a single by Hunter King.

With runners on the corner, Cale Blevins put the ball on the ground towards third base and reached on another error by the Bulldogs’ defense, allowing Busby to score and make it a 5-0 game.

Priceville finally responded in the top of the fifth inning. With runners on the corners and two outs, Matherson committed an error at shortstop, allowing the Bulldogs to score their first run and cut things to 5-1.

While Priceville had dented into the lead, Shelby County did not let that affect it. With Matherson sitting on third base and two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, Blevins legged out an infield single and drove in Matherson to extend the advantage to 6-1.

The game headed to the top of the seventh shortly after that, and while the Bulldogs began to threaten with a run and a chance with the bases loaded, things never got more severe and the Wildcats walked out with a 6-2 victory.

Pennington secured the win on the mound on top of his excellent performance at the plate. He pitched five innings on the day, giving up one run on two hits and struck out seven batters while walking three. 

Shelby County returned to action on Monday, March 3 against the Elmore County Panthers, but did not have much luck in securing a third consecutive win, falling 7-4 at home late in the game.

Shelby County now prepares for a game at Troy University, where they will take on the Enterprise Wildcats on Thursday, March 6 at 6:30 p.m. at Riddle-Pace Field.