The Ridgerunner baseball team held their end of the season banquet on Thursday, May 23. Head Coach Donny Pennington presided over the event, which was held for players on the eighth grade teams through the varsity team. Grove’s baseball program has a winning record of 68-21 from four teams: Varsity (32-8), Junior Varsity (9-2), Eighth Grade Black (19-3) and Eighth Grade Red (10-6-2). The varsity team won the first District title in recent memory, the third Bi-District Title, won the Regional Title and made an appearance at State. The team also won the Mickey Mantle Championship. Of all these accomplishments, Pennington is most proud of the fact that the team won third in the Academic All-State with twenty-two athletes on the roster. The team maintained a 3.53 GPA. This is the second year the team has placed on the Academic All-State list. “When I first arrived, we had guys who had eligibility issues. And this year, we never even had to look at the list,” said Pennington. “We had a thing called the ‘Ridgy-Killer’, where you had to flip a tire. After the first two weeks of Ridgy-Killers, our behavior was really good.” Concerning the seniors, Pennington referred to goals that the athletes had made at the beginning of the season: to win the district title, to win thirty games, to become Regional champions and to make it to the State finals. “I can say that even though we didn’t reach that last goal, these young men have done so much for the program, turned it around and set the standard. You don’t win games by just playing three months a year. You don’t win games by sitting on the couch playing Fortnite. You win games because you commit yourself to becoming great. And if you commit your self, that’s where the program will continue,” said Pennington. In memory of Janey McFall and her dedication to the program, Pennington, Steve Craig and Johnny Gilson commissioned a bench made in her honor with her name and the names and jersey numbers of each of the seniors on the back. The bench will be placed at Jim Beauchamp Field. “During the season, we lost [Janey McFall] to cancer. She was a special lady. I’ve only been here a few years, but she was always smiling, giving me hugs and loving on me. Just a wonderful lady,” said Pennington. “All of these young men thought very highly of her.” The varsity team awarded seven awards to outstanding players. ? Defensive Player of the Year - Toby Cearley Cearley also won a spot on the All-District team as a first team outfielder. ? Offensive Player of the Year - Jack Gentry Gentry led the batting average with a .432, and was selected as first team All-District catcher. ? Pitcher of the Year - Cade Coble Coble threw 67 innings for the Ridgerunners, and was also selected as first team All-District pitcher. ? Impact Player of the Year - Gunner Jensen Jensen attempted to steal 42 bases on the season. Of those 42 attempts, Jensen successfully stole 40. ? Ridgerunner Award - Logan Evans, Case Marsh Evans and Marsh were a constant cheering section for the team, often causing the umpires and opposing coaches to ask Pennington to keep them quiet. ? Most Valuable Player - Chat Hayes Hayes was awarded Pitcher of the Year at All-Districts and made first team pitcher at All-State.