Besides helping his Johnsburg baseball team win the Kishwaukee River Conference championship for the second year in a row, Ashton Stern has his sights set on another achievement.

“[KRC] Player of the Year is my goal,” said Stern, the Skyhawks’ senior pitcher/shortstop. “It should be everybody’s goal. But to be the best, you got to beat the best.”

Stern faced reigning KRC Player of the Year Braden Behringer on Wednesday and won a pitchers’ duel the best way one can. The right-hander threw the first solo no-hitter of his three-year varsity career, leading Johnsburg to a 2-0 win over visiting Sandwich and its senior ace.

“From the start, we knew they were a good team,” Behringer said of the Skyhawks. “We knew Ashton was a pretty good pitcher and one of the best in the conference. We knew it would be a tough one.”

Jack Thompson, Stern’s batterymate and future teammate at Carthage College, delivered the go-ahead RBI single in the bottom of the sixth inning, as Johnsburg moved one game closer to winning the KRC title.

First-place Johnsburg (17-8, 10-2) leads Richmond-Burton by one game in the standings, and each team has two conference games remaining. But because Johnsburg swept R-B, the Skyhawks need only one more win to lock up the title.

Stern struck out 10 and didn’t walk a batter. He retired the first 10 batters he faced before hitting No. 2 hitter Anthony Wade with one out in the fourth.

“From the get-go, his tempo was 10 times better than it has been all season,” said Thompson, who caught Stern’s JV no-hitter three years ago. “Topped 84 [mph] today, which was good. I liked that out of him. Season high for him, actually.”

Stern struck out at least one batter in every inning. He shared a no-hitter with fellow senior Peyton Mesce last year against Winnebago at Johnsburg, striking out 14 in six innings.

“I felt it pre-game,” Stern said. “I felt really good today. Had good meals throughout the day and just prepared mentally. Didn’t make the game too big. Didn’t make it too small, just came out with energy, and it carried over.”

Stern threw 61 of his 92 pitches for strikes, using primarily a heavy fastball and curveball.

“The curve was great today,” Stern said. “Got out in front in a couple of counts, got a lot of whiffs with it.”

The only other player from Sandwich (14-14-1, 6-6) to reach base was leadoff hitter Griffin Somlock, who was hit with two out in the sixth. Stern got a strikeout to end the inning and then set down the Indians in order in the seventh, retiring Jeffrey Ashley on a popup to second baseman Trey Toussaint.

“He was just throwing strikes,” Behringer said of Stern. “We couldn’t keep up with his fastball. He located his off-speed pitch, and he had good strikeout stuff today. We couldn’t compete with him.”

Behringer scattered five hits, including a double to Mesce, and no runs through five innings. Stern singled with one in the sixth and sped to third when the left fielder misplayed the ball. That brought up Thompson, who mustered a pitch down the left-field foul line. The ball landed barely fair, and he raced to second for a double, breaking the scoreless tie.

“I saw the infield come in, and I knew that I just had to put the ball in play hard,” said Thompson, who was 2 for 3. “I didn’t really put it in play hard. I got hands on it, but I found a way, got lucky, and it hit the white line and scored an RBI.”

Josh Speer (2 for 3) followed with an RBI single, and that was more than enough for Stern.

“Ashton was a new pitcher today,” said coach Eric Toussaint, whose Skyhawks wrap up KRC play next week with a home-and-home series against Plano. “He was fired up and competitive. He’s always focused, but he was just a little bit more fired up than usual today. Maybe because we know we’re one game away from winning conference.”