What often makes us love sports is the pursuit of perfection. The unblemished record, the flawless run, that day when you just can’t miss. Night after night athletes and fans alike show up hoping that their team can get closer to that seemingly unattainable milestone than they were the evening prior.
Well, on Tuesday night Greeneville senior Will Harmon was perfect.
In an 18-0 win over Cherokee the Greene Devils’ ace struck out 12, walked none and allowed no hits. Paired with no errors behind him on defense Harmon earned the ever-elusive perfect game.
“I feel great right now, especially after last night it was important for us to come back and lock things in,” Harmon said. “Everything was working today. My slider was probably my best pitch. In the bullpen pregame things weren’t looking too good, but when I got on the mound I was feeling it. Then the guys backed me up with the bats and that made things a little bit stress free up there.”
Looking to avenge a 7-6 loss from the day before Greeneville’s offense came out attacking and slammed line drives all over the outfield grass to take a quick 8-0 lead.
That hit parade began with Kaine Ricker slamming a double into the right field corner. Two pitches later Tegan Begley roped line drive into centerfield, and two pitches after that Harmon sent a missile over the second baseman to score the first run of the night.
Sam Thompson followed by landing a fly ball in left field for a double that pushed the lead to 3-0.
Maddox Bishop had a big swing of the side. In his second at bat of the inning he launched a no-doubt shot over the left-field fence for a three-run home run that gave Greeneville an 8-0 lead.
That ended the day of Chiefs starter Cade Putnal.
“This was a good way to come back,” Greeneville coach Andy Collins said. “It was huge for us to come out hitting like that. And it was tough, because sometimes wild can be effective on the mound. It was good to see some guys swing well and doing the things we have been working on.”
In the top of the second inning Harmon really began to find his groove as he struck out the side on 12 pitches with some knee-buckling breaking balls that sent the Chiefs back to their dugout bewildered.
In the 15-out game Harmon struck out 12 of the final 13 batters he faced, striking out the side in the second, fourth and fifth innings.
“Will was filling it up with all of his pitches. He has good stuff and he knows where its going, and that’s a great thing,” Collins said.
Greeneville’s offense did not slow down in the second inning, and took advantage of six walks and three hits to extend its lead to 15-0.
Bases-loaded walks of Jacob Ward and Jaxon Winter allowed the first two runs to score. Bishop scored the next run on a sacrifice fly and Ricker knocked in two with a line drive to centerfield.
Begley followed with an RBI double that he pinned in the left-filed corner and Harmon scored him on a groundball that Cherokee threw away at first base.
In the first two innings Greeneville sent 25 batters to the plate.
Ricker came up with another RBI single in the third inning to put Greeneville in front 16-0.
In the fourth inning the Devils plated two more runs to increase their lead to 18-0.
Rocco Fontana was hit by a pitch to lead off the side and Dalton Mitchell knocked him in on a double he sent to right field. Mitchell scored on a sacrifice fly by Ward.
Harmon was able to end things in the top of the fifth inning, but not without a couple of close calls. With the pressure mounting Harmon faced a three-ball count against the final two batters he faced, but both times he was able to deliver the punch-out pitch to ensure a perfect ending to his night.
Greeneville finished Tuesday’s contest with 12 hits. Ricker was 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs. Thompson went 2-for-2 with two doubles, two RBIs and two runs scored. Begley was 2-for-3 with a double, and Bishop had a home run with four RBIs.
Cherokee used three pitchers in Tuesday’s loss. They combined to strikeout four, walk 10 and allow 12 hits.
