HATFIELD — Jon Morrison pitched another no-hitter as No. 6 Hopkins Academy beat No. 3 Smith Academy 2-0 in the quarterfinal round of the Western Massachusetts Division 4 Tournament on Monday.
Morrison no-hit the Falcons for the second time this season. The junior right-hander had 13 strikeouts Monday, four short of the 17 he had in April.
“When we faced them earlier in the year I saw a lot of them where behind on my fastball,” Morrison said. “I saw that against a few of them if I throw it inside they could take it there so I tried to keep it outside in the top of the order. Also I thought they liked the high fastball so I thought that worked well with two strikes, just keeping it high in the strike zone.”
Liam Pitrat went all seven innings for Smith Academy (8-11), giving up 11 hits and picking up six strikeouts.
Pitrat managed to keep the game scoreless until the fourth inning when Justin Butterfield hit the first and only RBI of the game. Trevor Fil was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to walk in a run and give Hopkins (10-10) the two-run lead.
“I think it was just the fact that guys got hits when we needed them,” Hopkins coach Dan Vreeland said. “We had guys in scoring position in each of the first three innings. We just weren’t hitting situationally. In that inning when Butterfield knocked them in, his ability to think about the situation and hit the ball where it was supposed to be really started it all for us.”
Smith Academy worked five walks out of Morrison, but only one baserunner made it to third base. The no-hitter was the third of the season for Morrison.
“We wanted to be aggressive both at the plate and on the bases,” Falcons coach Mike Afflitto said. “We wanted to get out swinging early instead of letting Morrison be the aggressor, but you have to credit him, he’s a great pitcher for a reason.”
The Falcons graduate only two players — Jack Hession and John Ferrara.
“We have a relatively young group, but I like to think that my seniors really carried us this year with their leadership and the way they played,” Afflitto said.
Hopkins will face No. 2 St. Mary (20-2) in the semifinal round. A date, time and place has yet to be determined.
Morrison no-hit the Saints in April, but is unlikely to pitch on short rest.
Despite wanting to win every game, Vreeland said he’s never over-pitching Morrison.
“It’s not worth ruining his arm,” Vreeland said. “We’ll talk about how he’s feeling Wednesday, obviously it’s a tough situation as he already threw a complete game today.”
Butterfield finished 2-for-4 with a pair of singles.
Trevor Fil reached base four times. In addition to being hit by a pitch, Fil reached on an error and had two singles.
Noah Scanlon-Dean went 2-for-4 with two singles.