By RYAN WALKER
BERNE — Ryne Thornton looked as if he had been pitching at the varsity level for much longer than two starts.
The junior righty dealt a complete game shutout, allowing only two hits and three walks in a 4-0 win for Norwell (12-6) over South Adams (7-8) Monday night. The most he allowed per inning was five batters — a result of pounding the strike zone and taking advantage of the Starfires’ .211 season batting average.
Thornton hasn’t had the opportunity after two straight years of sub-3.00 ERA work on the junior varsity bump. This year on varsity, he has been frustrated by rainouts and postponements that has taken starts away from some of the inexperienced pitchers.
But, considering Norwell’s recent doubleheader with Guerin Catholic and four-game schedule this week, when he was called up, he delivered.
“We asked him come in and throw strikes and that’s what he did,” Norwell head coach Christian Bohata said of Thornton, who threw 62 strikes out of 95 pitches. “He took advantage of his only second start of the season. I’m sure he would like more, but with the rainouts in the way that schedules turned out, he took advantage of this opportunity.”
“His off-speed was working well,” Bohata continued with Thornton striking out nine. “He was able to keep their hitters off balance. They had no idea what was coming.”
Thornton’s arm was aided by his catcher Korben Neuenschwander, a JV buddy for the last two years. Of the five baserunners, Neuenschwander sniped three of them on the bases. The first on a stolen base attempt, the second after a ball hit the dirt and he fired it to second, and the third on a back pick to second base to end the game.
“It’s just when (South Adams) starts getting something going or thinking they’re getting something going and Korben just pops out of a stance, and I think tonight, he was finally able to show off that he’s got a hose back behind the plate,” Bohata said.
As good as the defense was, the offense was a bit dry.
Three Starfire errors piled up with mental mistakes in the outfield, resulting in a pair of triples by Collin Burnes and Noah Turk. Drew Graft led the game with a double in front of the warning track, and later scored on a throwing error stealing third base.
Outside of the mistakes, Norwell scored one run that wasn’t via an error or outfield mistake. That came in the second inning off of the bat of Graft, who drove home Neuenschwander.
Though in spots, the Knights can score runs, but the strength is pitching and defense.
Bohata wasn’t entirely impressed with his hitter’s approach Monday night, but also attributed the South Adams pitching for its location and offspeed stuff.
“Our approach all last week was great offensively,” Bohata said. “I talked previously — we’re working to strike approach, just putting the ball in play and making (South Adams) make plays. I thought today, maybe a couple guys weren’t totally focused at the plate. Our approaches were a little off, but I like to call these trap games on Mondays before we know we have a big week ahead and conference with traveling to DeKalb tomorrow.”
Norwell will return to conference play at DeKalb at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 7.
ryan@news-banner.com
