3/5/02 Mustangs Defeat Langham Creek

Two top 10 ranked teams collided at Kingwood’s Andy Wells Field last Tuesday when Langham Creek brought a 5-0 record and one of the top area pitchers to face the Mustangs.  Coach David Denny sent his number one pitcher, Lance Pendleton to the mound in only his second start of the season.   Kingwood drew first blood when leadoff hitter Pendleton drove the second pitch he saw over the left field fence for his second homerun of the season.  With one out JB Sowyrda lined a double off of the right field wall but he was left stranded after two ground balls.  Langham Creek tied the game at one in the third with two singles and a walk.  In the bottom of the third David Hoke hit a long homerun to left center.  Despite a walk to Sowyrda and a single by Michael Hopper, Kingwood was again unable to put more than one run on the board.   Trailing 2-1 in the top of the fourth Langham Creek led off with a walk.  Coach Denny played for a sacrifice bunt and called one of his favorite bunt defenses.  The second baseman, Dustin Walls starts sprinting toward the batter just before the pitcher starts his windup.  By the time the ball reached the plate Walls is right up on the batter.  Despite a fine bunt to the right side Walls was able to field the ball and threw to second for the force out.  Pendleton set down the next two batters and the Mustangs came to bat in the fourth with a 2-1 lead.   With two out Ryan McQuarrie singled to right and Lance Pendleton walked.  David Hoke then drove his second homerun of the night to deep right center to put Kingwood ahead 5-1.  Pendleton shut down Langham Creek in the fifth and sixth.  Kingwood threatened in the sixth after a walk by Dustin Walls and a steal of second base but pinch hitter Matt Stanger was unable to deliver Walls.  Coach Denny brought junior Michael Hopper in from centerfield to pitch the seventh inning and just like last week things got interesting.  A walk, a bunt single and a hit batsman loaded the bases with no outs but a pop out top Buckalo and first, a ground ball to Sowyrda at shortstop and fly out to Ricky Cratty in right ended the game.  Creek did score two runs to make the final 5-3.