APA drops Senior Night game to Rocky Mount Academy Friday
Arendell Parrott’s five seniors: from left, Matthew Huntley, Zach Vendemia, Shy Thompson, Brenden Harper and William Hill, played their final regular-season home game Friday. Photo by Junious Smith III / Neuse News
By Junious Smith III
Arendell Parrott Academy’s Senior Night was memorable for everything except the final score.
The Patriots’ comeback against Rocky Mount Academy came short in an 8-6 loss Friday to end the regular season. APA (13-9) did clinch a regular-season title Thursday after an 18-2 victory over St. David’s and will most likely host a first-round NCISAA playoff game when the brackets are released Sunday.
Despite the setback Friday, the Patriots have continued their strong play, heading into the playoffs with a ninth consecutive season and going 67-37 over the past four years. Of the five seniors — Brenden Harper, William Hill, Matthew Huntley, Shy Thompson and Zach Vendemia — Huntley and Vendemia have been with the team during the entire duration, coinciding with APA coach Robert Kravitz’s entire career with the school.
“These past four years, I’ve had the opportunity to play with some of the greatest group of brothers,” Huntley said. “It’s been an honor working with them, battling with them and representing this school the entire time.”
Vendemia said his senior year has been enjoyable.
“A lot of people felt like we lost a lot of talent from last year and thought we wouldn’t have a great season,” Vendemia said. “We’ve got a very close group here and probably have the most chemistry ever, along with still having great talent. We’ve still got games to play too.”
Rocky Mount Academy (14-6) started the game with an Isaiah Thomas double and Will Stewart’s grounder two batters later brought home the first run. APA came back in the bottom of the first with Trey McLawhorn’s sacrifice fly before taking the lead an inning later on Huntley’s RBI single. The Eagles used Jacob Braddy’s RBI double in the third to tie the game, but a wild pitch brought Jonah Beaman home in the bottom of the frame to put the Patriots back on top.
RMA stranded seven runners in the first four innings and stranded two more in the fifth, but not before Colby Freeman stroked a 2-run single in the frame to put Rocky Mount Academy up 4-3. An inning later, Braddy’s sacrifice fly put the Eagles ahead 5-3 and while Huntley’s second RBI single brought the Patriots within a run in the bottom of the sixth, Rocky Mount Academy turned the tide in the top of the seventh due to APA’s mistakes. A passed ball on a third strike with the bases loaded and two outs brought in one run, a bases-loaded walk drew another and an error made the score 8-4.
After Beaman’s leadoff single, McLawhorn hit a 2-run blast to give hope to APA, but with one on and one out, RMA executed a double play to end the game.
“We made too many simple mistakes out there,” Patriots coach Robert Kravitz said. “If we’re able to pull in that third strike, we end the inning and Trey’s home run is a walkoff. We did some good things tonight, but we have to clean up the errors going into the postseason.”
