GC Baseball: Krayton Ritchie throws perfect game, strikes out 15

May 10—GRAND SALINE — Krayton Ritchie wasn't just perfect Thursday night.

He was sensational.

Maybe even a little magical. Nobody touched him. It was 21 up, 21 down. Here's a stat that's absolutely staggering. Only six of the batters who faced Krayton even put the bat on the ball in fair play. The other 15 walked back to the dugout after striking out.

No runs, no hits, no walks, no errors ... No chance.

The final score was Kerens 8, Linden-Kildare 0 — a dominating victory in the opening game of the best-of-three Area Round series for Krayton and the Kerens Bobcats, who have allowed one hit — a single — in their first three playoff games.

There's more: Krayton didn't just throw a perfect game Thursday. This was his second perfect game in his last three starts. Someone call Ripley's...

At the end of the regular season Krayton sent 21 Cross Roads batters back to the dugout without allowing a hit, a walk or even an argument. He struck out 16 of the 21 who came to the plate that night in his final tune-up for the playoffs.

Apparently, he was ready for the playoffs.

His only blemish in his past three starts came in his one-hitter against Carlise in the Bi-District opener. Krayton struck out 13 in that game. If you're counting along, that's 44 Ks in his last three games. Those are some head-shaking numbers.

Ask any of the players from the Linden-Kildare team that had to face half of the Ritchie Twins — and probably don't want to see the other half.

They drew Krayton Thursday in the opening game of the best-of-three series against Kerens. Bad news for the Tigers. They face Kannon Ritchie Friday in Game 2.

Kannon tossed a no-hitter against Carlisle last week in Game 2 of the Bi-District series, taking away the Carlisle bats in a 3-0 win that saw Kannon strike out 15 and face just 24 batters (three over the minimum) to nail down his complete game gem — and the series. The Ritchies combined to strike out 28 in the two games.

They have looked unbeatable.

Krayton held the Tigers, a team that is hitting .328 as a group and had been shut out just once all year — back on April 12 (6-0 to McLeod) — to nothing, zero, zilch, nada ...

Krayton is 9-3 with a 0.64 ERA, allowing just five earned runs all season while striking out 101 batters. Kannon is 11-0 with a 0.24 ERA after allowing just two earned runs this year while striking out 127.

The Ritchies are a combined 20-3 with a combined 237 strikeouts. They have not allowed an extra base hit in a 113 innings this season.

Thursday's victory was the 17th in a row for the Bobcats and 16 of those were shutouts. Kerens hasn't given up a run since March 19 when Neches, the only district team to find the plate against Bobcats, scored twice in an 11-2 loss. No one has scored on Kerens or the Ritchie Twins since.

Kerens (22-5) swept Carlisle 3-0 and 5-0, but the Bobcats brought out the big bats Thursday and banged out 11 hits, scoring eight runs in six at-bats to make life miserable for Linden-Kildare, which trailed 3-0 after two and 6-0 after four innings.

Five Bobcats drove in runs, including Krayton, who went 2-for-4 with a double, scored twice and drove in a run. Kannon went 1-for-3, scored twice and drove in a run. That's right, the Ritchie Twins scored four runs (two runs each) — or four more runs than they have allowed in three playoff games.

Layne Lynch, a senior who has been a leader on the baseball diamond since he was a freshman, led the way with a 3-for-4 night with a double. He scored and drove in two runs, and Andy Conklin, a senior who has had a brilliant baseball career at Kerens, also stepped up with a 3-for-4 night. Conklin doubled and drove in two runs. Kooper Hill went 2-for-4 with a double. Adrian Solis, Ryan Priddy and JJ Hightower all had good at-bats and scored runs.

The competition is going to get better, perhaps much, much better. If the Bobcats beat L-K and advance to the Region Quarterfinals next week they could face Beckville, a talented program that edged Kerens 2-1 in a best-of-three series in the Region Quarterfinals last spring.

To get there the Bobcats need to win Friday to nail down a sweep.