Palmdale Shows Quartz Hill No Mercy

It was supposed to be a duel between two of the region’s best pitchers. Instead, Friday’s Golden League baseball game was a reminder that Palmdale is the team to beat in the Golden League.

Especially when Matt Harrington is on the mound.

Throwing fastballs more than 90 miles per hour, Harrington struck out 11, gave up three hits and walked none in the Falcons’ 10-0 rout of Quartz Hill at Palmdale.

The game ended because of the 10-run mercy rule when Palmdale’s Matt Plante scored on a wild pitch with none out in the sixth inning.

“I was throwing strikes today and control-wise I was putting pitches where I wanted them,” said Harrington, a 6-foot-4 senior right-hander. “I was a lot more calm today than I was last week in the league opener against Highland. I’m starting to develop my curveball and I was throwing it with success today.”

Harrington (4-0) is accustomed to playing in front of pro scouts. He is considered one of the best prep pitchers in the nation.

“This is as well as I’ve seen him pitch,” Coach Lance Pierson of Palmdale said. “This is the best control he’s had this year. It’s not the hardest I’ve seen him throw--he was in the low 90s today. When he pitched in front of all those scouts last week he was up near 100.

“But the pitches he was missing were on the outside corners and he really had command of the strike zone.”

The victory was important for the Falcons (6-3, 2-1 in league play) because it eased the sting of an 8-7 loss to Lancaster in their previous game.

“We had one of our best practices [Thursday],” Harrington said. “That loss to Lancaster really sunk in and made us realize what it feels like to lose. We want to decide our own fate this year. We don’t want to be in a situation later on where we need help from other teams. We want to finish first outright.”

It didn’t take long for Palmdale to score the only run it would need.

With two out in the first, Plante tripled to right to score Kody Oldham. Plante scored on a bloop single by Cory Hodge.

Quartz Hill (5-4, 1-2), expected to challenge Palmdale and Highland for the league title, also had its ace on the mound in 5-9 right-hander Chris Walker.

But Walker (3-1) gave up five runs on seven hits with one strikeout in four innings.

“We needed to play well because we hadn’t played too well in four games,” Pierson said. “Even the games we won, we weren’t playing the way we can.

“But fear is a huge motivator and I think losing the other day did a lot for us mentally. We know we have to play with intensity every game now.”