In his 24 years of coaching baseball and basketball, Oak Harbor coach Jim Waller has never seen an individual performance like the one he saw in Arlington Wednesday afternoon .
“I can’t think of anything else close to this that has happened,” Waller said.
Wildcat pitcher Ryan Johnson achieved something you won’t commonly see at any level of baseball. The junior struck out 20 batters of a possible 21 outs in seven inning baseball, en route to the Cats 8-0 league victory over the Eagles.
“He had very good location and velocity and did a great job changing speeds,” Waller said. “I wouldn’t consider him a strikeout pitcher, but he had everything going for him.”
Johnson only gave up three hits and one walk for the game, with the only non-strikeout coming as the final out of the third inning on a ground out to the third baseman.
“All the stars have to be aligned for something like this to happen,” Waller said.
The only real time for concern occurred after Johnson walked the first batter of the seventh inning. Waller quickly went out to the mound to calm his pitcher, telling him just to focus on getting the outs and not worry about the strike outs. Johnson responded by fanning three consecutive hitters to end the game.
After struggling in his last two outings, Johnson said “it felt sort of like a fluke” and what he has accomplished has yet to sink in.
“It still really hasn’t hit me that I got 20 strikeouts in one game,” he said.
With the win Johnson improved his season record to 3-2 and moved his strikeout total to 32 for the season.
“I don’t know if he realized how phenomenal it was,” Waller said of Johnson, who generally keeps his emotions to himself. “I think his teammates were just as excited as he was.”
Wednesday’s win was the second over Arlington in as many days and their second league win of the season.
David Bertelson led Oak Harbor in hitting on Wednesday, going 2-for-4 with four RBI. He had a two-run single in the second inning and tacked on a two-run double in the seventh. Jake Prasser also connected on his first homerun of the season, driving in two runs in the fifth inning.
After experiencing a rough first four league games against Snohomish and Stanwood, the Cats picked up their first league victory of the season 8-4 on Tuesday afternoon with a combined team effort.
“Last week there was always something that fell apart,” Waller said. “Either our pitching, our hitting or our defense, just different things each game. This game we played a lot more complete game.”
Erik Sinks went the distance pitching for the Cats, as he scattered four runs over seven innings.
“He’s really a competitor and he gutted it out,” Waller said. “He did a good job.”
The Cats really got their bats working well against the Eagles as well. Aaron Gibbons was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and Kyle Issacson also went 2-for-3. Johnson had a two RBI single and Gerrid Warner sprinted around the bases for a two-run in the park homerun.
“Last week we didn’t look very good at the plate, so it was kind of nice to get some big hits,” Waller said.
The two victories move Oak Harbor to 2-4 in league and 6-4 overall. They play next at 4 p.m., Tuesday, April 15 at home against Marysville-Pilchuck. Results from Friday’s game against Marysville will be in Wednesday’s edition of the News-Times.
Tuesday’s score
Arlington 1 0 0 3 0 0 0—4 8 2
Oak Harbor 0 1 5 2 0 0 x—8 7 1
Boursaw, Adams (6), and Dumovich and Barlond (4), Sinks and Issacson. WP-Sinks (1-0), LP-Boursaw. (HR) Warner (1), 3B Curtin.
Wednesday’s score
Oak Harbor 0 3 0 0 3 0 2—8 6 1
Arlington 0 0 0 0 0 0 0—0 3 3
Johnson and Issacson, Bishop, Cooper (6) and Dumovich. WP-Johnson 3-2, LP-Bishop. Records: Oak Harbor 2-4 league, 6-4 overall, Arlington 1-5 league, 2-8 overall.
