Co "no-no" verSenior pitcher Isaac Conover shut down the Foothill Knights throwing a complete game no-hitter leading the Lions to a 7-0 victory over their toughest Citrus League opponent.
Mixing a mid-80's fastball with a devastating 12-6 curveball, Conover struckout 10 and walked 3 in a dominating overall performance. The win evens his record at 2-2 and lowers his ERA to 1.35.
The Calvary pitching staff is in the midst of a 21 consecutive inning scoreless streak and has allowed only 2 runs over the last 40 innings pitched.
As with most no-hitters , there were some defensive gems, struggles and a bit of controversy. Conover struggled with his control in the second inning when he walked two hitters in a row and was clearly having trouble locating his fastball. He eventually adjusted his release point by throwing more breaking balls to the following hitters and as a result was able bring his fastball back into the strike zone and it was smooth sailing from that point on.
Rightfielder David Carpenter preserved the no-hitter when he turned what initially looked like a hard line drive single into an out when he charged the ball hard and rifled a throw to first getting the hitter by at least 3 steps.
The minor controversy occurred with two outs in the bottom of the 6th inning when a two-bouncer was hit to the Calvary thirdbaseman about two feet to his right. Instead of taking one step and getting in front the ball, he took two steps backward and made an awkward backhand stab at the ball, missing it entirely. In some games, it may have been considered a hit because of the fielder's approach, however to break up a no-hitter, the general rule of thumb is that it must be a clean, clear hit. By no means did it meet that criteria. If played properly, there would have been no question. Thus the no-hitter remained intact.
Calvary's offensive attack was lead by senior Sam Sheehan who singled, doubled and tripled, knocking in 3 runs. Matt Hartman and David carpenter each singled and doubled.
With no score coming into the third inning, Calvary put 3 on the board, when leadoff hitter David Carpenter, protecting with two strikes, stuck out his bat and dinked an excuse-me liner over the first baseman's head. The ball bounced to the right and Carpenter turned it into a double. Matt Hartman reached on a fielding error by the Knight 3rd baseman and Russell Harmening was hit by a pitch to load the bases setting the stage for Sheehan who lofted a deep fly ball into the right field corner that bounced out of play for a ground-rule double. Carpenter and Hartman scored on the hit. Two pitches later, Harmening scored on a wild pitch giving Calvary the lead.
They added another in the fourth when Alex Nurding lined a double over the centerfielder's head, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on an infield single by Carpenter.
Two more scored in the 5th when Hartman lined a frozen rope at the centerfielder who misjudged the ball, running in and letting the ball get over his head, giving Hartman a leadoff double. Hartman advanced to 3rd when Harmening flied out to right. Sheehan then singled to right scoring Hartman but the ball went through the outfielder's legs and Sheehan advanced to third on the error. He scored on a Conover RBI groundout.
They scored their 7th and final run in the top of the 7th when Sheehan once again hit a deep fly ball to the rightfield corner winding up at 3rd for a one-out triple. He scored when senior Sam Hebert hit a soft liner to right-center for a run-scoring single.
The win is Calvary's 9th in a row and puts their overall record at 16-4. They are now 3-0 in Citrus League play and have taken sole possession of first place. They take on Oceanside High School in a non-league contest on Thursday and travel to Petco Park on Friday where they will play Mountain Empire at 4:05 pm.
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