Pierce Co. no-hit in Game 1 12-0 loss
BEARVILLE — Region 3 foe Cook High ended three Pierce County winning streaks in taking the Class AA semifinal opener no-hitting the Bears in a 10 “mercy rule” five-inning win here Wednesday.
The 12th-seed Hornets (23-12), winners in 11 of their last 13 games, snapped a 10-game losing streak to the top-seed Bears’ (31-4) that included two three-game regular season sweeps the last two seasons and a two-game sweep in last year’s second round of the state tournament in the May 13 Game 1 win.
PCHS had its schoolrecord 24-game winning streak end as well as a 14--game home winning streak in the playoffs dating back to a Game 3 loss in the 2022 semifinals to Redan.
The Bears’ bats were silenced by Cook’s Colt Carlo and great defense behind him. The Hornets made several spectacular defensive plays in the infield while the outfielders ran down every ball.
Carlo faced one batter over the minimum - that coming on a one-out error in the second — while throwing just 58 pitches. He only fanned one of the 16 batters he faced with 15 putting the ball in play.
Scoreless through two innings, the Hornets capitalized on a couple of throwing errors by PCHS to plate four runs against Christian Osbourne (3 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 5 K, 1 BB).
A leadoff walk was followed by a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt placing runners at second and third. Following the first out and a run-scoring fielder’s choice for a 1-0 lead, Cook had four consecutive batters reach.
A double on a 1-2 offering was followed by a tworun single two pitches later upping the advantage to 3-0. After a single off an 0-2 pitch, a throwing error on a dropped third strike allowed the final run to score extending the Hornets’ lead to 4-0.
Cook plated three runs in the fourth against Kolton Brogdon (1+ IP, 1 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 K, 4 BB, 1 HBP) to build a 7-0 advantage.
The damage came after two outs with two runners on base via walks. The big blow was a first-pitch, three-run homer by Carlo (3-for-4) to left-center.
The Hornets put the game away with a five-run fifth chasing Brogdon after two batters. Colt Hickox (1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 K, 1 BB) came on in relief after Brogdon issued a four-pitch walk and hit a batter two pitches later.
After a sacrifice bunt moved the runners up, a tworun double extended the margin to 9-0. A two-out, runscoring double was followed two pitches later by a two-run single for the 12-0 lead.
Dylan Johnson was the lone Pierce County batter to reach when his second inning, one-out grounder was booted. Carlo retired the final 11 batters to finish off the no-hitter.
