Three Woodside pitchers combine on no-hitter

Woodside recorded two no-hitters last season. Senior Josef Schwab was credited with a no-hitter March 9, 2024, in a 1-0 win at Sacred Heart Prep. Four days later, Trent Amoroso threw a no-hitter in an 8-0 win at home over Mission-SF.

“We don’t see a lot of those, but the last couple years we’ve had three,” Wildcats manager Dan Rogers said.

None of the three pitchers in Saturday’s game were on the varsity roster last season.

Ball, a transfer from Serra, and Kelly, a transfer from Palo Alto, weren’t at Woodside last year. Comfort was on Woodside’s junior-varsity team in 2024.

While the old superstition dictates no one is supposed to mention a no-hitter while one is in progress, Woodside (6-4) didn’t need to worry about its bench talking about the feat while the team was in the field. That’s because the Wildcats have just 12 players on roster this season, and Saturday had just two reserve players in the dugout.

Still, the pitching staff proved deep enough to go 3-0 during last week’s three-game slate, outscoring opponents 33-2 in those games. Senior right-hander Trent Amoroso threw a complete game in last Tuesday’s Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division opener, a 2-1 win over Mills. The Wildcats swept Mills with last Thursday’s 9-1 victory, backed by senior left-hander Joseph Hohl’s six-inning effort. Senior Sebi Lopez was the only reliever to pitch in the two-game series, closing it out Thursday with one scoreless frame.

“We’re pretty deep,” Rogers said. “We’ve got two guys that are both front-of-the-line starters in their capabilities, and a lot of guys behind them, which is good.”

The Wildcats did tempt fate by bucking the superstition in the midst of the no-hitter, though. It wasn’t one of the players who mentioned it, but one of the coaches.

“We totally knew it was going on, but we all know you never bring it up,” Amoroso said.

Amoroso said it was his father Mike — former varsity baseball manager at Menlo-Atherton from 2007-16, and now on Rogers’ staff at Woodside — who mentioned he thought the team was throwing a no-hitter, Trent Amoroso said.

“‘Well, you just ruined it,’” Amoroso said he remarked to his father.

Well, he almost did.

Rogers said he had planned the game as a staff day, meaning he had two relievers scheduled to throw before the game even started. Ball wasn’t extended so much because he was throwing a no-hitter, but because he was pitching so efficiently. The junior’s longest outing prior to Saturday was 3 1/3 innings in his varsity debut, Feb. 25, in a 14-2 loss to Riordan. The most pitches he had thrown in one game was 44, March 7, in a 16-4 loss to Sequoia.

Ball threw 74 pitches through five innings of work against Washington (5-7).

“I definitely was aware that [the no-hitter] was happening, but our starter Carter Ball has been a reliever for the majority of the season so far,” Rogers said. “So, I didn’t want to extend him too much.”

Where the no-hitter was most in jeopardy, though, was on the last pitch of the game. With one on and one out in the seventh, and Comfort on the mound, Washington hit a hard grounder back up the middle. Comfort is the Wildcats’ regular second baseman, so Rogers had to make a switch to start the seventh by moving Diego Perez from left field to the keystone sack.

It was Perez’s foot speed that allowed him to range to his right, Amoroso said. Torres backhanded the sharp grounder and fed Amoroso at shortstop with a quick, underhand toss to start a 4-6-3 double play to end it.

Whether is was the 22-0 lead, or the fact Woodside no-hitters have been somewhat frequent over the last two years, there wasn’t much of a postgame celebration, if there was one at all.

“I was pretty hyped because it was an amazing play,” Amoroso said. “I think we were all pretty excited, but we were all kind of acting normal. I don’t know — it was weird.”

Editor's note: the names of the players in the head shots have been updated.