CAPE LEGION HEATS UP, SWEEPS

The Shawnee, Ill., connection stole the show for Cape Girardeau's Ford & Sons American Legion baseball team Monday night.

Shawnee High products Todd Pennington and Steve Fowler pitched complete-game victories as Cape swept a doubleheader from the Dunklin County Redbirds at Capaha Field.

Pennington, a 1998 Shawnee graduate who will continue his baseball career at Southeast Missouri State University, dominated the nine-inning, District 14 first game as Cape prevailed 5-1.

Fowler, who will be entering his junior season at Shawnee, was also solid in the seven-inning, non-district nightcap as Ford & Sons posted an 8-4 triumph.

Cape, after recently suffering through a six-game losing streak, has now won four in a row to push its record to 17-14. Ford & Sons is 6-2 in district play.

Dunklin County fell to 16-5 overall and 5-2 in the district.

Ford & Sons, Dunklin County and Sikeston all have two district losses as they battle for first place in District 14, which contains seven teams.

"We had a bad spell for a while, but I think we're back on track now," said Cape head coach Ron Michel. "These were two good wins for us, especially getting that first one."

Pennington, a hard-throwing righthander, bounced back from a rare sub-par outing against Chaffee last week. He allowed five hits while striking out 10 and walking two.

"That was the old Penny we know," said a grinning Michel. "He was strong, just like he usually is. He's just a great competitor."

Pennington also led the way offensively with three of Cape's 13 hits. Andy Sweet, Shane Gibson, Greg Craft, Scott Reinagel and Mitch Ogles all added two hits.

Cape scored three times in the second inning on five hits and that was more than enough for Pennington, who was rarely threatened.

Jonathan Payne had two of the Redbirds' five hits.

Fowler then took care of the second game. He allowed six hits and all four of Dunklin County's runs were unearned. The righthander fanned five and walked two.

"Steve has been pitching real well lately," Michel said. "I'm very well pleased with him."

A first-year Cape Legion player, Fowler had a rough outing in his debut a few weeks ago but has been solid since.

"The first game was rough. It was the first time I'd pitched in a while," he said. "But I think I'm coming around all right and I really like playing with these guys."

Ford & Sons had just four hits behind Fowler but the Redbirds helped out with three errors, leading to five unearned runs, and nine walks. Adam Bertrand had an RBI double and an RBI triple to lead Cape. Chris Bradshaw also drove in two runs.

Tim Blankenship had three of the Redbirds' six second-game hits.

Cape will visit Perryville tonight for a 7:30 non-district game.