HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE — Kahi Neves might not appreciate the magnitude of his accomplishment right now. But in years to come the third-grader at Coyote Valley Elementary School is going to tell a story about the day when he was perfect on the mound and then some.
Neves, 8, pitched a perfect game on Saturday as the Astros shut out the Mariners 19-0 in Middletown-Cobb Little League play at Hartmann Field in Hidden Valley Lake. The right-hander didn”t allow a baserunner during a dominating performance that featured 12 batters faced and 12 strikeouts.
Of Neves” 52 pitches, 36 were strikes. Only one Mariners batter caught a piece of the ball — a foul tip — according to Kani Neves, Kahi”s dad and one of the Astros” coaches.
“He worked the count full to only one batter,” Kani Neves said. “That was the only time he had a three-ball count. He was ahead of the batters most of the game.”
The game was called after four innings because of the league”s 10-run mercy rule and Kahi almost came out of the game after three innings, according to his dad.
“But when he (Astros manager Brad Holt) found out Kahi had a perfect game going, he decided to leave him in there,” Kani Neeves said.
It was a good choice.
Kahi needed only 12 pitches to strike out the side in the fourth inning, capping his perfect game, one of the rarest feats in baseball.
“I really don”t think he understands what a perfect game is all about,” Kani Neeves said. “He was just excited that his team had won 19-0.”
In fact, the fans attending the game, as they became aware of the perfect game in process, were more excited than any of the Astros players.
“All the fans there were in an uproar when the game ended,” Kani Neves said. “They were pretty excited.”
And dad?
“I was elated,” Kani Neves said of his son”s performance.
Kahi also had a pretty good day at the plate for the Astros, going 2-for-3 with a double and a triple.
The Neves family relocated from Atlanta to Lake County three years ago.
