Steve Genovese is only a sophomore at Valencia High School, but Vikings head coach Tim Pennell believes he is “something truly special” after the right-hander tossed a complete-game shutout in a 6-0 win over the West Ranch Wildcats.
“It’s unreal,” Pennell said of Genovese’s performance. “That’s who Steve is … his work ethic is through the roof and he’s a great teammate and works extremely hard.”
To begin the game, Genovese tossed three perfect innings against the Wildcats (13-11, 7-3). Although the perfect game bid was broken in the fourth after a Blake Johnson single, the sophomore arm held the Wildcats scoreless.
Pennell believes Genovese pitched his best in the sixth inning, when the Wildcats were in a bases-loaded situation and he escaped the frame with no runs allowed following Caydin Wilson’s groundout to second base.
“The nerves are not there,” Pennell said. “He can handle those things. It’s things that we work on in practice. Believe it or not, we work on those things … It just shows he’s way older than a 10th grader.”
Genovese ended the day having allowed just three hits and earning one strikeout. After the game, he described it as one of his best starts.
“This was definitely the best performance I had in my career,” Genovese said. “But all around we played great, played great defense and hit the ball well.”
As for Valencia’s (8-12-1, 3-4-1) offense, the Vikings tagged six runs throughout the day with the biggest performance coming from Zach Davis’ two-run double in the fourth inning as he ended the day 2-for-4.
The Vikings improved to 3-4-1 in Foothill League play and remained in fifth place in the baseball standings.
The Vikings return on Wednesday and will look to build upon their momentum with a road matchup against the Cowboys at Canyon High School with first pitch scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
Although the Wildcats dropped their third league game of the season, the team tied for first in the standings with Saugus after the Hart Hawks lost their matchup against the Centurions.
The Wildcats will take a week off from Foothill League play and return on Wednesday, April 29, for a matchup against the Hart Hawks.
After Friday’s games, here are scores from around the Foothill League:
Saugus 8, Hart 6: The Saugus Centurions (11-10, 7-3) secured the series sweep over the Hart Hawks (10-10-1, 5-2-1) at home and secured their 11th win of the year.
For Saugus, Joey Nuttall led the Centurions at the plate as the senior went 3-for-4 and drove in four runs along with a home run.
With the win, the Centurions are tied for first place in the Foothill League baseball standings and next match up with the Golden Valley Grizzlies with the first game Wednesday at home.
The Hawks fall to third in the standings with the loss and will look to bounce back on the road against the Castaic Coyotes Wednesday.
Both games are scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
Golden Valley 9, Canyon 4: The Golden Valley Grizzlies (11-9, 2-6) swept the Canyon Cowboys (8-13, 0-8) and recorded their second Foothill League win of the season.
The Grizzlies tagged five runs in the eighth to win in extra innings with Rocky Reyes leading all Golden Valley players as he went 2-for-3 at the plate and drove in three runs.
The Grizzlies will look to build upon their momentum on Wednesday on the road against the Saugus Centurions while the Cowboys match up against the Vikings at home.
Both games are scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
