Roni Chutke, Gabe Camacho combine for no-hitter in La Costa Canyon’s 4-0 win over Torrey Pines

La Costa Canyon pitchers Roni Chutke and Gabe Camacho combined to strike out six batters in Tuesday's no-hitter against Torrey Pines.

CARLSBAD, Calif. -- The 2022 season has been anything but smooth for La Costa Canyon. After starting the year 7-1, the Mavericks dropped four straight including their first three games in the North County Coastal League.

Following last week's sweep of Carlsbad, the Mavericks entered Tuesday's game winners in nine of their past 12 games, keeping hope alive for a league title.

Facing off against rival Torrey Pines, two of La Costa Canyon's most experienced pitchers, Roni Chutke and Gabe Camacho, stepped up and delivered a combined no-hitter in the 4-0 victory.

“We’ve been banged up all year," La Costa Canyon head coach Justin Machado said. "We’ve just been trying to get back on our feet and hopefully we can keep it clicking."

The Falcons and Mavericks entered the third inning scoreless before La Costa Canyon was able to break through against Torrey Pines pitcher Eric Van Valkenburg. Gabe Camacho got the scoring started when he sent the first pitch of his at-bat over the right field wall for his fifth home run of the season.

“I was honestly just sitting first pitch fastball and he gave it to me and I just ripped it," Camacho said post game.

Three batters later Kaden Bass followed with a double that split the gap and scored two more to give the Mavericks a comfortable 4-0 lead.

Chutke retired Torrey Pines in order on 12 pitches in the fourth inning, giving way to Camacho to finish it out.

“I definitely come in with the same approach every time, try to throw strikes and give our defense a chance to win," Chutke said.

Camacho picked right up where Chutke left off, needing only five pitches to retire the Falcons in the fifth inning.

"Off-speed," Camacho said. "Getting a bunch of rollovers and pop ups, that’s what I was focusing on mainly.”

Working quickly, Camacho needed only nine pitches in the final inning, getting AJ Guiliana to ground out to shortstop to complete the no-hitter, causing the Mavericks bench to storm the field in celebration.

"I’m just proud of my guys and how they showed up today and we’ll see what happens Thursday," Machado said.

The Falcons and Mavericks will meet again on Thursday in game two of the series with the Mavericks sitting only one game back of Torrey Pines and Rancho Bernardo in the league standings with three games remaining in the regular season.