HATFIELD — Hopkins Academy pitcher Jon Morrison was packing up helmets when Smith Academy pitcher John Ferrera interrupted him with a handshake. “Hey, great game,” Ferrera said. “You too,” Morrison responded.
Good pitching recognized good pitching, as the Golden Hawks beat the Falcons, 3-1, behind a complete game from Morrison. The sophomore gave up two hits while striking out 14.
“I got ahead in a lot of counts,” Morrison said. “That allowed me to get to my off-speed pitches and strike batters out.”
The win clinched a berth to the Western Massachusetts Division 4 Tournament for the Hawks (4-1). With four games against Division 4 opponents, Hopkins won the two games it needed to qualify via the 50 percent rule.
Morrison was three outs away from a no-hitter entering the seventh. He smoothly worked through batters all game long, as the Falcons (0-6) struggled to make contact.
“I tried not to think about the no-hitter,” Morrison said. “I just want to go out there and throw strikes.”
Thomas Hammond, the first batter of the inning, doubled to left-center field for Smith Academy’s first hit. After a fly out and a strikeout, Ben Bruscoe drove in the first run for the Falcons with a single, but Hopkins coach Daniel Vreeland stuck with his ace.
Jack Hession grounded out to shortstop to end the game and complete the two-hitter for Morrison.
“Hopkins and Smith Academy are right down the road from each other,” Vreeland said. “Jon really wanted it against those guys. He had trouble with his control early on in the season, but he fixed a mechanical hitch, and he looks much better.”
The Hawks got going in the first inning. John Earle ripped a one-out double to the right-center field gap and later scored on a passed ball. Earle was 2 for 4 with a triple.
“John seemed very comfortable today,” Vreeland said. “He’s been swinging really well at the plate.”
The Hawks got their second and third runs via Zach Yahmen RBIs. The first was an infield single that Yahmen beat out in the third inning. The second was a grounder that snuck past the Falcons shortstop Matt Bouley in the fifth.
“The real difference was that they made more plays in the field,” Falcons coach Jeff Pluta said. “We have to tip our hat to them for that.”
Ferrera struck out 10 through five innings.
Pluta felt his team was starting to play better. He hoped his team could “build off the little things to bounce back and get a win against Belchertown on Wednesday.”
Vreeland gave credit to the Falcons.
“They’re a good team,” he said. “They’re not an 0-6 baseball team like their record says they are.”
Vreeland felt his team was finally playing the type of baseball it is capable of playing.
“Things are finally starting to click for us,” he said. “We struggled with some fundamentals early on, but today we played really sound baseball.”