Coronado opens season with a no-hitter

Ryan Wooldridge and Dylan Settle combined to throw a five-inning no-hitter and Wooldridge drove in five runs as Coronado opened their season with an 11-0 victory over host Sierra on Tuesday.

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Wooldridge helped his own cause with a two-run double in the first inning and a bases-clearing triple in the fourth.

“I was looking for a pitch to hit that I could drive,” Wooldridge said. “Get ahead in the first inning.”

Wooldridge pitched three innings, walking five and hitting a batter but striking out six.

Whenever he needed a big pitch, he came up with one. After walking and hitting the first two batters in the third, Wooldridge struck out the side.

“I was trying to get strikes across,” the senior said. “My curveball I lost at one point, but I refocused, got back on top, and it was better.”

Settle struck out four in his two innings of work, including striking out Joseph Ortiz to end the game with runners at second and third.

Despite being no-hit, the Stallions had two runners on in the second, third and fifth innings.

“You can’t win ballgames if you can’t hit the ball,” first-year coach Thomas Riehl said. “We had guys in scoring position and just couldn’t seem to get the ball in play to make those guys into runs.”

After Wooldridge doubled in a pair in the first, Alec Feuerbach brought him home with a crushing home run to right center, putting the Cougars up 4-0 before the Stallions (0-2) stepped to the plate.

The Cougars broke the game open in the fourth, sending 11 men to the plate.

After Sierra reliever junior Dae Hong struggled, walking three in 1/3 of an inning, Wooldridge jumped on the first pitch he saw from Adam Wright, sending a shot to the fence and clearing the bases. Feuerbach also tripled and drove in a run in the inning.

“Lot of discipline, and we need that,” said Bobby Lizarraga, who returned as coach for the first time since 2005. “We’re not overwhelming, but they were waiting for their pitch and they were taking pretty good hacks at it.”