Perry junior left-hander Aira Fujinuma hureled one of three no-hitters pitched on Pacific baseball diamonds Saturday. (Ren Foslin/Special to Stripes)
No-hit fever continues to rage on the Pacific diamonds.
Three more were thrown during Saturday’s baseball action in Japan and Okinawa. That makes 10 total for baseball and softball during the current season.
Two of them were complete-game no-hitters, while the third was combined between two pitchers. Two of the no-nos occurred at Iwakuni and the third in Okinawa.
Aira Fujinuma of Matthew C. Perry blanked Nile C. Kinnick 1-0 at the Kizuna sports complete near Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni. The junior left-hander walked three and struck out 12.
“He did a really good job,” Samurai coach A.J. Edwards said. “He’s stepped up in a leadership role this season. … He’s maintaining good composure. He really wants to win every time he goes out on the bump.”
Fujinuma’s outing impressed one coach, Frank Macias, who coaches Kadena and used to teach and coach for 12 years at Perry.
“He’s the real deal,” Macias said of Fujinuma, who also recorded three pickoffs during the game. “He has a very effective pickoff move. He’s tough. He has good composure.”
Andrew Roberts drove in the Samurai’s only run with a single in the fourth inning.
“The boys are itching to compete, putting in the work and contributing in their own ways,” Edwards said.
On the same field a little later, Macias’ Panthers racked up a combined no-hitter – and it was Kadena’s Nos. 3 and 4 pitchers, right-handers Ty Lujan and Kai Redden – doing the dealing.
They combined to allow two runs and six walks, but they struck out six and got run support from Gunnison West and James Ingram III, who each knocked in two runs in a 9-2 victory over E.J. King.
“Ty hasn’t pitched a whole lot this season,” Macias said. “But we’re starting to turn the corner and get ready for Far East (May 19-22 at Kinnick) and we really want to see him develop into our third (starting pitcher) and he did a good job.”
Redden has played a variety of positions, coming in to close the door when the Cobras made a bit of noise in the fourth inning.
“I think we’re headed toward a peak,” said Macias, whose Panthers won both games on their journey to Iwakuni. “The kids are finally starting to see the fruits on the work they’ve been putting in.”
Meanwhile, the Dragons racked up their second no-hit game on Okinawa’s Foster Field 1 in a span of four days.
Lukas Gaines, a senior right-hander, also gave up a couple of runs, one each in the second and fifth innings, and gave up three walks. But he struck out nine batters and helped himself by driving in four runs in a 14-2 win over Diamond Pony, a Japanese team.
