In a game that brought new meaning to the term, no-hitter, Dakota Stewart pitched the "14U" Sabine Nationals to a 15-1, 4-inning, win over the Arp Tigers in Liberty City Thursday night.

Unlike the past two games with Winona and Carthage, Sabine didn't need walks to generate their 15-run outburst. Their offense exploded for eight extra-base hits, highlighted by three home runs. But what will be remembered was the total domination by Stewart on the mound. He no hit the Tigers ... no, make that "NO-HIT"!!!

A few observations from the front row:
(1) How dominant was Stewart, you ask? And what do I mean by "NO-HIT"?
(a) He struck out 12 batters Thursday night.
(b) Arp's "4-inning" offense consisted of 12 outs ....
-- every out recorded was a "K". Not a single batter put the ball into play for the Tigers.
-- so he no-hit them, you say ... lot's of no-hitters thrown every year.
© He "NO-HIT" their bats!!! That's right. I checked my scorebook. I don't show a single Arp batter even fouling off a pitch (all ".'s" for called strikes and "---'s" for swinging strikes. No "F's" for foulballs). I've never seen that before.
(d) In fact, in a game called, "Hit by the ball", the Arp batters beat the bats, 1-0. Stewart hit a batter in the 4th inning (HBP). Arp's Garet Allen was hit on the elbow (funny bone). Based on his reaction ... he didn't find it very funny.
(e) Arp's only run came as the result of ...
-- 1st base ... walk. 2nd base ... stolen base. 3rd base ... advanced on E-4 .. throw-down bounced off his glove.
-- home ... picked off 3rd, but scored on E-1 .. pitcher dropped throw during rundown. The run was unearned.

Thursday night's effort by Stewart might not have been PERFECT, but it was still a SPECIAL performance in his sports' life. And he was given the game ball as a reward for his accomplishment.

(2) I remember listening to a Houston Astro game on the radio back in high school in 1964. Ken Johnson pitched a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds ... and lost 1-0 on errors. So Sabine's 15-1 win wasn't a solo effort by Stewart on the mound Thursday night. His teammates came through BIG TIME. In fact, Stewart was right there with them as the Nationals had their best offensive effort of the season.

Sabine's offensive outburst was led by ...
....................................................... At Bats .... Runs .... RBI .... X-Bse .... Steals
-- Dylan Cook ................................... 2-2 .......... 2 ........ 2 ........ HR .......... 1
-- Dakota Stewart ............................ 1-1 .......... 2 ........ 2 ........ HR ......... --
-- Zack Martin ...................................1-2 ........... 1 ........ 2 ........ HR ......... --
-- Tell DeFreece ................................ 2-2 .......... 1 ........ 1 ...... 2B, 2B ...... --
-- Blane Sinclair ................................ 2-2 .......... 2 ........ -- ........ -- ........... 1
-- Johnathan Chambers ................... 1-2 .......... 1 ......... 1 ........ 2B .......... 1
-- Blake McCann ............................... 1-2 .......... 1 ......... 1 ........ 2B .......... --

(3) To be fair to Arp's starting pitcher, Demetri Bowie, he started off pitching well .. until Sabine got their "pumps primed" in the middle of the 2nd inning ...
(a) 1st inn'g .. 2 K's around a bad-hop single and a long home run by Cook. 2-run inning ... the Tigers were still in it at that time.
(b) 2nd inn'g .. Bowie probably felt snake bit through the first five batters ..
-- 1st bat .. HBP
-- 2nd bat . blooper over 1st baseman down right-field line .................. 2B ... RBI .. 3-0.
-- 3rd bat .. high bouncer off pitcher's glove .......................................... 1B ..
-- bad throw back to pitcher from 1st baseman ...runner at 3rd scores .. -- ... E-3 ... 4-0 .. batter advances to 2nd.
-- 4th bat .. ground ball hit where 2nd baseman is suppose to be ..
... he's at 2nd trying to hold the runner on ............................................ 1B ... RBI .. 5-0.
-- runner at first steals 2nd .. goes to 3rd on wild pitch..
-- 5th bat .. hard grdr to 3rd. runner comes home. throw goes to 1st... 5-3 ... RBI .. 6-0.

The Nationals' batters then started hitting the ball on the nose, getting 3 more doubles in the 2nd inning to close out a 9-0 lead.

(4) On this night, extra-base hits seemingly rained down on the Tigers as the Nationals hit hard shots all over the outfield.
....X-Bse Hits ............. # .......Run ........RBI
-- Doubles ................ 5 ......... 3 .......... 3
-- Home Runs ........... 3 ......... 3 .......... 6
-- ...Totals ................ 8 ......... 6 .......... 9

(a) DeFreece one-hopped a line drive over the left center field fence for a "ground-rule double".
(b) Clifford doubled to left center, but was thrown out trying to stretch it to a triple.
© All three home runs were 2-run shots .. with runners on via two singles and an error.
(d) 3 of the 5 doubles resulted in rbi's, with runners on via a walk, HBP, and a double.
(e) The extra-base hits were spread throughout the Sabine lineup. As a result, the doubles and home runs were entirely separate in creating runs and rbi's.

