Cade Caruso delivers the most dominant pitching in North Carolina this season.
By Gary Corsair
Sports Writer
Fans were abuzz and teammates were whooping and dancing, but Hayesville’s Cade Caruso had little to say after delivering the most dominant pitching performance in North Carolina this baseball season.
“It felt pretty good,” Caruso remarked after retiring 15 Andrews batters — 12 of them on strikeouts – without walking or hitting a single batter on Monday. Fifteen determined Wildcats up, 15 dejected Wildcats downs.
Pretty good? Caruso’s complete game, five-inning mound masterpiece was “fantastic, incredible, unbelievable” and a dozen other adjectives.
Yes, unbelievable – the odds of pitching a perfect game are 1-in-46,800 according to reddit.com.
Pretty good, indeed.
Yet that’s all Hayesville’s modest 6-foot, 170-pound sophomore had to say after blanking Andrews in a 24-0 donnybrook on the Wildcats’ diamond.
“K King” Caruso prefers to let a sizzling fastball and snappy curve do his talking.
“Caruso pretty much managed the game. He kept us in the game, stayed ahead in his counts and did a great job,” Coach Joe Jack Sellers understated. “Andrews only put the ball in play three times.”
For those of you scoring at home, Andrews didn’t hit the ball out of the infield. The only outs that weren’t Ks were a ground out to second baseman Michael Mauney in the first inning, a bouncer first baseman Kyle Lunsford turned into a putout in the second, and a grounder shortstop Dakota Matheson disposed of in the fourth inning.
Caruso seemed to get stronger as the game went on. The K king was as cool as a safe-cracker in a refrigerator factory as he whiffed eight of the last nine batters he faced.
Meanwhile, his teammates enjoyed extended batting practice Monday at the expense of Andrews pitchers.
The Yellow Jackets banged out more hits than an American Bandstand show.
“We hit the ball great. Some kids are starting to swing the bats a little bit better,” remarked Sellers. “I’m proud of the kids’ efforts, they’re looking great.”
Ironically, it was a hurler, not a hitter who looked greatest.
Caruso had nary a worry. The Yellow Jackets gave him more than a cushion; they provided Caruso with comfort of an Eller & Owens Bradington Young reclining sectional by plating 11 runs in the first inning.
Michael Mauney began the hit parade by belting a two-strike single to right. Mauney was back in the dugout quicker than you could say “Jackie Robinson” after stealing second and third and then jogging home when Braxton Cherry lofted a fly to center field that was mishandled.
Avery Leatherwood followed with a run-scoring ground-out. Next, Kyle Lunsford laced a double to left and scored when the next batter, Cade Denton, was safe a throwing error by the third baseman.
The litany of sizzling hits, walks, steals, and errors continued until Leatherwood came up for the second time in the inning. This time, Avery put the wood to the leather and launched the ball over the outfield fence for a two-run dinger.
The Yellow Jackets continued to display impressive firepower as Caruso frustrated the Wildcats with speed-balls, looping curves and a deceptive change-up.
Cade Denton had four hits and scored a pair of runs. Lunsford belted two doubles and scored 3 runs. Mauney and Braxton Cherry scored 4 runs each. Both had a pair of hits. Caruso scored 3 times. Matheson came home twice.
The lopsided win gave Hayesville a 2-1 record and 2-0 in the Smoky Mountain Conference.
Andrews, which has been touched for 10 runs or more in every game, is 1-6 overall and 0-4 in the conference.