Jeremy Mains And Dylan Penn Hit & Pitch To Close Out Game

KEY HITS LATE IN THE GAME BY JEREMY MAINS(SAINT VINCENT) AND DYLAN PENN(PENN STATE GA) SEALED THE 1ST HOME VICTORY FOR THE SV RAYS TONIGHT. DARREN SMITH(SAINT VINCENT) PITCHED FOUR SOLID INNINGS AND PENN CAME ON IN RELIEF TO RECORD THE VICTORY, PITCHING THREE STRONG INNINGS, YIELDING ONLY THREE HITS AND ONE STRIKEOUT. RUN SUPPORT CONTRIBUTORS WERE MAINS-TRIPLE, SINGLE, 2 RUNS AND A RBI; PENN-DOUBLE AND 3 RBI; DAYNE HOLLAND(CCAC-SOUTH) DOUBLE AND A RBI; ZACH PODRASKY(W & J) SINGLE, RUN AND A RBI; JOHN RENDE(GROVE CITY)SINGLE ,AND A RUN; JASON PARIS(PENN STATE GA)SINGLE AND A RUN; ANYHONY MARODI(PITT GREENSBURG)SINGLE; AND MATT BRADBURN(PENN STATE GA) A RUN.


By John Santa, MCKEESPORT DAILY NEWS

Dylan Penn pitched three innings of scoreless relief and had a key two-run double in Steel Valley`s 6-4 victory over Clancy`s Pub on Wednesday in the Daily News League at West Field. The win earned respect for Penn and his teammates." This team, they let me be on it," said Penn, who graduated from McKeesport this spring. "I guess they didn`t believe in me (before), but I like proving myself over and over. It felt good today. We had a pretty good game. It was an exciting day." Manager John Laird`s team has done an impressive job of repeatedly proving itself to gain midseason momentum. With the win, Steel Valley (4-7) won for the third time in its past four games to remain in the hunt for the DNL`s final playoff spot. Graham`s Service (5-7) is in fourth place, with Klingensmith Insurance (4-8) and Clancy`s (5-9) competing with Steel Valley for the fifth and final playoff position. "My goal and (assistant coach John Rende`s) goal is to get the players who want to play, playing time," Laird said. "If they win, it`s up to those guys. We can`t win it for these guys. They`re going to learn to do it for themselves. They`re going to create the chemistry."
After starting pitcher Darren Smith worked through a scoreless top of the first inning, Steel Valley worked on getting the right-hander early run support. Clean-up hitter Dayne Holland and Zach Podrasky each had run-scoring singles and Steel Valley took a 2-0 lead. Holland and Podrasky are among the DNL`s best hitters this season with .548 and .520 batting averages, respectively. "We`ve got kids, three or four of them in the top-15 hitters, three or four of them in the top-10 fielders," Rende said. "We`re coming together as a team." But Steel Valley still managed to take some lumps against Clancy's. Former Elizabeth Forward catcher Buddy Wilson responded to cut Clancy`s deficit in half with an RBI double in the top of the second. Clancy`s then chased Smith from the game when Jay Moog drew a bases-loaded walk, and No. 9 hitter Chris Douglas connected for a two-run double to take a 4-2 lead in the fourth inning. Wilson went 3 for 3, and Zach Galasso finished 3 for 4 to lead Clancy`s. "I thought we were going to win it all the way through," said Penn, who will play at Penn State Greater Allegheny next season. "I wasn`t really worried at all." When Matt Bradburn and Jeremy Mains then drew walks in the bottom of the fourth inning, Penn delivered by driving a first-pitch offering from Jon Giuliani into the left-center field gap for a two-out, two-run double to tie the game at 4-4. "My previous at-bat, he got me with a curveball and struck me out," Penn said. "I was actually expecting curve, so I just set up and I saw a fastball right down the pipe. That felt great for me. Going out on the mound with that just feels great." Penn pitched three innings of relief, allowing three hits with one strikeout and no walks. Steel Valley provided Penn with enough run support to win his first career DNL game in the bottom of the sixth inning. With one out, Podrasky drew a walk and later came around to score on Mains` triple down the right-field line, which fell just under the glove of a diving Douglas in right field for Clancy`s. Guiliani worked 5 2/3 innings and picked up the loss. He allowed six hits with four strikeouts, four walks and one hit-batsman. "They know if we start jelling, if we keep the kids together, then we`ll be a little force in the playoffs," Rende said. "I`m not saying we`re going to win this whole thing, but these kids are getting more confident. They`re playing well."

Date: June 29, 2011     Time: 6:00pm      Venue: West Field