Ethan Pinno got behind in counts early against Omro on Thursday night, but the junior pitcher leaned on his fastball until he found the curve.
Pinno's performance, along with some stellar defense behind him, allowed him to pitch his first career varsity no-hitter in Laconia's 10-0 win at Omro.
"I got my fastball going early, but I got behind in counts," Pinno said. "But my curveball definitely got going and I got some good guys behind me to field the ball."
The no-hitter could have been gone before it even started in the bottom of the first inning when senior shortstop Sawyer Schultis dove to stop a ground ball and got Keenan Rahn at second after Rahn walked to start the game.
Schultis, who made several nice plays, said his being able to rely on a strong arm allows him to position himself to make plays like that diving stop.
"I like to play as deep in the hole as I can while still being able to make that throw so I can cover as much ground as possible," Schultis said. "That allows me to make those harder plays.
"If I'm not playing that deep in the hole, I'm not able to make that play."
Coming into this week, Laconia (10-0 overall, 8-0 in Flyway) was tied for first place in the Flyway with Lomira and Omro sat in third. The Spartans won both games, which put them in sole possession of first after Lomira's loss to Campbellsport on Thursday afternoon.
Laconia held the Omro (7-4, 3-4) offense to just four runs in two games.
"Omro is one of the better teams in the conference, there's no secret about that," Schultis said. "We came into these games knowing we had to play our defense, play a little bit of small ball and get the bunts down.
"Being able to stop them defensively, catching the easy fly balls and making the routine plays look routine was the biggest thing for us."
Schultis led the Spartans offensively, going 2-for-2 with an RBI and three runs scored. He reached base safely in all four plate appearances.
Laconia scored five runs in the fifth inning. Just one of them was earned, for Omro made three errors.
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