Mt. Vernon Kiwanis Pony Team Wins Benton Tournament

Mt. Vernon Pony won its third straight tournament and improved to 18-2 on the season by winning the final two games of the round robin tournament against Harrisburg and then Benton for the title.

In Game #1 Mt. Vernon beat Harrisburg 9-1.  Grant Garrett pitched a complete game allowing only one run on four hits while striking out 9.  Garrett also did it at the plate going 3-4 with 3 doubles and 2 RBIs.  Zane Xanders went 2-3 with a double and an RBI, Colton Meador 2-3, Zack Jones 1-3 RBI, Triple, and Jared Anthis 1-1 RBI. 

This set up the Championship game against Benton 3-0 and MTV 3-0.

Darius Box dominated the game allowing only a single hit in the first inning.  "Darius had complete control of his pitches tonight Coach Xanders said, "He hit almost every spot and one hit a very good Benton team!"  Mt. Vernon won the game 9-0 for their third victory over Benton this season.

"Our pitching was unbelievable for the four games:  Xanders, Jones, Garrett and Box gave up a total of two earned runs on eight hits in 25 innings for the entire tournament" Coach Xanders said "It was a thing of beauty"

In the championship game Zack Jones was 3-4 RBI, Darius Box 2-4, Dalton Walker 2-3 2B HR 3RBI, Troy Miller 2-3 3B 2RBI, Mark Schmidt 1-3 RBI, Jared Anthis 1-3, Grant Garrett 1-4 and Nick Green 1-1.

"We dominated the tournament Coach Xanders stated-It was a great feeling to finally win the Benton Tourney"

The Mt. Vernon JCSA Pony Team had earlier wins in the round-robin tourney at Benton against Carterville and Nashville.

Mt. Vernon improves to 18-2 on the season and will play Carmi at home tonight (Monday) 6pm & 8pm.

In the photo above, Blake Strilkin gets tangled up with the second baseman while stealing second base in the Pony game vs Nashville at the Benton Tourney.