VINCENT - Some nights on the ball diamond are all about pitching and defense.
Other nights are about who can "out slug" the opponent.
Tuesday turned out to be one of those "other nights" as both the Warren Warriors baseball and softball teams came up with 8-7 and 8-4 wins respectively over the Athens Bulldogs in Southeastern Ohio Athletic League play at Warren High School.
The boys team slugged four home runs and the girls squad collected 15 hits as the Warriors swept the Bulldogs on a windy and cool evening in Vincent.
Athens got the offense started in the boys game as Jacob Scheiner drilled a two-run homer to left field in the top of the first off of Warren starting pitcher Danny Pannell.
The Warriors answered in their half of the first by scoring four times with all the runs scoring via the long ball.
Landon Kern led off the inning with an opposite field home run to left field and second baseman Ethan Estes capped the inning with a three-run bomb over the big blue wall in left to make it 4-2.
After Athens trimmed the lead to one by scoring an unearned run in the top of the second, the Bulldogs committed three errors in the bottom of the second, allowing two unearned Warrior runs to score and give the blue and white a 6-3 lead.
Chris Ford led off the third for Athens with a rocket over the left center field fence to trim the lead to 6-4.
Pannell and Athens starting pitcher Ryan Ervin both settled down through the middle innings before Warren got solo home runs by Zach McKenna in the fifth and sophomore Gunnar Smith in the sixth to push the lead out to four at 8-4 heading to the final inning.
"One of those balls tonight may have been wind blown," said Warren head coach Mark Farr of the four bombs struck by his hitters. "Everyone hit the ball hard tonight including our young guys."
Pannell appeared to have things under control heading to the seventh but after loading the bases on a pair of hits and a walk, gave up a bases clearing double to Alex Staron to make it an 8-7 game.
Farr brought in Garrett Kennedy to pitch and Kennedy put an end to the Bulldog comeback hopes by fanning Skylar Swartzell to end the game.
"That's our season so far this year, we have to make things kind of interesting," joked Farr. "They (Athens) gave us some opportunities and we capitalized on them. We got the win and we'll take it."
Pannell picked up the win with Kennedy registering the save, while Ervin was tagged with the loss for Athens.
The win pushed the Warriors back over the .500 mark at 9-8, while Athens suffered just their fourth loss of the season against 14 wins.
WARREN 8 ATHENS 7
Athens 211 000 3 - 7-7-4
Warren 420 011 x - 8-7-1
WP: Danny Pannell: 6 2/3 IP, 7H, 7R, 6ER, 8BB, 8K, Garrett Kennedy (Save) 1/3 IP, K.
LP: Ryan Ervin: 5IP, 6H, 7R, 4ER, 4BB, 3K, David Kollar: IP, H, ER.
Athens(14-4) Top Hitters: Jacob Scheiner: 2-4, R, 2RBI, 3B, HR, Chris Ford: 2-4, 2R, RBI, HR, Austin Howard: 1-2, R, Ryan Ervin: 1-3, R, Alex Staron: 1-1, 3RBI, 3B, Casey Grimm: 0-2, R, Tanner Wood: 0-3, R.
Warren(9-8) Top Hitters: Gunnar Smith: 2-4, R, 2RBI, HR, Zach McKenna: 2-3, R, RBI, HR, Landon Kern: 1-2, 2R, RBI, HR, Tyler Ward: 1-3, 2R, Ethan Estes: 1-2, R, 3RBI, HR, Austin Henthorn: 0-3, R.
Next Game: Warren: Today at home vs. Chillicothe.
SOFTbALL
There was a little less drama in the girls game as the Lady Warriors also put four runs on the board in the first inning and never looked back.
Hannah Zimmerman and Riley Benson each singled in a first inning run and freshman Arriane Schetter brought in a pair with a single of her own.
The Warriors made it 5-0 in the second when Hailey Murdock tripled and scored on an error.
Athens managed to get all kinds of base runners against Warren starting pitcher Taylor Dennis but struggled to come up with the big hit to crawl back into the game.
The Bulldogs stranded 12 base runners on the night.
Athens got on the board in the third inning off of Dennis when Miranda Tinkham drew a bases loaded walk to cut the lead to 5-1.
The blue and white got that run back in the bottom of the fourth when Zimmerman doubled in Kendra Lynch.
After Dennis was replaced on the mound in the sixth by Schetter, Athens mounted their best challenge of the evening, but after the first four hitters reached base, Schetter settled down and minimized the damage by allowing Athens to score only a pair of runs.
The Lady Warriors added a pair of insurance runs in the last of the sixth and went on to claim victory number 15 on the season.
Dennis picked up the win, allowing three hits and a run over five innings of work, while Amanda Tinkham took the loss for Athens.
Murdock, Zimmerman and Schetter all collected three hits apiece for Warren.
Athens fell to 10-5 with the loss, while the red-hot Warriors improved to 15-3 with the win.
Both the Warrior boys and girls will continue a busy week as they host Chillicothe today before traveling to Marietta Thursday for a make up game against the Tigers.
WARREN 8 ATHENS 4
Athens 001 002 1 - 4-8-1
Warren 410 102 X - 8-15-2
WP: Taylor Dennis: 5IP, 3H, ER, 4BB, 2K, Arriane Schetter: 2IP, 5H, 3ER, 3BB, K.
LP: Amanda Tinkham: 3 1/3 IP, 9H, 6ER, 4BB, 3K, Hannah Woolum: 2 2/3 IP, 6H, 2ER, BB, K.
Athens (10-5) Top Hitters: Haley Bissell: 2-4, Olivia Hoon: 1-5, R, Olivia Harris: 1-4, Mikala Perry: 1-2, R, 2B, Tiffany James: 1-3, RBI, Kelsey Bowman: 1-1, R, Allie Mattey: 1-3, R, Abby Pimento: 0-2, RBI, Miranda Tinkham: 0-3, RBI, Woolum: RBI.
Warren (15-3) Top Hitters: Hailey Murdoch: 3-5, R, Kendra Lynch: 2-2, 2R, Hannah Zimmerman:3-3, R, 2RBI, Riley Benson: 3-4, 2R, RBI, Schetter: 2-4, 3RBI, Kaylee Higgins: 2-4, RBI, Brandi Douglass: 0-2, 2R.
Next game: Warren: Today, home vs. Chillicothe.
