Mayer perfect to start district play
By Kristi Nixon
ST. ANSGAR — Tate Mayer started the season with a shortened perfect game and he started the postseason with another perfecto.
The St. Ansgar senior lefty struck out 10 Rockford batters, allowing just two balls in play, and got plenty of support offensively with 11 hits and 10 stolen bases in the 16-0, four-inning Class 1A District 4 opener at home on Saturday, July 1.
“Good start for us,” coach Devin Schwiesow said. “Tate pitched lights out tonight, pounded the zone for us. I thought we swung the bat and our approach at the plate was really good. Anytime in districts, you don’t take it for granted. You’ve got to come out and play one pitch at a time. We know that. We’re not looking ahead whatsoever. Now we can start looking to Riceville.”
Mayer needed only 46 pitches to finish off the Warriors, leaving open the possibility that he will face the Wildcats in the next round on Wednesday, July 5.
“It’s probably a pretty good chance,” Mayer said. “I think that’s what coach was thinking. I’m not 100 percent sure. We’ve still got our No. 2 guy and No. 3 guy to go get them. We’ll see how we feel come Wednesday.
“They (Riceville) are a good bunting team. They put the ball in play. They play defense well. We’ve just got to eliminate runners on base and make them hit the ball. Pound the zone and cover up the bases. Once they get on base, they will do small ball. That’s what we’ve got to prevent.”
Schwiesow added, “Riceville, I think, is one of the best-coached teams in North Iowa. Really got a lot of respect for (coach) Bryce (Conway) and a lot of respect for coach (Stef) Fair. They do the right thing over there. They will have us on our toes and they will know us, and they know us well. We know them well, so it will be a fun match, a fun environment. They bring a great crowd and they have a nice tradition over there, so we know it will be a good game.”
Among his 46 pitches, 37 of them were for strikes.
“Fastball, curveball, that’s about it,” Mayer said. I just had to locate low and throw my curveball for a strike. Feels good knowing that I threw only 46 pitches in four innings, that averaged 11 pitches an inning, so that meant I was pounding the zone, throwing strikes, not many balls. That way, I can take that energy into the next game and keep carrying it on.”
Drew Powers, who recently broke the school record for Saint season steals, added onto that tally with three. He had 43 after the win over Rockford and the previous record was 37 set in 2011 by Cael Halfman.
“He’s quick on the bases,” coach Schwiesow said. “He gets on…he’s still working on picking up pitchers, too. The big thing about him is he is fast, but he’s still learning how to do that on different pitchers on the hill. It will be a lot of fun watching him.
“We’re aggressive on the base paths, we work an awful lot on it and we have some quick kids who read pitches really well. That comes down to little things and being able to read pitches from the dugout. Those two specifically do a good job, but we have a whole team that runs really well.”
Mayer said that there was nerves at first but once the game started, that quickly went away.
“I know we had knots in our stomach, nervous, ready for the game,” Mayer said. “Once we got out there, started playing, started to relax and play our game. It came natural to us.”
