Pirates Begin Season with Win Over 4A Plainfield
The Charlestown Pirate Baseball team got their 2015 campaign off to a winning start Tuesday evening by defeating Plainfield 8-7. The Plainfield Quakers, coming off a 3-2 loss earlier in the day to Jeffersonville; are an Indiana Class 4A high school from Hendricks County, 10 miles west of Indianapolis. Plainfield jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the top of the 2nd inning and would take that lead into the bottom of the 3rd. Charlestown’s offense was sparked in the home half of the 3rd by a leadoff double down the left field line by Ryan Jones. Dewey Cardwell would follow with a walk. After advancing on a double steal, Tanner Wesp plated Jones and Cardwell with a 1 out single. Following another single by Kelly Rider, Brady Hester delivered with a run scoring single with 2 outs to score Wesp. The Pirates then took the lead on a single by Jason Houchens to score Atom Ward and Brady Hester. Ward had come on as a courtesy runner for Rider, who was the starting pitcher for the Pirates. Charlestown would add another run in the 4th inning on a 1 out double by Drew Reich, which scored Ryan Jones after Jones reached on a single and was advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Cardwell. The lead grew to 8-4 in the bottom of the 5th when Houchens and Jones scored after drawing walks and ultimately scoring on a couple of Plainfield errors. Plainfield would add 3 runs in the top of the 6th inning to end the scoring on the night and the Pirates closed the door with a 1-2-3 in the 7th to get their first victory of the new campaign. “I’m very pleased with our effort tonight. It’s always nice to get off to a good start with a win. Kelly threw the ball well tonight and our offense got timely hits. All in all, it was a good opener to the season”, commented Pirates Head Coach Ricky Romans. The Pirates are back in action on Friday night when they host Alexandria in the first round of the Silver Creek Invitational at Charlestown High School. First pitch is scheduled for 5:00pm.