Skyline Spartans stalwart pitcher Connor Knutson was just one out away from recording a no-hitter against his team’s biggest rival.
Knutson went the distance allowing just one hit in seven innings of work, propelling Skyline to a 2-1 win against the Issaquah Eagles on April 8 at Issaquah High School. Skyline improved to 7-3 with the win while Issaquah dropped to 6-5 courtesy of the loss.
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, Issaquah’s Mack Mahovlich singled down the right field line to end Knutson’s no-hitter aspirations. Knutson struck out Issaquah’s next batter to end the game.
Skyline head coach Brandon Hemphill believes Knutson’s competitive spirit is one of his strongest attributes.
“Connor is a gamer. It doesn’t matter what position it is on the field. He gets the job done and he is a competitor,” Hemphill said. “He kept us in the ball game today and threw one heck of a game.”
With Skyline leading Issaquah 2-0 in the bottom of the sixth, Knutson faced adversity under pressure. He walked two Issaquah batters, and one Issaquah hitter reached first safely after a Skyline error. With the bases loaded and nobody out, things looked bleak for the Spartans.
Knutson refused to get rattled.
Knutson enticed Issaquah’s Kyle Rodriguez into a double play. The Eagles scored one run on the play, cutting Skyline’s lead to 2-1. Knutson got Issaquah’s next hitter Tyler Kim to ground out to end the inning, quelling Issaquah’s best chance to score multiple runs in the contest.
Knutson credited the defense for making big plays when it counted.
“It is pretty easy to throw (pitch) if you know your defense can make all the plays they are expected to. I have to give a shoutout to Tom Swinscoe at third base, he played a great game,” Knutson said. “Our outfield did a great job of getting to some balls they (Skyline) squared up. It was an all-around good game by everyone. I trust my team.”
Knutson said it felt great to beat the Eagles, considering they lost twice to their biggest rival during the 2015 season. Hemphill concurred.
“These rivalry games are always fun to win and Issaquah always plays us extra tough,” Hemphill said. “They are a very well-coached team. It’s a huge win. We want to beat them every time we play them and we stepped up and got it done today.”
Issaquah head coach Rob Reese was disappointed that his team’s early-season momentum stalled. The Eagles won three off our games but lost one-run games to Woodinville (April 6) and Skyline (April 8) in their past two contests.
“We just haven’t been coming through the past couple of games. We had our shots in both of them but we just couldn’t get the big hit,” Reese said. “We’re striking out where in situations if we just put it in play that something good could happen. We’re kind of just in a little funk right now but their pitcher was dominating. He (Knutson) did a great job.”
Skyline got on the board in the top of the third when Knutson singled, scoring Swinscoe to give Skyline a 1-0 lead. The Spartans added another run in the top of the fourth on a Ben Smith RBI single, scoring Daniel Qin and extending the lead to 2-0. The Spartans also recorded three sacrifice bunts against Issaquah in the win. Playing small ball is a staple of the Spartans mode of operation on the diamond.
“I keep telling these guys that’s our offense,” Hemphill said of sacrifice bunts. “If we execute our offense, we’re going to score runs and we’re going to win ballgames because we pitch pretty well and play good defense. If we can manufacture a few runs and open up the floodgates, then we are in good shape. It is something we work on and it was good to execute that today.”
