Skyline’s Ty Pinon knows a bit about baseball success.
“There’s just a different feel when Ty is on the bump, everybody is just a little more relaxed and a little more confident,” said Skyline Head Coach Brett Bybee.
Ty was an all-state pitcher two years ago, and has been even better this year as a senior.
But even a dominant starter knows just how difficult it is to be perfect.
“I did the math and it’s like .001% of MLB games have ended in a perfect game,” Ty said.
Even at the high school level, it’s a feat that hardly ever happens.
Two weeks ago, Ty showed it’s not impossible by firing a seven-inning perfect game with 14 strikeouts.
“Watching him throw that first inning, it was like ‘let him go, he’s here today, let him go’,” Bybee said.
“I was definitely running on some adrenaline, especially that last pitch,” Ty added. “My arms were tingling, I couldn’t even feel myself throw it. I just chucked it as hard as I could.”
Even more impressive, Ty completed the feat versus state-ranked Weaubleau.
“It wasn’t like he got that perfect game against a team that hadn’t won all year,” Bybee said. “This was a game I felt like I had to throw Ty in because we might not win that game if I didn’t.”
Ty even overcame the classic baseball jinx.
“My buddy Nick comes up to me and he goes ‘hey do you know you’re throwing a perfect game?’ and I’m like ‘ugh, that’s an unwritten rule of baseball, you just don’t talk about it’,” Ty said with a smile.
Yet, he never lost confidence, knowing just how strong his defense was behind him.
“My buddy Zane Kelly, he plays second base. I had two outs in an inning and I got a pop up to second base. I didn’t even watch him catch it, I just turned around and walked into the dugout,” Ty said.
It was just one moment in a game that he will never forget.
“It’ll be a cool story to tell my kid someday, you know,” Ty said. “My coach came over and he told everybody, we need to remember this for the rest of our lives.”
