By By Matthew Nascone
The no-hitter is a grand accomplishment for any baseball pitcher. Northview High's Matt Reynolds was one single away from attaining this task Friday as the Chiefs defeated the South Walton Seahawks 13-0.
Reynolds (2-1) pitched four innings and allowed the one hit to grab the win for the 3-2 Chiefs.
"He did a good job of throwing strikes and getting ground balls," NHS head coach Sid Wheatley said. "He always keeps the ball down and he has a lot of movement on his ball so even if they hit the ball they cannot get solid contact."
The game was five innings because of the 10-run rule in high school baseball.
On the offensive side of the ball for the Chiefs Brandon Walker took one ball out of the yard for his first home run of the season. Walker ended the day 2-for-2 with a home run, a double, a walk and two RBI.
"I was excited to see him hit the ball like he did," Wheatley said. "We will have to depend on him and the other guys at the top of the lineup to get on base for the other guys to drive them in."
Travis Duncan went 2-for-3 with two doubles, a walk and two runs scored and leadoff man Sean Little was 1-for-4 with two runs scored.
The Chiefs piled up 13 runs on 10 hits and two Seahawk errors.
"We came out and did what we needed to do, win our first district game," Wheatley said. "That first district game is always important and it is good to get the first one."
Wheatley said the experienced Chiefs were able to take advantage of some mistakes the younger South Walton team made.
"We put the ball in play and scored some runs and that is all I can ask of this team," he said.
The Chiefs faced the Escambia Academy Cougars yesterday in Bratt and the results will be in Sunday's Advance. This game was the Cougars first game of the season.
NHS will butt heads with the Escambia County Blue Devils tomorrow beginning with a JV game at 4 p.m. followed by the varsity at 6 p.m.
In softball action
The Lady Chiefs also grabbed a big win in their district opener with a 14-0 thumping of the Lady Seahawks.
"We scored a lot of runs, not intentionally, but we did," NHS head coach Sammy Day said.
Day said South Walton committed five errors and that led to five unearned runs. The Lady Chiefs did not score in the first inning, but compiled four runs in the second inning and five runs in the third and fourth innings.
The game was over after the top of the fifth inning because of the 10-run rule in high school softball.
For the Lady Chiefs Hannah Gunter was 2-for-4 at the plate with two RBI. Nikki Crabtree went 3-for-4 with a double, a triple and three RBI.
"We didn't hit it as hard as we have been, but we got the job done," Day said.
On the mound for the Lady Chiefs Caitlyn Spence pitched a complete game shutout and only allowed one hit. She struck out three batters while walking only one.
"She is throwing strikes and as long as she throws strikes and lets the defense play behind her we will be OK," Day said.
The Lady Chiefs faced the Escambia Academy Lady Cougars yesterday and the results will be in Sunday's Advance. The game was the first of the season for EA.
The Lady Chiefs take on South Walton again March 3 at 5 p.m. on the road.