Kamden Sowers, center, is greeted by catcher Ayden Thelen and York Revs coach David Pridgen after putting the finishing touches on a one-hitter with 12 strikeouts.
By Rich Bevensee
Kamden Sowers first realized he had something special cooking in the fifth inning, but the phrase “no-hitter” was never uttered until the sixth.
That’s when York Revs 24/25 coach David Pridgen wanted to pull Sowers from the game after he had thrown 100 pitches. Sowers pleaded to stay in, and won that small argument.
After retiring one batter in the seventh, Sowers lost his bid for his first career no-hitter. But, thanks to a monstrous two-run home run by Nico Nattle in the top of the sixth, Sowers’ brilliance did not go to waste, as he put the finishing touches on a 2-0 shutout of the Hudson A’s in the 17/18 Wood Bat Championship Powered By Victus on Saturday evening at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
“I’m really okay with it (losing the no-hitter). My best day ever,” said Sowers, a senior at Dallastown High in Pennsylvania. “There was one similar outing I had in high school against Northeastern. It was a heated game – it’s always heated against them – and I went five innings and gave up two or three hits. I was lights out that day, but this tops it.”
Sowers, a 6-foot, 190-pound righty, used his four-seam fastball, slider and curveball to record 12 strikeouts and keep the A’s off the bases, outside of three walks through the first six innings.
“Kamden did a great job today, a great job,” Pridgen said. “His slider was working well and he was working about a ball off the plate and getting a ton of swing-and-misses. The umpire was giving him about two balls off the plate and he took advantage of it.”
The game was actually sizing up to be a splendid pitching duel, as Sowers matched zero for zero with A’s starter Logan Pulitano through three innings.
Pulitano, who gave up just one walk and struck out two, handed off to Cole Mackin, who tacked on two more scoreless frames to keep pace with Sowers. Mackin did not allow a walk or hit and he struck out two.
The Revs finally broke through against A’s reliever Nico Nugent, who retired the first two batters in the top of the sixth before yielding a walk to A.J. Lipscomb. Nattle, the next batter, turned on a 2-1 fastball and bombed his first career home run over the left field fence, rattling the roof of the auxiliary dugout just beyond the fence.
The Revs’ A.J. Lipscomb beats the tag by A’s first baseman Logan Pulitano. One pitch later he rounded the bases on a Nico Nattle home run.
It was the first hit of the game for either team.
“My plan was to hit a bomb,” said Nattle, a senior at Emmaus Baptist Academy in Emmaus, Pa. “My swing before, I swung and missed completely, as hard as I could. I was like, ahh, I’m doing it again, and it worked out that time. I knew it was gone.”
Nattle knew his timing could not have been better.
“Kamden kept us in the game,” he said. “He got a bunch of strikeouts but he knows how to use his defense, too. That’s how it is all the time.”
Sowers allowed a two-out walk in the bottom of the sixth but struck out three and headed back to the dugout, where Pridgen was waiting for him on the top step. Pridgen planned to relieve Sowers with Ty Book for one inning of mop-up work.
“After the sixth I realized I had a no-hitter going and he (Pridgen) was going to possibly put in Ty because it’s showcase baseball. I get it,” Sowers said. “I said Coach, you gotta keep me in, it’s a no-no. Coach said he had to get Ty in the game. Ty said his arm wasn’t feeling right, and Coach said all right, go back out.
“And that’s when I really started to feel the pressure, there in the seventh inning.”
In the bottom of the seventh, Sowers induced a comebacker for the first out and Nugent reached on an infield throwing error. The next batter, No. 3 hitter Griffin White, stroked a hard line drive through the right side for the A’s only base hit of the game.
Nugent and White advanced to third and second, respectively, following a wild pitch, and all of the sudden Sowers was one pitch away from watching his no-hitter tailspin into a tie game. Sowers shrugged off the threat and capped his magnificent performance by striking out the next two batters.
“I wanted the no-no, but I’m okay,” Sowers said. “This was easily the best I’ve ever pitched. I’ll never forget it.”
The Revs (1-0) have two more ball games this weekend. On Sunday they face Complete Performance 17/18U at 8 a.m., and Locked in Baseball Expos 17/18U at 12:15 p.m.
The A’s (0-1) also have a doubleheader on Sunday, going against Locked In at 8 a.m. and Complete Performance at 10 a.m.