Skyview senior Caden Vire was eager to show high school baseball fans what he could this spring.
And the left-handed pitcher put on a show, striking out 11 in four innings of one-hit ball, helping Skyview open the 4A/3A Greater St. Helens League baseball season with 5-1 win over Mountain View on Monday at Union High School.
“It felt great to be out here again with my boys,” Vire said. “We’ve been working really hard for this opportunity, and the fact that we finally got it, it felt great.”
Vire drew a lot of attention, with about a half dozen scouts in attendance. It was a far cry from his last baseball season in 2019, when he was a little-known skinny sophomore.
“It’s been extraordinary,” Skyview coach Seth Johnson said of Vire’s improvement in the past two years. “And it hasn’t just been on the mound. Athletically, he’s just made huge jumps. Even like his 60-yard dash, he lowered it a full second. … He has a bright, bright future. He has a really high ceiling. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him playing at the highest level one day.”
After Skyview spotted Vire a 3-0 lead in the top of the first — two runs coming on a two-out double by Brady Davis — the senior pitcher struck out the side.
“I felt like I did a great job,” the Arizona State signee said. “But it’s not just me, it’s my teammates. They put up five runs. We played a full game of baseball today.”
Davis finished 2 for 3. Kyle Olson went 2 for 4 with an RBI and Seton Minor was 2 for 3 with a double and an RBI.
Davis was one of three freshmen in the starting lineup for the Storm, joining Zayne Boyes and Jake Kennedy. A fourth, Brendan Bowyer, pitched the last three innings after Vire exited.
“We have a very good freshman class,” Johnson said. “I’m really excited for their future. With no state playoffs this year, we’re just going to throw them into the fire and get them some experience.”
Johnson said in a normal year, the Skyview baseball team would have had two months of open gyms to work out together and get to know each other.
But this year, the team has had eight days of practice together before Monday’s game. And after about 700 days since the last Skyview Storm baseball game, everyone was eager to get back on the field.
“I’m pretty sure everyone was just ready to get out there and play,” Vire said. “There’s nothing like being out on the baseball field on a beautiful day, and taking home the W.”
