On senior day, four Calvary Pitchers combined to no-hit the Lutheran Knights leading the Lions to their second straight undefeated league season in the Citrus-West conference.
Senior pitchers Isaac Conover, Brock Bentley, Connor Kollenda and Sam Sheehan held the Knights to no hits or runs, 3 walks and struck out 13 batters.
The four senior pitchers along with co-captains Russell Harmening and Sam Hebert, were honored in a pregame ceremony where they threw out the first pitch of the game with their mom's by their side on the mound and their dad's catching the pitch behind the plate.
The pre-game ceremonies, which delayed the normal start time of the game, put Calvary starter Conover a bit out of sync. He struggled with his release point and walked the first 3 batters he faced. But fortunately he settled in and two stellar defensive plays bailed him out of a potential disastrous situation.
After a failed bunt attempt, catcher Caleb Whitley picked the runner off first who was eventually put out as he attempted to advance to second. With two outs and two runners on, an apparent run-scoring single was hit to right, but home field advantage played a role because Calvary plays the right fielder shallow due to the short porch in right field. Because of the positioning, rightfielder David Flores saved the run by charging hard and throwing the batter out at first to end the inning with no damage done.
Calvary was held scoreless in the first but took the lead in the second when Harmening led off the inning by lining a deep double over the left fielder's head. Conover was hit by a pitch and with two outs, Kollenda made the most of senior day by lining a double into the left-center gap to score both runners giving Calvary a 2-0 lead.
Conover recuperated from his first inning control problems and struck out the side in order in his second, and final, inning of work. From that point on, Calvary pitchers were perfect, retiring 16 straight hitters before an infield error allowed a baserunner in the last inning.
Bentley pitched a very impressive 3rd and 4th innings working very quickly and striking out 4 of the 6 hitters he faced. Kollenda threw a 1-2-3 inning striking out one and Sheehan closed it out by throwing the last two innings and striking out 5. Sheehan threw 22 pitches in his outing and did not throw a ball. 22 pitches - all strikes.
Calvary added their third run in the 4th inning when Whitley reached on a fielder's choice, stole second and scored on a Hebert single.
They added their final two runs in the 6th when Whitley hit a hard liner deep to left that was dropped by the left fielder for an error. Once again he stole second scoring this time on a Conover single. Freshman Kallin Iwasaki came in to run for Conover and he promptly stole second and scored on another Hebert RBI single to finish the Lion's scoring.
The Lion's finished the Citrus-West with an 8-0 record. Including last year's undefeated 9-0 season, they have now won 22 consecutive league games dating back to the 2010 season.
The win was their 7th in a row and third shutout in a row. Their pitchers have now thrown 25 consecutive scoreless innings.
The 23-5 Lions play their final regular season game taking on highly ranked La Jolla Country Day on Thursday. The Torreys are the defending CIF Division 4 champions.
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