Butler bats come out swinging early in 7-3 win over Myers Park

Butler High is in new baseball territory.

The Bulldogs rolled by Myers Park 7-3 in the second round of the N.C. 4A playoffs on Friday, gaining a measure of retribution for a 7-1 loss a week earlier in the Southwestern 4A tournament final. The win represents their deepest postseason advance in seven seasons.

“I told them before we started the playoffs that we didn’t play that bad,” Bulldogs coach Rick Sambrotto said. “The score didn’t show that. I thought we had a good approach at the plate. I thought we battled, we just didn’t get any breaks.”

Butler made its own opportunities this time. The Bulldogs broke in front on a solo homer by Jarrett Norman (3-for-4, 3 RBIs) and Tate Pennington (2-for-4, double, homer, 3 RBIs) added a three-run blast to grab a 4-0 lead in the first inning. A three-run second put Myers Park into a tight spot it couldn’t escape.

“They came out and just got two really big hits,” Mustangs coach Wes Hepler said. “They buried a lot of balls the first two innings with a solo home run and that three-run bomb. Getting down that much early kind of took us out of our game a little bit.”

Four Bulldogs had at least a pair of hits, with Kobe Phillips going 2-for-4 and Brady Cottom 2-for-4. Their offense set the stage for winning pitcher Sean Sessoms, who limited Myers Park to a pair of runs and four hits. Kameron Stinson took over in the fourth, allowing a run on two hits.

“We hadn’t gotten the lead against these guys, maybe the first game back in March,” Sambrotto said. “We talked about it the last couple of days, and we wanted to get the lead. We felt that if we got a lead, it would be beneficial to our pitchers.”

This story was originally published May 15, 2015 at 11:25 PM with the headline "Butler bats come out swinging early in 7-3 win over Myers Park."