Alvarado takes no-hitter into seventh inning, shuts down Eastmont 5-1

MOSES LAKE — No one ever sees what Moses Lake junior Vance Alvarado does to get ready for game day. Not really.

They don’t see the running to stay in shape, the dedication, the attention to detail or the work. To the average fan, his day is based on balls and strikes. But his coach calls him a big-game guy and a professional, even though he’s just a junior in high school.

Alvarado took a no-hitter into the seventh inning of Tuesday’s Columbia Basin Big Nine game against Eastmont where the Wildcats’ (5-4, 4-3 CBBN) second baseman Kyler Morrow broke up the no-no on a base hit through the gap on the left side of the infield.

But Alvarado came back and slammed the door, leading the Chiefs to a 5-1 victory, giving up just the one hit, striking out one and allowing just one run in seven innings at Larson Playfield.

“He’s kind of a no-nonsense guy. He’s just always focused, whether it’s a game or practice,” head coach Donnie Lindgren said. “I coached Rosendo (his father) back in the day and he was the same way. I know that they’ve been brought up that way.

“The thing with Vance is that everyday he goes out there you know he’s going to give you his best. He’s a competitor. He’s a big-game guy, he’s a professional (in his attention to detail) and that’s a pleasure to coach.”

Lindgren, the Chiefs’ first-year head coach, lets his battery make the pitch selection. Alvarado and catcher Cody Goodwin know darn good and well the Moses Lake staff doesn’t have a 12-strikeout a day guy like Hunter Boyd a few years back. So they mix things up and focus on location.

“The defense did a really good job backing me up, so I just knuckled down and kept on throwing strikes,” Alvarado said. “Today, we really wanted to pound it inside and really take control of the inside half, then see if we can get them to chase a curve ball outside.”

He kept the Wildcat hitters in check with location pitching and a defense that committed just the one error.

“We all knew it was a no-hitter going, but we just wanted to keep it low key and keep on pitching,” catcher Cody Goodwin said. “He threw a heck of a ballgame and got the job done. The key was working the inside corner. Once we figured the umpire out, we were able to paint the bottom corners very well.

“Today was about moving in and out and pitching to contact. We have a great defense and we count on them.”

Moses Lake (4-2, 2-2 CBBN) scored two in the first inning, taking advantage of some nifty base running when pinch-runner Emmitt Tatum stole second, drawing the throw, which allowed Zack Valdez to steal home. They scored again on a similar play in the third inning to make a 3-0 lead.

“We work on base running every day. We don’t do wind sprints or any other kind of running. We run bases and work on first-and-third drills all the time,” Lindgren said. “Today we were able to put a lot of pressure on them and it paid off.”

The Chiefs have just six seniors on the predominantly underclassmen team. They split a doubleheader with second-place West Valley (5-4, 4-3) and now took one from third-place Eastmont (5-4, 4-3).

Moses Lake goes into Friday’s doubleheader at Eastmont sitting in fifth place in the Big Nine, but there is still a lot of baseball yet to play.

“During the summer we played the big kids all the time going to Centralia and the Seattle area. So playing the big kids in the Big Nine is nothing new,” Alvarado said. “It’s not that much of a difference. We’ve been playing together since we were 12, so we’re in this together.”

Zach Valdez was 2-for-2 with a run scored and an RBI to lead the Moses Lake offense, which generated five runs on four hits. Evan McLean singled and drove in a run. Gabe Passey also singled and drove in a run, as well as scoring a run.

Eastmont 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 1 1 3

Moses Lake 2 0 1 2 0 0 x - 5 4 1

Micah Satterfield (5), Luke Schmidt (1) and Jaxson Brown; Vance Alvarado and Cody Goodwin. ML HITS: Zach Valdez (2), Evan McLean (1), Gabe Passey (1)