Makana Grondin Tosses a No-Hitter for Sehome

BELLINGHAM – As a youngster, I loved reading the newspaper to see how the local high school sport teams were doing. One time, in the early 1990’s, I remember reading about a Sehome pitcher named Kevin Bakker that threw a no-hitter. I was amazed. I was even more awestruck years later when I had the good fortune to play in some slow-pitch softball games with him, but I was always afraid to ask him about the no-hitter he threw.

It’s happened a few times since then, and it happened again on Wednesday night at Sehome High School when senior Makana Grondin tossed a gem against Meridian in a 5-0 victory. He was so efficient, it only took him 63 pitches.

“We’ve had some good pitchers, and some good players come through the program,” Sehome coach Monte Walton said. “He pitched very smart today. He’s a competitive kid, he’s a great kid to coach and I’m glad for him.”

After retiring the first 12 batters he faced, Grondin hit Trojan cleanup hitter Ryan Johnson on the first pitch of the fifth inning. There was an immediate base on balls after that to freshman right fielder Bryce Johnson, and sophomore Zack Loya reached base after getting hit by a pitch in the seventh inning, but those were the only base runners for Meridian.

“I knew it was going to be a good day,” said Sehome catcher Lukas DeLisle. “He was throwing his curve balls for strikes during his warmups. He made my job easy all game, I didn’t even realize how low his pitch-count was.”

Grondin was able to keep his fastball down and in the strike zone all game, and his curveball was an effective “out” pitch all game long.

“This feels unreal,” Grondin said. “It’s something I wouldn’t ever expect. The guys behind me played great defense.”

Grondin also helped his cause at the plate, reaching base in all three plate appearances.

Sehome senior right fielder Mel Ketteridge went 2-for-4 with two runs batted in, and DeLisle also picked up a pair of hits along with a run scored and a stolen base.

The Mariners (3-4) will open up league-play on Friday when they host Burlington-Edison (3-1) at 4:30.

And, you never know. There might be a kid that’s reading this right now that will get to play ball with Makana Grondin some day. Hopefully that kid will have the guts to ask him about the no-hitter he threw back on March 20th, 2019.