By Steve Ramirez
LA PUENTE — Pitching, which initially was expected to be the Bishop Amat High School baseball team’s weakness, is suddenly its strength.
The host Lancers showed how strong after Daniel Zamora and Rio Ruiz combined on a no-hitter in a 9-0 victory over arch-rival St. Paul in a Del Rey League game on Friday.
“I’ve never thrown a no-hitter before,” said Zamora, who no-hit the Swordsmen (4-9, 2-4) for six innings before giving way to Ruiz in the seventh. “It would have been nice to get my first one. But I understand. We have a big tournament coming up (next week). I understand.”
Zamora struck out six and allowed just three baserunners on a two errors and a walk. He also caught a break when Anthony Gonzalez’s pop fly that dropped into center field was turned into a force out.
“(Zamora) did a good job,” St. Paul coach Casey Morales said. “We hadn’t seen a lot of lefty pitchers this year. But he did a good job of throwing strikes. We weren’t up to the task today.”
Bishop Amat (11-2, 5-0), getting two RBIs each from Bernardo Zavala, Jay Anderson and Ryan Serrato, led 2-0 after the first and 7-0 after five innings.
Zamora, after retiring eight consecutive hitters, including a strike out to end the sixth, then gave way to Ruiz, who completed the no-hitter by inducing Jeremy Lares to hit into a double play. Larson Anzaldo on a grounded out to end the game.
“We haven’t had the opportunity to get (Ruiz) some work, so part of our plan is try to use him and see if he can help us in that role,” Bishop Amat coach Andy Nieto said. “We’re looking at the big picture, and how each game helps us to prepare for the next game and, or the playoffs.”