One season, two perfect games
I can't say I expected to witness a pitcher throw a perfect game during this baseball (and softball) season. But this season, I saw not one, but two.
Dylan Collins pitched five perfect innings in a 10-0, five-inning win over Bloomfield on May 14.
Earlier that day Collins had signed a letter of intent to play baseball at Vincennes University.
"Dylan was on his game tonight," Laker coach Todd Gambill said. "I was just real happy to see that. He deserves it."
Bloomfield coach Jason Pegg added, "Dylan threw exceptionally well. He threw well and we didn't hit."
Collins allowed no hits and no walks while fanning five hitters in throwing the five-inning gem.
"He was confident before the game," Gambill said of Collins, "And the kids came out and executed on offense and defense so it was a good game for us."
Some armchair critics might try to minimize Collins' accomplishment by saying, "It was only a five-inning game. He might not have lasted a complete seven-inning game."
And it's true that Collins did begin to labor a bit in the fifth inning, going deep in the count to Zach Skinner and Brandon Dagley before retiring Skinner on a grounder back to the box and fanning Dagley. One of the two - I can't remember whether it was Skinner or Dagley - came the closest to a hit Bloomfield got all night with a line drive down the left-field line. From my vantage point in the first-base dugout, the ball looked to be very close to the foul line when it landed and it was ruled to be foul.
Regardless - it was still a regulation game - and a perfect one.
Freshman pitcher Samuel Steimel threw a perfect game as Sullivan eliminated the Linton-Stockton Miners 3-0 in the championship game of the Class 2A Sullivan baseball sectional Monday.
The freshman hurler struck out six Miner hitters in his no-hit gem.
"He threw a good game," Miner coach Matt Fougerousse said. "We hit him but they made some plays in the field."
Steimel received considerable help in the field in recording his perfect game. Right fielder Johnathan Cox made a diving catch of Noah Woodward's line drive down the right-field line in the top of the third. Kade Plummer's diving grab of Trey Passen's hard-hit grounder into the hole between first and second prevented a hit and in the Miners' last at-bat, Kendall Williams' drive backed Sullivan left fielder Casey Garner to the warning track, with Garner hauling it in for the long out.
On a sunny, 75-degree day, Williams' drive might have left the yard. But on a day with temperatures in the fifties and the wind blowing in from the north, Sportland Field held it.
Without base runners, the Miners were unable to put any pressure on Steimel, as coach Fougerousse noted.
"We just needed base runners," he said. "He didn't have to pitch from a stretch and he didn't have to have the pressure of a bunt or a hit-and-run or a steal."
I'd seen Steimel pitch once before when Sullivan played at Eastern Greene on April 22. He struck out five, walked one, and allowed two hits - a second-inning single by Caleb Hamilton and an RBI triple by Seth Query in the fifth inning - in a 14-1, five-inning win over the Thunderbirds.
I'd never seen a perfect game in person until the two I saw this year. And I'd only been in attendance for one no-hitter.
The date was May 1, 1991 and the occasion was Nolan Ryan's seventh career no-hitter, for the Texas Rangers against the Toronto Blue Jays in Arlington, Texas.
Ryan was 44 years old at the time and his Hall of Fame career ended with his retirement after the 1993 season.
I'd just left the gym after a workout and noticed the ballpark lights had come on. The old Arlington Stadium was about three blocks from the gym and I decided, "Hey, I think I'll go to the game."
I had no idea Ryan was pitching. I hadn't had time to read the paper before work that morning.
There were still a few seats available in the outfield bleachers. That was where I always sat anyway - tickets for the outfield bleachers were only two bucks in those days.
Ryan said in an interview that he'd felt horrible that day. His shoulder, arm and back were sore and his head was pounding. Ryan doubted if he'd be able to last five innings against the Blue Jays, who were the best-hitting team in baseball that season.
While warming up in the bullpen, Ryan turned to Rangers pitching coach Tom House, who was also 44, and drawls, "I don't know how you feel at 44, but I feel old today. My back hurts. My ankle hurts. I've been pounding Advil all day, and it isn't helping." He added, "You'd better watch me good out there tonight. I don't think I'll be out there very long."
But when Ryan walked to the mound and began throwing, he said he started feeling good. Great, actually. Totally dominant, overwhelmingly strong.
"Everything kicked in for me there in the first inning," Ryan said, "and it just got better and better as the game went on."
He struck out Devon White to start the game, then ran into a little trouble by going to two full counts and walking one of the hitters, Kelly Gruber. But Ryan escaped the jam by getting Joe Carter on a pop-up.
In the second inning, Ryan struck out the side, fanning John Olerud, Mark Whiten and Glenallen Hill, all three looking at nasty curves.
Given a 2-0 lead on a home run by Ruben Sierra, Ryan kept getting stronger and hit 96 mph on the radar gun on a pitch to Carter in the fourth.
"He struck out all three guys in the second on curves, but didn't throw me one curve for a strike," Carter would say after the game. "Instead, he threw me the change up to strike me out. There was nothing I could say except 'That's awesome.'"
Sometimes - as we saw with Collins and Steimel - a little luck or a couple outstanding fielding plays are needed to preserve a pitching gem.
Such was the case with Ryan's seventh no-hitter.
Rangers center fielder Gary Pettis raced in and made a shoe-top catch of Manny Lee's blooper in the sixth inning.
Almost everyone - except for Lee - thought it would be a hit.
"It was off the end of the bat and Pettis got a good jump," Lee told the media afterwards. Ryan would later wink and say, "Good to have a Gold Glover out there on that play."
Ryan struck out 16 Blue Jays in recording the 305th of his 324 career wins.
"This was my most overpowering night," Ryan told the media.
Hard to imagine anyone that overpowering at age 44.
Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson - he of New York Yankees "Mr. October" fame - once said, "Trying to hit a Nolan Ryan fastball is like trying to eat coffee with a fork."
Terry Schwinghammer is a sports writer for the Greene County Daily World. He can be reached by telephone at (812) 847-4487, ext. 27. He can also be reached via email at tschwing32@yahoo.com.
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