Edgren’s regular season ends with no-hitter

Edgren sophomore right-hander Charles Richardson threw the ninth no-hitter of the Pacific high school baseball season Saturday. (David Shepherd/Special to Stripes)

MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan – Charles Richardson had some difficulties in his previous couple of starts. On Saturday, Robert D. Edgren’s starting pitcher righted the ship in style.

The Eagles sophomore right-hander tossed the ninth no-hitter of the Pacific high school baseball season, shutting out E.J. King 7-0 at Eagles Field in Edgren’s final regular-season home game.

“I honestly didn’t think I was going to do so well, with how my recent starts have been,” Richardson said, adding that his fastball and split-finger pitches “were heavily involved in my success.”

“He just pitched a great game. He was on target today,” Eagles coach Brett Lehner said, adding that he and his assistant coaches worked with Richardson on his location and approach to his pitching.

“He took it to heart and he really came through for us big,” Lehner said. “He hit his marks. And King is a good team. I’m really proud of what he did today.”

Richardson threw 45 of 61 pitches for strikes, did not walk or hit a batter and came within two errors of pitching a perfect game. He retired the side in order in the first inning and said things went smoothly from there.

“After I rolled through the first inning, my confidence was very high and I kind of just kept going and going every inning,” Richardson said.

The no-hitter came just four days before the start of the Far East Division II Tournament at Yokota Air Base. The Eagles finished second in the tournament last season.