Northwest Senior One-Hits Bethesda-Chevy Chase; Jaguars Win 5-1

With two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, Northwest pitcher Austin Steele reached to the third-base side of the mound and backhanded a sharp groundball off the bat of Bethesda-Chevy Chase’s John Bollman. The comebacker appeared ticketed for center field, but Steele’s quick reflexes turned it into an out as he threw to first to retire the side.

In the following frame, Steele induced a trio of groundballs to the left side of the infield. Each time, Jaguar third baseman Jake Vogdes was there to make the play, fielding the ball and firing it across the infield for an out.

Three days after Northwest pitchers Matt Cononie, Vogdes and Anthony Cianci threw a combined no-hitter against Blake, Steele was on the verge of hurling his own. The senior right-hander kept the Barons off balance for six innings, changing speeds and successfully spotting his fastball. B-CC was putting the ball in play, but the Jaguar defense proved sure-handed.

With Northwest comfortably ahead entering the bottom of the seventh, Steele tried to focus on throwing strikes and getting outs, rather than what he might accomplish.

“I didn’t want to hear about it,” he said after the game. “I didn’t want to know how many pitches I threw, I didn’t want to know the inning [and] I didn’t want to jinx anything. I was just doing my thing with the team backing me up.”

Steele’s no-hit bid ended quickly in the seventh, however, when leadoff batter Nico Narel-Aguilar lined a double into right-center field. Steele stayed in the game and got the final three outs, finishing with a complete game one-hitter as the Jaguars defeated the Barons 5-1 at B-CC.

Narel-Aguilar’s double snapped a streak of 13 consecutive hitless innings by the Northwest pitching staff. Having endured an afternoon of offensive ineptitude, B-CC fans applauded Narel-Aguilar’s extra-base hit, a clean line drive to the outfield.

“I had a feeling,” Steele said of the situation. “You always have a feeling as a pitcher. You keep it in the back of your mind, but you don’t want to think about it because it makes you nervous.”

Steele needed just 80 pitches to get through seven innings, throwing fewer than 10 in each of the second, third and fifth innings. The senior walked one and struck out one. Pitching coach Tracy Callahan said Steele disrupted the Barons’ timing by throwing curve balls when facing typical fastball counts.

“I was in a groove,” Steele said. “My third baseman and the whole team, they were backing me up. They helped me. I couldn’t do any of it without them.”

Northwest jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning on catcher Michael Shannon’s RBI single. Nicholas Siegel came around to score after leading off the game with a double inside the first-base bag. The Jaguars added two runs in the third and two runs in the fifth.

In the third inning, Siegel doubled and then scored on a Zach Bubb double. Joseph Moeltner followed with a run-scoring infield single. In the fifth, Steven D’Amato hit an infield pop fly that was misplayed into a run-scoring single. Patrick Burke led off the inning with a double off the left-field wall.

Siegel finished 3 for 4.

B-CC scored an unearned run in the seventh.

The victory improved Northwest’s record to 4-0, including wins against Blair, Springbrook and Blake.

“We know we can get better, but we feel good,” Steele said. “It’s great to be 4-0. As long as I’ve been on varsity we haven’t been 4-0. It’s a great feeling, but we can get better and we will get better.”

First-year head coach Todd Varesco said he is pleased with the Jaguars’ pitching, defense and ability to handle adversity. Varesco referenced the performance of Vogdes, who made several nice plays at third base while filling in for the injured Jeffery Ta, who is sidelined for 10 days after dislocating his shoulder against Springbrook on March 24.

“The difference between this year and a couple years ago [is] these guys are picking each other up,” said Varesco, a former Northwest assistant coach. “They’re not quitting. They’re backing each other up and they’re playing like a real team this year, not a bunch of individuals. ... The defense has just been unbelievable. … If we continue to play defense like this and pitching the way we are and picking each other up, I’ll tell you, we’re going to be tough to beat.”

Northwest will host Gaithersburg (3-1) at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday.