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Kelly
tosses perfect game as Mount Pulaski blanks Riverton 6-0
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 [May 06, 2019]
Junior Todd Kelly is on a roll
for the Mount Pulaski Hilltoppers. In his last outing
versus Springfield Lutheran the left-hander pitched a no-hitter
and this time on the mound, he topped that performance. Kelly
tossed a perfect game Friday versus Riverton. He threw seven
innings of perfect baseball, allowing no runs, no hits, and no
walks. On the way to the 6-0 win Kelly struck out 10 batters.
For those that like to keep track, he threw 79 pitches in the
entire game and 59 of those were for strikes.
The kid was in the zone on
Friday afternoon at Veteran's Park in Mount Pulaski and his
coaches couldn't be more proud of his perfect effort and
the overall performance of the Hilltopper squad that now boasts
a season record of 18 wins and 3 losses.
"Obviously it was an incredible
performance by Todd on the mound," said Mount Pulaski head coach
Joel Washko following the win. "I have played and coached a lot
of baseball and have never been a part of a perfect game. Todd
was locating his pitches really well and had good velocity on
his fastball. He has come so far as a pitcher and I think we are
now really seeing the results of the work he has put in. I have
to give credit to Ben Fricke for calling a great game behind the
plate and also to our defense, who really made some nice plays
to keep the perfect game intact. The win was a total team effort
really. All nine guys in the lineup had at least one hit for us.
It was a lot of fun to be a part of it and just great seeing
how much our kids were enjoying it."
Assistant coach Troy Burgard
also called Kelly's performance "dominant" and said it was "an
awesome thing to watch."
Kelly's father, Rob, is a
paramedic for the Logan County Paramedics Association, and he
couldn't stop smiling after the accomplishment by his son
either, saying, "It was pretty amazing to watch."
So at what point did the younger
Kelly on the mound realize he could do this perfect game thing?
"Around the fourth or fifth
inning I thought, "I got a chance to do this," said Kelly. "I
just felt more confident and started getting into it. I started
getting more excited and decided I am going to do this. I just
stuck to it. The defense helped a lot." In fact, on the last
play of the game the last Riverton batter hit the ball to deep
centerfield and that caused a little nervousness among the
Mount Pulaski crowd.
"On the last out of the game a
kid hit a towering fly ball to Tanner (Farris) in centerfield
and he came in and caught it," said Kelly. "When he hit it, my
heart stopped, I think. "Cause I was thinking if that's the
first hit of the game," he kinda laughed nervously. Finally he
said, "That was the last out of the game. Tanner saved me."
That last out was actually
to DEEP center by the Riverton catcher. Farris started back
on the ball but the wind kept it in the ballpark and he was
able to move in to make a great catch. Game over. Whew.
Time
for Rob Kelly to relax.
[to top of second column] |
Perfect Duo ~ Pitcher Todd Kelly poses with his catcher, Ben Fricke,
following the perfect game versus Riverton. Mount Pulaski won 6-0
over the Hawks and it should be noted that not once did Kelly shake
off any pitches called by Fricke.
"I was terribly nervous,"
admitted the elder Kelly. "From about the fifth inning on, I
was terribly nervous. I couldn't get up 'cause that was gonna
break the mojo. I couldn't sit still, I couldn't get up, I
couldn't do nothing. But it was awesome."
So after that awesome perfect
game Todd Kelly even got to take the game ball home with him.
Now that's perfect.
Back to the ballgame, Mount
Pulaski hosted Riverton on Friday but the Hawks were the home
team because they were supposed to play in Riverton but the
field was too wet.
The Hawks agreed to play in
Mount Pulaski and so with that the game started by Mount Pulaski
scoring a run in the top of the first inning. Ben Fricke drove
in Logan DeRight for the first run of the game.
Mount Pulaski added another run
in the third inning, not that they were going to necessarily
need it, but it's always nice to have an insurance run or two
for cushion. This time it was an RBI single by Grant Davis to
score Fricke. 2-0 Mount Pulaski.
In the top half of the fourth
inning it was Kelly helping his own cause with an RBI double to
score Lucas Kuhlman. Fricke then took one for the team with the
bases loaded and a run came trotting home for the Hilltoppers.
Hit by pitch for those keeping track and a 4-0 Mount Pulaski
lead.
Moving into the top of the sixth
inning, Mount Pulaski plated another run. Farris added an RBI
single here to score Drew Martin.
In the top of the seventh inning
Kelly's line drive to right field pushed Jonathan Shehorn home
and the Hilltoppers were on top 6-0. The bottom of the seventh
inning looked easy on paper: ground out, pop out and fly
out. Game over. Mount Pulaski shuts out Riverton 6-0 behind a
perfect game by Todd Kelly. One for the history books.
The Hilltoppers will play at
Athens today at 4:30 p.m.
[Teena Lowery] |
Batting2B: Todd
Kelly
TB: Jonathan Shehorn, Garrett
Fitzpatrick, Grant Davis 2,
Logan DeRight, Ben Fricke 2,
Drew Martin 2,
Todd Kelly 3,
Tanner Farris, Lucas Kuhlman
RBI: Grant Davis, Ben Fricke 2,
Todd Kelly 2,
Tanner Farris
SAC: Garrett Fitzpatrick, Lucas
Kuhlman
ROE: Todd Kelly
FC: Jonathan Shehorn
HBP: Ben Fricke
SB: Jonathan Shehorn, Drew Martin
CS: Todd Kelly
TotalsTeam
QAB: 24 (61.54%)
Jonathan Shehorn 3,
Garrett Fitzpatrick 2,
Grant Davis 3,
Logan DeRight 3,
Ben Fricke 2,
Drew Martin 3,
Todd Kelly 2,
Tanner Farris 3,
Lucas Kuhlman 3
Team LOB: 12
TotalsTeam
QAB: 5 (23.81%)
Griffin King, Blake Stoll 2,
Charles Dukett, Jeremy Craft
Team LOB: 0FieldingE: Jacob
Reavis
DP: Hunter Williams, Charles
Dukett
|
Pitching |
IP |
#P |
S% |
H |
R |
ER |
SO |
BB |
HR |
|
Todd Kelly |
7.0 |
79 |
.747 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
|
Totals |
7.0 |
79 |
.747 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
PitchingW: Todd
Kelly
Pitches-Strikes: Todd Kelly 79-59
Groundouts-Flyouts: Todd Kelly 7-4
First pitch strikes-Batters faced: Todd
Kelly 11-21
PitchingL: Jeremy
Craft
HBP: Blake Stoll
BK: Jeremy Craft
Pitches-Strikes: Blake Stoll 29-17,
Hunter Williams 41-26,
Jeremy Craft 55-26
Groundouts-Flyouts: Blake Stoll 2-2,
Hunter Williams 2-2,
Jeremy Craft 3-4
First pitch strikes-Batters faced: Blake
Stoll 6-9,
Hunter Williams 5-11,
Jeremy Craft 9-19
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