Parkway North Tops Summit in Their First Rematch Since State Championship

The 2012 MSHSAA Class 4 state championship rivals, Parkway North and Rockwood Summit, met for the first time since that day last June, in a Suburban South conference tournament last Saturday.  Parkway North was the home team, and things got started quickly.

In their first at bat, Summit scored three runs, but Parkway North cut off two others.  Instead of taking an easy out on another base, third baseman Ben Campbell threw home to catcher Garrett Taylor to make an out at the plate.  Then Garrett Taylor returned the favor, and threw to Ben Campbell to catch a runner stealing third base.

Summit scored another run in the top of the third inning, while North struggled to get on the board.  In the bottom of the third inning, Daniel Brodsky, Ben Campbell, and Jonathan Shanker scored for North, with RBI for Jon Shanker and Joey Hope.  Summit scored two more in the fourth inning, but once again North deprived Summit of another run, when starting pitcher Connor Ladig turned one to catcher Garrett Taylor to get the out at the plate instead of going to first base.  In the bottom of the fifth inning, North was behind 3-6, and time was running out.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, lead-off man Daniel Brodsky got on base with a base on balls and Jon Shanker was hit by pitch.  Clean-up man Garrett Taylor came up to bat, and in one swing of the bat, pounded one over the fence for a 3 run homer to tie things up, making it a new game.

In the sixth inning, Jon Shanker came in to take over pitching duties from relief pitcher Ryan Tierney.  He got a strikeout, and with help from the Vikings defense, put four Summit batters away.  The game remained tied after seven innings and went into overtime.

Joey Hope came in to pitch for North in the seventh inning and stayed until the ninth.  He had five strike outs, while the Vikings defense took care of the rest, going through four Summit batters in each inning.  Unfortunately, North remained scoreless as well.

Then in the bottom of the ninth inning, lead-off man Daniel Brodsky got on base with a walk, then got to second on a wild pitch, then stole third base.  With only one out on the board, Summit intentionally walked Jon Shanker and Garrett Taylor to fill the bases.  Joey Hope was the next man up, and he hit the ball to put it in play.  It was fumbled by a Summit infielder, but that was enough for Parkway North to walk off with the winning run.  What a game.

The two teams are scheduled to face each other again in their conference game match-up on Saturday, April 20 at 10 AM at Parkway North.