TONTOGANY — Otsego pitcher Bodde Simon pitched a perfect game through six innings as the Knights built an 8-0 lead over visiting Norwalk in both teams’ season opener Monday.
If the Knights could have scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth or sixth, Simon’s perfect game would have remained intact because of the mercy rule, but Otsego was unable to plate two more.
In the seventh, the Truckers not only spoiled Simon’s perfect game, they also spoiled his no-hitter and his shutout.
However, that did not matter much to Simon. The Knights still posted an 8-2 victory, which was all that Simon really wanted.
“It would have been nice to get that (mercy-ruled win) but I’m just glad to get some baseball in today and get the season off to a good start,” said Otsego coach Chase Welker.
“He really cruised through six, got in a little trouble there in the seventh but was able to work around it,” Welker continued.
“That’s good to see from your pitchers, not only when they are going well and making outs, but they work around adversity and find ways to get people out.”
Simon struck out 11, walked two and allowed two hits. At least he threw strikes because three Norwalk pitchers struggled to find the strike zone, combining to walk 10 batters.
“I just delivered the fastball and it worked, and the defense helped me out a little bit,” said Simon.
Otsego also had just two hits the entire game. Devin Silva and Simon, on back-to-back at-bats in the fifth inning, both reached on infield hits.
Norwalk starting pitcher Wesley Snipe walked four straight batters on 17 pitches to open the third inning, leading to four Otsego runs, and the Knights added four more in the fourth inning.
“We took what they gave,” Welker said. “When they gave us walks, we took the walks when they gave them to us.
“We got some situational hitting, sac flies, guys getting themselves up on the ball to get runs, so while we didn’t get a lot of hits, we got timely hitting and situational hitting which proved to be the difference.”
In the fourth, four straight Otsego batters, Tyler O’Brien, Silva, Simon and Jackson Jeremy reached on walks.
O’Brien, Silva and Simon scored, and Cohen Feehan reached on a fielder’s choice, stole second, and scored on an RBI grounder to second base by Mason Roe.
In the fifth, O’Brien was hit by a pitch, Silva reached on a slow grounder to short that went through the shortstop’s legs, although Silva would have beaten it out. Simon’s infield grounder scored O’Brien.
Jackson hit a sacrifice fly to left, scoring a run, then Feehan reached for the second straight inning, this time getting hit by a pitch, stealing second and scoring when Danny Shanahan reached on an error.
Meanwhile, Simon continued to cruise on the mound, just throwing 55 pitches through five innings, and he struck out the side in the sixth inning.
However, in the seventh, Simon walked lead-off hitter Ben Rothhaar. Tanner Harp belted a base hit to right field, Grady Naseman reached on a walk, and Landon Ferkel had an RBI base hit.
Both Rothhaar and Harp ended up scoring but it was not near enough for the Truckers.
It doesn’t get any easier for Otsego, traveling to Wauseon Tuesday and Lima Shawnee Wednesday. After games later in the week, they travel to South Carolina next week for their spring trip.
Welker and Simon are both optimistic about what the Knights can accomplish this season.
“We have really high hopes with the number of returners that we have and key pieces that we have with some underclassmen,” Welker said. “We have real high hopes that we can be competitive every time we take the field.”
Simon added, “I expect big things. We should hold ourselves accountable to a very high standard because we can do some damage this year.
“With the lineup we have, we didn’t show it tonight, but we have it, and from top to bottom I think we can do a lot of good things.”
