Fontan no-no's Southeast
By By Carver Rayburn / staff writer
March 5, 2003
Pitching a no hitter is one of the most cherished accomplishments in baseball from the professional level all the way to little league.
In the misty fog at Southeast field, an accomplishment was made.
Senior right-handed pitcher Jamie Fontan threw a no hitter in a 10-0 West Lauderdale win over Southeast Lauderdale on Tuesday night.
Fontan (2-0) pitched five complete innings for the Knights (3-1, 2-0) striking out 10 batters and walking two.
Veteran coach Jerry Boatner was pleased with the way his ace pitcher got the job done.
"Jamie is an outstanding pitcher," Boatner said. "He is not a thrower, he is a great pitcher. He is one of the few kids I have seen that has great control of four different pitches."
The Knights wasted little time putting runs on the board with three in the first.
After a lead off triple by Bo Davis, West Lauderdale was able to score three times due to a Southeast error, balk and walk.
Southeast (1-3, 1-2) gave the Knights seven of their 10 runs on five errors, a wild pitch and a passed ball.
Tiger head coach Jonathan Wells expressed concern for the way his team performed on the defensive side of the game.
"There is no way to win ball games when you give another team that many runs," Wells said. "This was a completely different baseball team compared to the one that beat Newton County this past Friday. Our guys are going to have to man-up, if they want to win."
Southeast junior Larry Fairchild came into the game to relieve freshman Trevor Horn in the top of the second. Fairchild pitched the rest of the way giving up six runs on four hits, walking six and striking out two.
West Lauderdale did most of its damage in the top of the fourth inning.
After leading off with back-to-back walks, senior shortstop Trent Posey sent a shot over the right field wall for a three-run homer to put the Knights up 9-0.
"The home run by Trent was a big boost for the team," Boatner said. "They gave us a lot of runs early but I think that some of that had to do with the pressure we put on them."
Junior left fielder Jay Warren added a single and later scored on a Southeast throwing error to give the Knights the victory after five innings.
West Lauderdale will travel to Philadelphia on Thursday and be back in action at home against rival Clarkdale at 7 p.m. Friday.
The Knights will then host two games on Saturday against Thomasville, Ala., and Northeast Lauderdale.
The Tigers will hit the road and take on Carthage at 7 p.m. Friday.
Southeast then will participate in the Clarkdale Tournament on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
