As the Cardinals look to start off the season with a win against Riverside, “I’m looking forward to playing my first home game of the season,” said senior, Ryan Culbert. The game started off in the first inning with Brandon Aungst, senior, pitching for the Cardinals. The first batter for Riverside was struck out by Aungst. Aungst then walked the next batter. Following the walk was a fly ball caught by Canter Zimmerman, junior, in center field, while no runners advanced. The last out came with the next batter hitting a ground ball to Kaden Lengle, junior, at second base. As Pine Grove began to bat, the lead off hitter was Canter Zimmerman. Zimmerman hit a fly ball out to right field for a double. Then Aungst hit a line drive past the shortstop for another double, scoring Zimmerman. Josh Leininger, sophomore, came in to pinch run for Aungst. Riverside’s pitcher then walked to advance Leininger to third base. Nathan Minnich hit a ground ball to third but there was an error and was safe at first, as Leininger scored. Jake Bohr followed by a ground ball hit to the second baseman causing a double play and getting Minnich and himself out. Isaac Kocher the struck out to end the first inning with a score of Pine Grove 2 Riverside 0.

As the second inning began, Aungst was still on the mound for Pine Grove. Aungst struck out the first batter but walked the three batters. After the last batter was walked, He had gotten a pinch runner for him. The next batter grounded to Kaden Lengle at second with a run scoring and got a double play. With two outs the next batter grounded out to shortstop Karson Felty. The Cardinals begins to bat with Hunter Heim hitting a home run over the right field fence. Ryan Culbert followed with a grounded out to the second baseman, as did the next batter Karson Felty. Blake Smith has then gotten walked and stole second and third. Canter Zimmerman has struck out to end the inning. At the beginning of the third inning, the first batter had hit a ground ball to Felty but was safe at first. The next two batters were struck out by Aungst. The fourth batter of the inning was thrown out by Kocher. To start off the Cardinals at bat, Aungst and Minnich were both struck out. Jake Bohr then followed that by a single to left field and Ethan Hannevig had come in to pinch run. Kocher was then walked. Heim then hit a single past second to score Hannevig and Kocher. Ian Woff came into pinch run for Heim. Culbert followed with a fly ball into center but was not caught. Wolff was thrown out at third to end the inning with a score of Pine Grove 5- Riverside 1.

“I knew halfway through the game that we were gonna win, everything body was play good.” Said Nathan Minnich Junior for Pine Grove Area. At the beginning of the fourth inning, Aungst walked the first batter. Culbert then came into pitch. Culbert then struck out the next three batters to end the inning. Pine Grove began hot with a hit from Felty for a single. He then stole second but it was overthrown so he stole third too. Smith then struck out. Zimmerman followed by a fly ball into right field for a single to score Felty. Aungst then hit a deep flyout to center, as Zimmerman scored. Minnich then grounded out to second. Culbert still pitching to start off the fifth inning, the first batter hit a double into right field. The following batter also hit a double into center field scoring a run. The next batter hit a single up the middle to advance the runner to third. The runner attempted to steal but was thrown out. Then the batter hit a line drive to Felty for an out. Culbert walked the next batter but ended the inning with a strikeout. The Cardinals look to score more runs in bottom of the fifth inning. Bohr started by a single into center field. Hannevig can into pinch run and stole second. Kocher, Heim, Culbert, and Felty were all then walked. Hannevig and Kocher both scored. Josh Leininger pinch hit for Smith but struck out. Zimmerman followed with a line drive hit for a single only scoring Heim. Aungst ended the game with a grand slam for a ten run rule. The final score was Pine Grove 14- Riverside 3.