High School Sophomore Jasper Caruso Throws Perfect Game For Chelsea Lions

Jasper Caruso, a high school sophomore, brought glory to Chelsea Career and Technical Education’s baseball team–the Chelsea Lions–when he pitched a perfect game on April 18. The remarkable feat involved Caruso going five innings without allowing a batter to reach base. Specifically, he struck out 14 batters on the High School of Art & Design’s team, leading his Sixth Avenue school to a 12-0 blowout. [High school games normally run seven innings, but there is a “slaughter rule.” If one team is ahead by ten or more runs after the fifth inning, the game ends. Since it is considered a complete game, Caruso is credited with the perfect game.]

After a 3-0 victory against Bard High School Early College on May 3, which advanced the Lions’ record to 7-1, Caruso humbly reflected on his earlier achievement. The perfect game “obviously felt pretty good,” he told Chelsea News, but he wasn’t letting it get to his head. He said he was “looking forward to pitching again.” There are two weeks left in the regular season, and then the playoffs were set to begin.

Part of Caruso’s humility undoubtedly stems from the way the Chelsea Lions are coached, which is both fierce and pragmatic. “I tell Jasper all the time that we gotta take it one game at a time. Every team is different,” assistant coach Peter Scott Reyes said. “We may not be at the best ability, but we gotta make it work. It’s about having a clear mind.”

While Caruso is considering continuing his baseball career during his college years, he wasn’t rushing the moment: “Honestly, I’m just thinking right here, right now.” A fan of the San Francisco Giants and the “warm weather in California,” he said that he’d hopefully watch the team play when they come to NYC next.

The pair’s focused approach to the great American pastime was on display during the slugfest against Bard, which took place at Central Park’s North Meadow. Reyes never let an inning pass without cajoling his players to tighten up their games. “Play even with the bag!” he’d yell.

”Lock in.”

”Don’t waste any pitches. Fastballs!”

”That’s the second time I told you to back that up on the ground ball!”

Jan Scott, the head coach, was no less forceful. During a change between innings, she’d tell lagging players to “just get out there.” She offered encouragement as well. After an impressive inning, she triumphantly yelled “that’s what I’m talking about!”

Stray pitches slammed into the field’s cage with such force that startled parents and spectators leapt back. Foul fly balls almost always resulted in admonitions to “watch your heads!” Bases were stolen with an impressive regularity. At one point, a Bard player yelled out pitch speeds he was collecting, from his team’s dugout, on a radar gun. Many of the strikes were zooming in at more than 100 m.p.h.

As for now, the Lions will be facing off against Bard again on May 7, and Caruso will be on the mound (he only batted on May 3). Whether or not he’ll pull off another perfect game this season, he has been cemented as a sort of “golden boy” on the team, as his teammates fondly joke. Yet, despite having superior athletic skills at his age, Caruso is clearly not in it for himself. He’s part of a unit that understands winning means putting the squad first, and your ego last.