(5) I'm not going to say the wind was blowing hard (OUT TOWARD THE OUTFIELD) (Note: Local Liberty City shade tree meteorologists estimated 15 mph out of the south.), but .....

POPTEST TIME!!!! Which of the following could be true???
(a) Sabine's Stewart threw one of his few curveballs. The batter swung and missed. However, before the ball reached the catcher, the wind pushed it back to Stewart on the mound.
(b) Although Sabine's two catchers were credited with all 12 putouts (K's), I did credit their shortstop, McCann, with 2 unofficial putouts (P-6) and leftfielder Bruce Broyles with a putout (L-7) .. great diving catch, by the way. How? They snagged a toupee and two wigs that blew out of the stands ....
© Two of the three Sabine home runs were hit deep enough to be homers even without the wind.
(d) Someone brought autographed photos of their two favorite sports personalities ... former Dallas Cowboy coach Jimmy Johnson, and NFL draft guru, Mel Kiper. Both men are known for "heavy hair gel" perfect hair styles. After the game, the best description of their photos would be "wind blown" hair styles.
(e) The only Arp batter to make contact with Stewart's pitches was Allen, who was hit by the pitch (HBP). After hitting Allen's elbow, the ball one-hopped the fence down the left-field line.
(f) A Sabine right-handed hitter, DeFreece, hit a high fly ball down the right-field line. It was "out of sight" from our seating position. I'd already marked an "F" for foul on my "strike box" for him. I had to erase it and record a double for DeFreece after the home-plate ump signaled "FAIR BALL"!

(6) The "SUBS" stepped up their play against Arp Thursday night. The Sabine coach bats all 13 players instead of a 9-player lineup with substitutions. Through the first two games, the subs were Jay Horan, Broyles, DeFreece, and Chambers. Although hitless, they did score 4 runs on 11 walks and 3 stolen bases.

Thursday night, these four came to the plate swinging. The results? .....
-- 4-7 ... 3 doubles ... 4 runs ... 5 rbi's ... 1 walk ... 2 stolen bases ... and NO "K's"!!

(7) I like plays that involve multiple #'s (defensive positions). There were two in the Sabine-Arp game ...
(a) 2nd inn'g .. Sabine's Clifford tries to stretch a double into a triple .. thrown out .. recorded as 8-6-1-5. He is given credit for a double.
(b) 3rd inn'g .. Arp's Potts is picked off 3rd .. in rundown, pitcher drops throw, allowing Potts to score .. recorded as 2-5-2-5- E-1.
-- although safe (runner credited with the run), but also with a "caught stealing" (CS). Under "ordinary effort", he would have been tagged out by the pitcher, who dropped the throw.
-- the catcher and 3rd baseman get credited for only one assist each, although they handled the ball twice in the rundown.

(8) Usually at this level and under, a runner advancing to the next base during a pitch to the batter will get credit for a stolen base (SB) .. if the batter doesn't make contact with the ball.

However, there are situations where "defensive indifference" comes into play -- no steal credited to base runner.
-- 3rd inn'g .. Sabine had runners on 1st and 3rd .. no outs ... ahead 13-1.
-- Broyles on first started "WALKING" to 2nd base.
-- although the shortstop came over to 2nd for a throw, the catcher held the ball and kept an eye on the runner at 3rd.
-- catcher had plenty of time to throw out the "WALKER" at 2nd, but held the ball.
-- I recorded Broyles' advancement to 2nd as "defensive indifference" .. no stolen base.

For the Sabine National moms that didn\'t take a picture of their son hitting one of the three home runs against the Arp Tigers .............

...........Dylan Cook (1st Inng).......................Dakota Stewart (3rd Inng)
...................................\\ ....Zack Martin (3rd Inng)..../
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Wow...mom's and dad's at their finest. Props to the kid. Parents get a life and apply at the local newspaper so you can be a sportswriter

Being the mom of this young man, I appreciate all the time that TJC Fan puts into coming to my son's games and the time he spends writing these articles. It means a lot to my son and he will have these articles to look back on as he gets older. Thank you TJC Fan for all you do for my son.

23baseballmom. Thanks for the comments. Dakota does have the potential to be a very special pitcher as he gets older and moves on into high school at Sabine. He had a special game against the Arp Tigers ... one that you don't often see. I've enjoyed watching him and the Nationals play baseball this season.

bulldogbacker. It does take a while to create the home runs. Anyway, I've been keeping scorebooks on baseball games since the late 50's. As for being a sports writer ... this is a relaxation hobby, not a job. After analyzing inventory and gross profit numbers for the last 37 years (and still going), it's a nice change to be able to analyze numbers from baseball games. Besides, it takes longer than one evening to think up what I want to write. I've loved the game of baseball and TJC basketball since ..... well, a long time. And it's fun to observe and make notes about a game and then disect it.

I wasn't trying to knock you. I am sure there are high schools that wish they had as good of coverage. Keep doing the good job you are doing.