MILL CREEK – There will be no repeat of last year’s first round 4A District 1 game for the Marysville-Pilchuck Tomahawks.
Not after the performance Jackson Timberwolves pitcher Cam Nobles had Saturday.
Nobles put an end to the Tomahawks’ seven-game winning streak with a phenomenal no-hitter, shutting down Marysville-Pilchuck 3-0 in a 4A District 1 first-round game at Jackson High School.
In last year’s 4A District 1 opener, Marysville-Pilchuck defeated Jackson 11-0, eventually winning the District 1 tournament. This year was a little different.
Nobles struck out 13 batters, including striking out the side in the second and seventh innings.
“This was his best game by far,” Jackson head coach Alan Briggs said.
“Cam was magnificent today. He rose up to the occasion. We got a great performance from him.”
Nobles struggled in the first and sixth innings, walking two batters in each of those innings.
It appeared Nobles was tiring after leading off the sixth with two straight walks.
But after a visit from the pitching coach, who is also Noble’s father, he settled down striking out Brandon Williams before getting Ricky Holm to ground into an inning-ending double play.
“My defense came out and really played well behind me today,” Nobles said.
“They stepped up in the field big time,” he added.
Nobles put an exclamation mark on a memorable day by striking out the side to end the game.
“He beat us. You got to tip your hat to that guy. Especially the couple of times he got in trouble he fought back to strike guys out to end the inning,” Marysville-Pilchuck coach Josh Rosenbach said.
While Nobles was pitching the game of his life, the highly talked about Jackson bats were struggling at the plate against Bryan Clark, Marysville-Pilchuck’s big right-hander.
“We haven’t always seen the other teams ace, that was good for us to see a guy that can throw with good velocity. He kept our hitters off-balance,” Briggs said.
Clark pitched a complete-game five-hitter, and held a Jackson offense that came into the game averaging more than 11 runs a game, to just three runs.
“Their pitcher threw well and our hitters we weren’t striking out much but we were hitting it right at people,” Briggs said.
The Timberwolves have relied on their power all season but had to fight to score runs against the Tomahawks.
“We had to manufacture runs today and we’re not used to having to do that,” Briggs said.
With most of their games subject to the mercy rule, this was just the eighth time that the Timberwolves had played into the seventh inning.
The three runs tied Jackson’s lowest output of the season. The Timberwolves defeated Lake Washington in their season-opener 3-1 on March 14.
With the win, Jackson (21-0 overall) extended its winning streak to 21 games and moved on to play Edmonds-Woodway at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Everett Memorial Stadium.
The Tomahawks (11-10) will face Cascade (16-5) in a loser-out game at 4 p.m.
At Jackson High School
Marysville-Pilchuck0000000-002
Jackson001110x-350
Clark and Botham. Nobles and Emsley-Pai. WP-Nobles (7-0). LP-Clark (4-5). 2B-Snider (J). Records-Marysville-Pilchuck 11-10 overall. Jackson 21-0.
Edmonds-Woodway 12, Cascade 0: At Everett, catcher Brandon Houghton supplied much of the offense for the Warriors, batting 2-for-3 with a home run, a double and three RBI in the 4A District 1 playoff game. Drew Lockheart also added three RBI for Edmonds-Woodway.
At Cascade H.S.
E-W52113-12151
Cascade00000-043
Jones and Houghton. Pearl, Michaelson (5) and Chiarelli. WP-Jones. LP-Pearl (3-3). 2B-Hutt (E-W), Houghton (E-W). HR-Houghton (E-W). Records-Edmonds-Woodway 15-6 overall. Cascade 16-4.
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