No-hitter erased by controversial scorekeeping

Coming off an outing in which he couldn’t finish the first inning, Alex McNamara didn’t know what to expect in his start against fifth ranked Oakville.

“I was pretty nervous,” McNamara, senior and varsity starting pitcher, said. “Last year I started against Oakville and gave up five runs in two innings, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.”

McNamara wouldn’t have expected that a play in the first inning could change a potential no-hit bid. But it did. A grounder, ruled an error by Kirkwood, was ruled a hit by Oakville. And with Oakville being the official scorer, it was ruled a hit.

“It was a pretty close play,” McNamara said. “All I knew was that it was called an error by Kirkwood.”

After that, McNamara mowed down the Oakville Tigers with four strikeouts. When McNamara did not give up a hit after four innings, he gave the idea of a no-hitter a thought.

“I think it was after the fourth inning that I realized I hadn’t given up a hit,” McNamara said. “But after I hadn’t given up a hit after the fifth inning, I started getting nervous.”

McNamara’s teammates and coaches respected one of the many unwritten rules of baseball by not speaking to the McMamara in the late innings of a no-hitter.

“He was throwing so well and keeping the ball down, so Coach Varady and I decided to let him go,” varsity head coach Ken Shaw said.

With extra help in the field and still no hits, McNamara went into the final inning hoping for the best.

“I was really nervous but confident because my pitches had been working all day, and I knew I was only three outs away,” McNamara said.

With Oakville down to its last out, it opted to pinch hit for the last batter.

“The first two pitches I threw were balls,” McNamara said. “The next pitch was a strike which he hit to deep left field. I knew Oakville had a short field so I started to get a little worried. But when the ball came down and landed in the glove, I knew I had done it. It felt so good to finally finish.”

As McNamara watched the last out recorded, his teammates mobbed him on the mound.

“They were going crazy,” McNamara said. “They ambushed me when it was over.”

McNamara was surprised at what he had done.

“I was in shock at first,” McNamara said. “I couldn’t believe I had actually done it.”

It was not until McNamara was home and saw the stats online that he realized that the play in the first inning was officially ruled a hit.

“I really wanted the no-hitter, but it was a pretty close play,” McNamara said. “I’ll still consider it as a no-hitter and tell people I threw a no-hitter.”