Grady Moorse (with help) no hits Cottonwood
Grady Moorse has a passion for baseball and his fondest dream is to be a pitcher.
“I love to pitch, I just love to play,” he said.
So when he’d completed six innings on the mound and had no more pitches available he had to come out.
That’s when Minneota American Legion Coach J.D. Pesch told Moorse what was happening.
“He told me,” Moorse said about the coach informing him he’d just plitched six innings of no-hit baseball against Cottonwood.
The fact came as a surprise to Moorse, then he felt sad because he couldn’t complete the seventh and final inning.
On came Teddy Pesch to dispose of the Cottonwood Legion in order and the no-hitter was complete — a 9-0 Minneota win.
Until he was told, Pesch also didn’t know he was completing Moorse’s no-hitter.
“I didn’t know. That’s awesome he said,” admitting it was probably better he didn’t know because might have been nervous.
“I’ve never seen him better. He was throwing strikes and hitting his spots,” Teddy Pesch said about Moorse.
Pesch himself was invested in this game, knocking out three hits, scoring two runs and knocking in a run.
Moorse struck out nine and walked six — and the beauty of his game was the way he kept getting stronger and more accurate. In the sixth inning, he struck out the side.
“I was just truing to concentrate and I got my curveball going. I was able to hit the spots,” said Moorse.
The fact he kept getting stronger and more accurate was a testament to just, “Settling in. I got used to the heat,” said the soon-to-be Minneota Viking senior.
But on this night the lefty was in control from start to finish.
The Vultures committed a pair of errors, but everyone seemed to agree both were legitimate errors. In the first inning, center fielder Jaymes Moon raced to the center field fence but the ball fell out of his glove.
And in the the fifth, third baseball Josh Laleman bobbled a ball hit by Tyler Imes and didn’t recover fast enough to throw out Imes.
Other than that — only the walks blemished Moorse’s performance.
“He was surprised when I told him,” said Coach Pesch. Being one of those superstitious baseball men, Pesch didn’t reveal the no-hitter until Moorse had to come out of the game.
“I had to take him out because of the pitch count,” the coach said.
Moorse had an opportunity to end it after six innings. The Vultures had the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth, two runs were in and Moorse was at the plate. He lifted the ball into right field, where it was caught.
If it had been a hit, Pesch would have scored from third and the game would have ended, 10-0. “I was hoping he’d end it with a hit,” said Coach Pesch. Instead, he had to turn to his son Teddy to finish the game.
Actually, Moorse was probably on the mound only because several Vulture players were gone on the Hope Lutheran Church Mission Trip and Pesch didn’t have much choice but to put Moorse on the mound.
“I got my chance and took advantage of it,” Moorse smiled.
His teammates did the rest, slamming 13 hits, led by a pair of doubles and two singles by Austin Sorensen. He also knocked in two runs. And Tate Walerius was 2-4 with two runs scored and a run batted in.
Coach Pesch, who was filling in for the missing head Coach Keven Larson, said he liked the way Moorse, “Settled in. He was working on his pitches and taking it one pitch at a time.”
“He settled down and began to hit the spots with his pitches and he had a good curve ball going,” said Coach Pesch.
For Grady Moorse, this was moment he’d been waiting for — his arrival as a pitcher. Now, maybe it’s time to move on.
After all, he’s still got a whole year as a senior pitcher.
The soft smile on his face told you all you needed to know.
MINNEOTA (AB-R-H-RBI) Ben Skorczewski, ss 4 1 1 0; Jaymes Moon, cf 4 1 1 1 ; Teddy Pesch, 2b-p 3 2 3 1; Tate Walerius, lf 4 2 2 1; Austin Sorensen, 1b 4 1 4 2; AJ Myhre, rf-cr 3 0 0 0; Braeden Panka, cr-rf 1 1 0 0; Grady Moorse, p 4 0 0 1; Josh Laleman, 3b 3 0 1 0; Carter Schuelke, c 1 0 1 0. Totals 31 9 13 6.
COTTONWOOD (AB-R-H-RBI) Aaron Lieneman, cf 4 0 0 0; Noah Jensen, 3b-cf 2 0 0 0; Tyler Imes, ss 3 0 0 0; Grant Sander, c 2 0 0 0; Zach Mueller, p-3b 2 0 0 0; Cayden Caron, lf 2 0 0 0; Alex Ross Bahn, 2b 2 0 0 0; C. Herigon, 1b 3 0 0 0; Justin Timm, rf 3 0 0 0. Totals 23 0 0 0.
Score by Innings:
Cottonwood 000 000 0 — 0 0 3
Minneota 004 032 x — 9 13 2
E-Minneota: Moon, Laleman; Cottonwood: Jensen, Imes 2. LOB-Minneota: 7; Cottonwood: 8. SB-Minneota: Walerius; Cottonwood: Jensen. DP-Minneota 6 unassisted (2). 2B-Minneota: Sorensen 2.
Pitching IP R ER H BB K
Minneota
Moorse (W) 6 0 0 0 6 9
Pesch 1 0 0 0 0 1
Cottonwood
Mueller (L) 5.1 9 7 12 4 4
Lienemann .2 0 0 1 0 0
BALK-Mueller. WP-Mueller 3; Moorse 1.