Athlete Of The Week: Will Pennington

Will Pennington is having a breakout summer for Wayne County Post 11 and has emerged as one of Post 11’s best pitchers this summer.

In 36 innings pitched this summer, Pennington has 5-0 record on the mound, a 0.77 earned run average and has tossed 41 strikeouts.

And as evidenced by his phenomenal performance against Pitt County Post 19 last week, Pennington has nerves steel.

The rising senior pitched a complete-game four-hitter and helped send Post 11 to N.C. Senior American Legion State Tournament for the first time since 2014.

“It’s great getting us into the state tournament for the first time since 2014,” Pennington said. “It feels great.”

Pitt County held a 2-1 lead early in the game, but Pennington and his teammates remained confident and came back to defeat Pitt County 5-2.

“We were down early, and I kind of panicked a little bit, I’m not going to lie, but I had to give my teammates a chance Pennington said. “Those big runs really got me going. My energy got high, and I started throwing a lot strikes and get a lot of big outs.”

Pennington, who attends and plays baseball at Southern Wayne High school, said there was something special about this year’s Post 11 team that’s difficult to put into words.

“I’ve heard from a lot of guys that this the best team in a couple of years,” Pennington said. “We have good team chemistry.”

He had his sophomore season at Southern Wayne cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while this season was shortened to 14 games.

Despite having a shortened season, Pennington was excited to reunite with his teammates and coaches and compete on the baseball diamond.

He brings a lot to any team he plays on. Whether at Southern Wayne or Post 11, Pennington contributes more than just a lot of strikeouts.

Going into his senior season, Pennington is hoping to take all the success he has had playing for Post 11 and help the Saints reach the playoffs for the first time since 2014.