CHARACTER COUNTS NOMINATIONS

Chaparral High School pitcher, Princeton commit Ryan Penney uses baseball to uplift others

Oct 15, 2024, 5:30 AM

Ryan Penney...

Character Counts finalist Ryan Penney (Courtesy photo)

(Courtesy photo)

Chaparral High School pitcher Ryan Penney enters his senior season with expectations across the board.

His GPA is hovering around 4.5. Last baseball season, he finished with a 0.75 ERA, allowing three earned runs over 117 batters faced. It was the second-best ERA in 5A baseball.

Take those two facts into account and it’s no surprise he’s already committed to play college baseball at Princeton.

But Penney, who has 12 years of club baseball experience, is about more than good grades and being hard to hit.

Penney is one of 10 finalists for the Arizona Sports Character Counts Scholarship, presented by Parker & Sons, because of his additional work to lift up the less fortunate through the sport of baseball.

The right-hander, along with his brother Landon, are cofounders of the Home2First Foundation, a nonprofit they started in 2021.

Home2First has collected more than 8,000 pounds of baseball equipment to donate to underfunded schools and youth teams. The organization has funded five scholarships to help financially challenged kids in Arizona, undertaken four humanitarian trips to the Dominican Republic and this month has plans to start a little league clinic for the Balsz School District in Phoenix.

The organization not only hopes to help fund and equip underserved players and teams but has a goal of “enabling kids to build confidence, teamwork and community through the great game of baseball,” according to the nonprofit’s website.

Penney’s efforts have landed him on features at FOX 10, and Home2First has received support from local businesses like Cold Beers & Cheeseburgers, Between the Lines and Danzeisen Dairy.

His talents don’t end on the mound or in the classroom. Penney is the first chair cellist in the Chaparral Symphonic Orchestra and made All-State in 2022.

He’s also a National Honor Society Member for his academics and a Tri-M Music Honor Society Member for his musical talents.

Visit our Character Counts nominations page to see all of the past winners and finalists in the running for this year’s scholarship, courtesy of Parker & Sons.

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