A pair of Taft College pitchers carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning, but a two-out error led to an unearned run and a 1-0 loss to visiting Los Angeles Harbor College on Monday afternoon.
Starting pitcher Cedric Corrales turned in an amazing effort as he retired the first 11 batters he faced on his way to seven no-hit innings. He struck out six and walked just one batter.
Corrales was cruising until having to pitch his way out of a jam in the top of the fifth. An error and sacrifice bunt allowed a Seahawk batter to reach second base with just one out. But Corrales got Angel Garcia and Andrew Solorio to fly out to end the threat.
Leo Fontanez took over on the mound for Taft to start the eighth and continued the no hit bid with a perfect frame. He opened the ninth with a ground out but finally allowed a single to Eric Alamillo to break up the no hitter.
He quickly recording the second out, getting JJ Duarte to fly out to right field. But with two outs, an errant pickoff throw allowed Alamillo to advance to second. Jake McKenna then followed with a single to drive in Alamillo for the game's lone run.
After scoring 13 runs off 10 hits on Friday against Harbor, Taft managed just three hits on Monday. The Cougars couldn't take advantage of four walks and three hits batters and left 10 runners on base.
The loss dropped Taft to 3-6 overall. The Cougars return to action on Wednesday (Feb. 20) when they return to Southern California to take on Long Beach City College at 2 p.m.