Following a strikeout to end the bottom of the fourth with the bases loaded in a tight 2-0 game, Mountain View’s Wes Harwell let loose a roar and pumped his fists as he walked off the mound.
Harwell, who will play for the University of San Francisco in the fall, dealt with Los Altos’ most dangerous threat of the game by doing what he did throughout the afternoon, having confidence in his pitches and composure in executing them.
“I just knew I could get out of it, but it felt good to know exactly where the ball was going, and getting that last strikeout was really a momentum shifter boost for us,” Harwell said of the fourth inning.
Harwell pitched all seven innings for the Mountain View baseball team (8-9), giving up just two hits and striking out nine in the 2-0 shutout win over Los Altos (8-8), getting the Eagles hitters to chase his off-speed pitches.
“Our pitcher was keeping them off balance,” Mountain View head coach Jeff Schwan said. “They had a really hard time hitting him. When he’s on, he’s really hard to hit.”
Harwell started slowly in the first inning after walking the opening batter and hitting a Los Altos player to put runners on first and third base with one out. He eventually struck out the last two hitters, which gave him confidence for the remainder of the game.
“I was getting pretty tired at the beginning after that first inning, and I was able to get into that mode where I knew exactly where the ball was going,” Harwell said. “I felt like no one could get on me, no one could hit me, and from there, the rest of the game was great.”
The senior breezed through the rest of the contest outside the fourth inning, with Schwan noting Harwell, a senior captain, is a good pitcher who can get out of jams because of his composure while pitching.
“He doesn’t let things get to him, umpires, other hitters, other dugouts,” Schwan said. “He does a good job of taking deep breaths, focusing on the next pitch and executing the pitch to the best of his ability.”
Los Altos’ Sly Cash also had a great game on the mound, going five innings and giving up just two unearned runs with seven strikeouts and three hits. However, the Eagle’s defense committed four errors, including two in the first inning. The two errors in the first contributed to a bases-loaded and one-out situation for Cash, who walked Chase Caringella to score a run before striking out Clay White and Rudra Vidyasagar to get out of the inning. Cash would later overthrow a check throw to first in the top of the fourth inning that allowed Kevin Conway to score to make it 2-0. Los Altos head coach Gabe Stewart noted that despite a rough first inning, Cash came back and made plays in the next four innings to make the best of the situation.
“When he left, [he had] three hits,” Stewart said. “I think that’s a pretty effective outing, it’s just unfortunate we couldn’t put some runs up for it.”
Mountain View made no errors in the game, taking pressure off of Harwell and earning Schwan’s praise for being the Spartans’ cleanest game of the season.
“Had no errors, a really good approach at the plate [and] our pitcher was pitching really well,” Schwan said. “Our team, just every aspect was on today, so I think that is our cleanest, most complete game of the season.”
Mountain View will hope that Harwell can continue his stellar performances in the coming weeks as the team tries to move up the standings in league play. The Spartans are 4-3 in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division standings and sit tied for fourth with Palo Alto. Mountain View came in with urgency Wednesday, determined to win after getting swept by Los Altos last year, with Harwell and the Spartans thinking about the Los Altos games all year.
“We’ve really been like ‘we have to beat Los Altos this year. We can’t get swept again; we can’t get beat again,'” Harwell said. “So to come out here and really focus on the game plan and execute super well, it’s great for us. It’s a real boost to our season.”
