Beechwood pitcher Chase Flaherty wasn’t too happy with how last season’s sectional game ended.
He used that as motivation to throw a no-hitter in a 1-0 win over Bishop Brossart Wednesday night in Fort Mitchell in the All “A” Sectional, sending the Tigers to the All “A” State Tournament in Owensboro.
Flaherty went the distance, allowing no hits or runs, walking just one batter and striking out 10.
“Last year we lost this game against Bracken County, and the way it ended was more of a sour loss for us—on a walk-off home run,” Flaherty said. “We knew coming into this that we wanted it real bad. We knew we had to come in here, give it to them, and get down to state this time.”
Brossart’s Alex Noe delivered a strong performance of his own, throwing six innings and allowing just three hits, one run, and three walks while striking out two. If it weren’t for a Mustangs error to score a run, the two might still be playing.
The Mustangs couldn’t get anything going offensively. They reached base only twice—once on a walk and once on a hit-by-pitch—and committed two errors in the field.
“They battled. Alex Noe pitched a heck of a game, and so did their pitcher,” Bishop Brossart coach Ron Verst said. “Runs were at a premium. I kept stressing: keep the ball out of the air. The wind was blowing all day—it’s not going anywhere. Use the turf to our advantage. In the last few innings, we did, but they just happened to find their guys. That’s baseball.”
Beechwood didn’t exactly break things open either. Their lone run came in the third inning, taking advantage of one of ‘Stangs defensive miscues.
Flaherty helped himself at the plate with one of the Tigers’ three hits and also reached base after being hit by a pitch. Caleb Arrasmith added a triple, and Keagan Hutton chipped in a single. Tyler Fryman kept the pressure on the base paths with a pair of stolen bases. The Tigers finished with just five total bases.
In a game dominated by pitching and defense, Beechwood executed its game plan.
“You’ve got to play good defense,” Tigers’ coach Kevin Gray said. “I feel like all year long, we’ve had games like this where we haven’t really hit that well, and other games where we have. We’ve always gotten good pitching and played really good defense. We feel like any ball hit in the field, our guys are going to make the play—and it’s good to know that as a pitcher, too.”
Beechwood improves to 10-5, picking up its seventh shutout of the season. Brossart falls to 8-5.
The Tigers head to Daviess County High School on Saturday, April 26, for the All “A” State Tournament. They’ll take on the winner of Sayre and Danville at 3 p.m. in the quarterfinal round. The semifinal games are scheduled for Sunday morning, with the championship game at 1 p.m. that afternoon.
“It’s going to be an awesome challenge for us to go down there,” Gray said. “We’re going to stay no matter what. Hopefully, we’re playing on Sunday in the semis and the finals. We’ll be one of eight teams left. You can’t win unless you get a chance.”
Photo gallery provided by Charles Bolton:
TIGERS 1, MUSTANGS 0
BISHOP BROSSART — 000-000-0 — 0-0-2
BEECHWOOD — 001-000-x — 1-3-0
3B — (B) Arrasmith
WP — Flaherty . LP — Noe.
Records: Beechwood 10-5, Bishop Brossart 8-5