Nearly a no-hitter
The only thing that stopped Jaden Schwindt from a no-hitter Friday at Kin Coulee Park was his pitch count.
The 15-year-old left-hander had to leave the opening game of the Alberta Little League junior AAA championship in the seventh inning following his 96th pitch of the night.
Under Little League rules, a pitcher can’t throw to the next batter once their count reaches 95.
Fittingly the last windup resulted in strikeout, giving Schwindt 10 on the night.
“I don’t know, I just stayed in the zone, pitched well, had the defence with me,” said Schwindt, who also walked three Airdrie batters. “I don’t think I’ve ever really pitched that well before.”
Tyson Baxter was up next and promptly broke up the nohit bid with a single to left-field off reliever Tory Nelson. Nelson only needed two more pitches to record the last two outs.
Medicine Hat won the game 5-1 and can book a trip to nationals if they can beat Aidrie again Saturday — the tournament was supposed to be a four-team event but two others dropped out on Monday, and the remaining sides decided on a best-of-three format to determine a champion.
“We’ll come back to the same thing, we go after them the same way,” said Airdrie coach Vern Baxter. “Pitch hard, try and do a little better at the bats. That’s about it.”
Medicine Hat gave credit to the visitors, who held their usually prolific offence to just eight hits. A three-run second inning included an out at home plate and some sharp fielding that limited the damage.
“Their pitching was real good, they kept us off-balance,” said Hat coach Dean Harrison. “We didn’t get rolling on them like we can sometimes. When our bats start going, they can really start going.
“I think now you have a mindset going in that OK, this isn’t a gimmee. We’ve got to play good baseball because they’re a good baseball team.”
Felix Miller and Kayden Hleucka each went 2-for-4 with 2 RBI, but this night belonged to Schwindt, who had a sharp curveball and good control of his fastball from the outset.
“That was fantastic, exactly what you need to start a playoff,” said Harrison. “You need your guy to come in there and throw almost a complete game, no hits, it was fantastic.”
Airdrie’s only run came in the sixth inning, when Schwindt’s attempted pickoff throw wound up in right-field. A fielder’s choice then scored Carter Barfus.
Schwindt said he knew early he was going to have a good night.
“I take part of the first couple innings to see if my curveball works, just if I committ to it it’ll work a lot more,” he said. “It did today.
“That feels amazing, really good. We put ourselves in a good position for going to Canadians.”
Those aforementioned Canadians are in Lethbridge starting in two weeks’ time. Medicine Hat’s already had a stellar season, reaching the final of all five tournaments they’ve entered and winning two.
With more pitching like they got from Schwindt, they have reason to be confident.
“Every time we put him on the mound he just performs this year,” said Harrison. “He seems to be rising to the top when it comes to being on the mound, and that’s great for us.”
Game 2 begins at noon Saturday with a third game — if necessary — slated for 4 p.m., also at Kin Coulee.