SAN JOSE - It was Kanoa Pagan’s third no-hitter of the season that allowed Leigh to blow by Capuchino, 6-0, in the first round of the CCS Open Division Playoffs. Pagan had 10 strikeouts in his complete-game effort.
““I am very proud of Kanoa” said Leigh coach Kraig Constantino. “This is a true compliment to the kid, he came to us and I did not know anything about him, but he has been a class act and has really worked hard to do what he needs to do.”
He was dominant from the start, picking up three strikeouts and retiring 9 of the first 10 batters of the game. Pagan retired 21 of the 23 batters he faced, walking Max Stines twice.
“Great team win! It is really easy to pitch well when you have a defense behind you that will make plays,” said Pagan.
His no-hitter was largely due to the excellent defense behind him. His outfielders had his back every time there was a shadow of doubt. Centerfielder Jake Pao made a sliding catch coming in to preserve the no-hitter in the third. To start the fifth, right fielder Jack Nicodemo laid out to catch a fly ball that was tailing down the line.
“You see the smile on my face? I am happy. We preach that all the time, just like every other coach, that you need to take care of the baseball,” said Constantino. “It is a simple recipe; throw strikes, play defense, and we scrap and that is what I love to see!”
The Mustang defense really killed Capuchino in the early innings. Leigh’s leadoff hitter, Owen Dyer, reached on an error by the second baseman and an overthrow on Jack Nicodemo’s groundball scored Dyer and brought Nicodemo to third. A wild pitch brought Nicodemo home a batter later. After Pao took advantage of the right fielder’s lethargic fielding and took second, sophomore Robbie Hamchuk hit a sacrifice fly to score Pao two batters later to end the first with a 3-0 lead.
The Longhorns added to their lead in the third when Hamchuk roped a double off the wall, scoring Kyle Johnson. Later in the sixth, the Longhorns added to their lead with a Mitchell Dowd triple, scoring Hamchuk, and a Ryan Juncker single later scored Dowd to end the game 6-0.
“We dyed our hair blonde last Friday because we are a brotherhood in preparation for CCS… and it seems to be working.” said Pagan.
After the number-one seed Palo Alto Vikings were upset by 16-seed Archbishop Mitty in the first round, the Longhorns gear up to have a rematch with Mitty on Saturday. The first round went in favor of the Longhorns.
“Look, anybody in the open division is a viable opponent. We know that Mitty has a lot of good arms because we faced them earlier in the season, but we didn't face their top arms,” said Constantino. “I was looking forward to playing Palo Alto actually, but we are ready to prepare for Mitty because we know they will be very good.”
The Capuchino Vikings end their season with a 19-7 record, but are returning 17 players on their 23-person roster.
