By FRED KRONER
Carter Johnson was the player who made the pitches last weekend in a game that ended in a no-hitter.
The upcoming Mahomet-Seymour sophomore was credited with the win in a 4-0 victory for his summer travel-ball team, the Yard Goats.
Anyone who has been associated with team sports recognizes that one individual is rarely solely responsible for the outcome of a game.
It’s a lesson that Johnson, a young teen-ager, already understands.
He had plenty of help as he posted his first complete-game no-hitter.
“The last play of the game, my centerfielder (Jake Stewart, from Sullivan) made a very tough catch to save the no-hitter,” Johnson said. “The batter put a very good swing on it, and he made a difficult catch to grab the ball.”
Johnson was the beneficiary of another sterling defensive play earlier in the contest.
“In the second inning, my second baseman (Nolan Bowles, from Lexington) made a diving play to grab a ball which would have been a hit,” Johnson said.
The pitcher was also supported by an offense that gave him an early lead, on a run-scoring double by Cayden Knierim (from Mattoon) as well as a three-run double by Will Applegate (from Charleston) that provided breathing room.
Johnson said all of his 11 teammates played a role.
“Luckily none of my teammates in the dugout distracted me and they let me stay focused, so I felt on my game and I felt confident,” Johnson said.
“I feel really fortunate to play on a team with a great bunch of guys who really had my back.”
Even without conversation about his performance, Johnson wasn’t unaware.
“I realized that I had a no-hitter when I had six outs remaining,” Johnson said. “It started to pop into my head, and I started focusing on it.
“I really just wanted to win that game so we would be undefeated to start the tournament.”
He felt the nerves mount as the game progressed.
“Going into the final inning I was super nervous,” Johnson said. “I was in the dugout and I don’t think I sat down one time.
“I was just pacing up and down and could not stop thinking about it.”
Johnson’s gem came in the final game of pool play competition in the 34-team Greater Lafayette (Ind.) World Series. He was pitching for a 15-and-under team that was entered in a 16-and-under tournament.
The opponent, the Indiana Blue Eagles, were a 16-and-under team. Johnson walked two and struck out six to help the Yard Goats reach the final eight in the top bracket.
Three years earlier, Johnson pitched five hitless innings while playing for the Diamond Dogs, but was removed due to a high pitch count and the no-hitter was eventually lost.
Against the Indiana Blue Eagles, he needed just 83 pitches in his seven-inning stint. Johnson displays the thought process that pitchers need to master.
“I think the biggest thing about finishing a no-hitter is getting ahead in the count,” Johnson said. This is something my coach (Anthony Silkwood) preaches about to all of our pitchers.
“The reason for this is because if you get behind in a count, the batter is only expecting one thing, and that’s a fastball. But when you get ahead early in counts by throwing strikes, you can throw the batter off by your pitch selection.
“The batter doesn’t know if a fastball up is coming, or a slider down and away.”
Johnson used an assortment of pitches and locations against the Indiana Blue Eagles, but said, “my biggest out pitch would be the slider that I threw. I got a lot of roll-over ground balls and strikeouts from throwing the slider to those batters.”
Throwing a low number of pitches is not unusual for him, Johnson said.
“It actually is pretty normal for me to not throw a lot of pitches,” he said. “I am not a pitcher that usually pitches to strikeout a lot of people.
“I usually focus on the location of pitches and the sequence in which I throw them. Most of the time I was able to get this team’s batters to swing at high fastballs out of the zone after throwing low breaking balls.”
The Yard Goats game against the Indiana Blue Eagles was the day’s opener, which Johnson said was a benefit in his preparation.
“I honestly felt good during warmups because I had more time than usual to get ready,” Johnson said. “We had the first game of the day.
“At the beginning, I felt that my slider and curveball were just a bit off, but then later after throwing them a bit, I was able to gain control.”
Silkwood, a former Marine and a former Parkland College pitcher who will play for Louisville next spring, has worked with Johnson, both in team workouts and also during private lessons.
“Coach Silkwood has been really great this year,” Johnson said. “He has helped me out and has shown me the strategies that he uses to pitch in a game.
“He also taught me how to throw my best pitch, which is my slider. I think also being a catcher sometimes has helped me understand how he wants the pitchers to pitch the game and what to throw when.
“I think he has had a great uplift on all of our guys because he is young and can stay on the same level as us.”
When not pitching, Johnson is often behind the plate, though he has also seen time at first base and third base.
In the exhilaration of the no-hitter, he didn’t want to leave the mound.
“When I finished the no-hitter, it gave me this amazing feeling of accomplishment,” Johnson said. “It really got me thinking about how much I love baseball and how much I love to pitch.
“It makes me want to pitch for the rest of my life, because I know I did something truly amazing.”
Truth be told, however, he’s not sure pitching is the position he likes the most.
“Catching is my favorite,” Johnson said. “When you are behind the plate you get the thrill to know you are a part of every single play of the game.
“Last season, my pitching was not as good. I had not worked as hard in the off-season and that made me not like it as much as catching, where I had put more effort and training.”
The Yard Goats are a first-year program and field teams in 17-and-under, 16-and-under and 15-and-under divisions. Mahomet’s Scotty Harvey is the general manager of the organization.
Harvey said the desire to prepare the young athletes for the next level encompasses more than focusing on the fundamentals of the game.
Players in the Yard Goats program come from Effingham to Lexington and from Decatur to St. Joseph.
“Each individual kid has grown in baseball and social life by competing with kids from other communities,” Harvey said. “By not playing with just their high school team, they step out of their comfort zone.
“We are preparing these guys for the next level when they won’t be playing with their buddies.”
The 15-and-under Yard Goats team dominated its opponents last weekend during pool play.
In a first-round 10-1 triumph over the Indiana Warbirds, Applegate was 2-for-2 and pitcher Clayton Seal, from Mahomet, struck out five batters in four innings while yielding three hits.
In an 11-0 conquest of Imavex, Applegate, Stewart and Carter Selk, from Mahomet, all delivered two hits. Tristan Ruppert, from Sullivan, pitched four innings of one-hit ball and fanned four batters.
In a 7-5 loss to Northern Baseball (a 16-and-under team), Bowles and Johnson each collected two hits. Knierim drove in three runs and Johnson had two RBI.
All three of the Yard Goats age-group teams have an above-.500 season record.
Last weekend, the 16-and-under team captured the tournament championship in the Diamond Sports Tournament, at Bloomington.
Johnson and the 15-and-under team take a 13-7-1 season record into its final tournament this weekend at the Diamond Sports Promotion at Bloomington’s Illinois Wesleyan University.
Johnson said even when the season ends, and Silkwood is continuing his own baseball career at Louisville, he will value the lessons from this summer.
“I have learned from my coach the importance of off-season work, staying healthy, and keeping pregame and postgame routines,” Johnson said. “He has also taught us a lot about health and keeping our arms and bodies in shape.”
The Yard Goats will hold tryouts for their 2021 teams from Aug. 8-11 at Spalding Park, in Champaign (900 N. Harris Ave.) Information is available on the Yard Goats Facebook page.
