St. Charles North’s Formento 1-hits Larkin
One lousy hit separated St. Charles North pitcher Carl Formento from a no-hitter in a 2-0 victory at Larkin Wednesday.
Only two hitters reached base against Formento (2-1), who fed the Royals a heavier diet of off-speed pitches as the game progressed. Jack Eckholm reached on a third-inning error, and the only Larkin hit was credited to Niko Morado in the first inning.
Morado hit a high popup toward St. Charles North second baseman Jake Johansmeier, who lost sight of the ball off the bat. The ball eventually dropped behind him untouched.
“I just heard it, and then I looked right into the gray sky and I did not see the ball at all,” Johansmeier said. “Unfortunately, on its way down I started to see it, and I was in too far. It landed right behind me. It could go either way.”
The home scorebook called it a hit.
“It has to be a hit, I think,” Larkin coach Matt Esterino said.
“It’s a ball we should probably get to and make the play on, but I don’t know,” St. Charles North coach Todd Genke said. “It’s funny how that happens with one play and you’re like, ‘Ah, I don’t know.’ Then the game keeps moving on and all of a sudden it (a no-hitter) comes down to this. It’s like, ‘Was that a hit or not?’”
It marks the second straight season the Upstate Eight Conference River Division teams have played a game in Elgin that featured a judgment call on the only potential hit for one side. On April 21, 2011, Larkin’s Kyle Newquist was credited with a no-hitter when a 4-hopper to the Larkin third baseman was bobbled and ruled an error.
Regardless of the ruling, Johansmeier more than made it up to his pitcher. The senior went 1-for-3 and drove in the only 2 runs of the game against Larkin starting pitcher Austin Royse (1-4), who limited the North Stars to 7 hits and 3 walks and struck out 4 in 7 innings.
Johansmeier snapped a 0-0 tie in the fourth inning. After John Brodner reached on a two-out infield single and moved to second base on a wild pitch, Johansmeier ripped a 2-1 fastball to left field to give the North Stars a 1-0 lead.
“(Royse) left it over, and I just hit it where they weren’t for once,” Johansmeier said. “All my hits need to go somewhere, and this one just found the grass. It was a good feeling just standing there, seeing that 1-0 on the board.”
Johansmeier made it 2-0 in the top of the sixth. With Jake Smiley on third base and Brodner on second after consecutive singles and a stolen base by Brodner, Johansmeier hit a run-scoring groundball to the shortstop for a fielder’s choice, scoring Smiley.
That was all the support Formento needed. The senior retired the last 14 Royals he faced to finish a complete-game 1-hitter with 8 strikeouts. He threw his slider for strikes in hitter’s counts and dotted corners with his fastball.
“I thought I had pretty good command of my off-speed, and when I threw a fastball I thought my fastball was working pretty well,” Formento said. “The heart of their order was a little in front of my off-speed pitches, so when it got up to them that’s what I threw, especially at the end.”
The Royals will attempt to salvage Game 3 of the 3-game series in St. Charles today at 4:30 p.m. St. Charles North (8-7, 5-3) has won 4 straight games. Larkin (6-10, 3-5) has dropped 4 in a row.