Photos by Beth Oualline & Taegan Maysami (Madeby.Taeg on Instagram)

Baseball:

Garrett Patterson made history in a couple of ways on Thursday.

The Bonita senior threw a no-hitter and was one walk away from tossing a perfect game.

It was the program’s second in 2023, as Justin Santiago no-hit Alta Loma back on March 17th.

As mentioned, he walked one, but struck out 12 Claremont batters in a 7-0 Palomares League victory.

Patterson fanned seven of the nine CHS starters at least once, and he got four Wolfpack batters on strikes twice or more.

Patterson needed 84 pitches to finish what he started, and 59 went for strikes.

His final three outs, each of which were strikeouts, looked like this:

Adrian Sanchez struck out looking on a slider.

Izaiah Camacho swinging on a fastball.

And Justin Gonzalez was caught looking on a curve.

You won’t hear Patterson say this, but those in attendance felt strongly that his 2-and-2 pitch to Jacob Walters in the top of the third was a strike.

But one pitch later, and Jacobs would take ball four.

The BHS offense scored twice in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back.

Bonita got three runs (two earned) on two hits over 1 1/3 innings off James Pirrie.

Pirrie issued six walks and struck out one.

They would touch up Reed Miller for four runs on four hits over three innings.

Miller walked a pair and fanned three.

Bryan Bradshaw walked twice and scored.

Diego Vazquez walked, singled and scored twice.

Colton Perez walked, singled and drove in a run.

Andrew Sanchez walked, singled twice and scored.

Patterson walked and scored.

Austin Owens singled and scored.

Daniel Munoz walked twice, singled, doubled, scored and had an RBI.

And Tyler Holley singled in Thursday’s win.

I asked Garrett to answer the following: What did the offense scoring early do for your nerves? When did you know you might have your good stuff? What pitches did you use? How is Bonita closing out the regular season in terms of getting ready for the playoffs? Does catching when you’re not pitching give you a better perspective on the mound? And what did this no-hitter mean to you?

Said Garrett Patterson: “I trust my guys. I have a lot of faith in them. I knew they’d get on and score runs. Playing catcher does help my approach on the mound. I understand the art of pitching better because of it. I’ve been going to our trainers, and they were helping me stretch and while I was stretching today, my arm felt electric. Once I got to the mound and on the field, it felt great. After a few warm-up pitches, I had a feeling that this was going to be a good game for me. I used my fastball and curve, and my slider was my go-to pitch. I would normally work in my knuckleball, but the weather made that difficult to do. I wanted to mention that our coaches mean the world to me. They boost my confidence and help me prepare for everything we do. They make Bonita baseball what it is through hard work, chemistry and preparation. I feel as a team, we’re (currently) in the zone and ready. We are prepared. Our team chemistry has really come together. I started picking up on it (having a no-hitter) towards the end of the fourth and was feeling good. I was having the time of my life and smiling. As great as this feels, my teammates and I are now focused on our game against Charter Oak tomorrow.”

Up next: The Bearcats travel to Charter Oak on Friday at 3:30.

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Quotable:

Bonita coach, Ryan Marcos: “Patty is obsessed with being the best he can be at whatever he does, whether it’s catching, hitting, or pitching, he’s going to give you 100%. He was laser focused on the mound today, and all his stuff was working like he’s practiced so many times before. Daniel Munoz called a great game behind the dish and the defense made some plays in the misty weather to help Patty achieve a spectacular no-hitter. We are all fired up for Patty and we’ll be able to talk about this particular performance forever.”

Box Score:
C: 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-(0)
B: 2-1-1-1-2-0-X-(7)

Win: Garrett Patterson
Loss: James Pirrie

2B: Daniel Munoz

Palomares League Scores:
Ayala 8, Alta Loma 7
Bonita 7, Claremont 0
Glendora 8, Colony 1

Palomares League Records:
Bonita (13-4, 5-1)
Glendora (11-6, 5-1)
Ayala (11-7, 5-1)
Colony (7-13-1, 2-4)
Claremont (8-13, 1-5)
Alta Loma (6-9-1, 0-6)