Penny homer lifts South in extra innings

South Caldwell rallied from three runs down in the seventh inning, then beat Alexander Central on Cody Penny's solo home run in the eighth inning Tuesday. the Spartans closed out the regular season on a 13-game winning streak.

Down 6-3 heading into the top of the seventh, Spencer Smith started the Spartan rally with a one-out single. Dalton Hall walked behind him, before Jimmy Messer lined out to center field for the second out. Zac Greer singled to plate Smith and Dominic DiBernardi was hit by a pitch, setting up some Lucas Jackson heroics. Jackson's timely singled to left field scored two, tying the game 9-9.

Penny, on in relief for Spartan starter Cody Poarch, struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh to extend the game. He carried the momentum over to the batter's box, where he smashed 3-2 pitch over the center-field fence for what turned out to be the game-winning run. It was his fourth blast of the year.

Penny then shut the door on the Cougars in the bottom half of the inning with back-to-back strikeouts to end the game.

Smith went 4-for-4 for South Caldwell with two runs batted in. Penny, Messer and Jackson had two hits apiece. South finished with 14 hits in the game.

The nine runs allowed were the most by the Spartans all year. The previous high was two runs - to Forsyth Country Day, East Burke and McDowell. They had given up nine runs in their previous 12 games.

South also overcame a four-run first-inning deficit, rallying to tie the game 6-6 in the top of the fifth. Alexander Central stormed back into the lead with a three-run bottom of the sixth (on four hits), before South's two-out rally forced extras.

The Spartans head into the Northwestern 4-A tournament as the No. 1 seed.

They get a first-round bye on Thursday, and will host the round-one winner Friday. The final is set for Saturday.