Fredonia junior pitcher Jordan Lucas continues to make batters laugh out loud — or LOL — after each at-bat as they attempt to figure out how to record a hit against her.

The No. 2 Fredonia Hillbillies softball team started their Section VI Class B2 title defense on Thursday against No. 7 Royalton-Hartland and it couldn’t have gone any better, thanks to Lucas tossing her third no-hitter of the season in a 11-0 quarterfinal win.

Lucas finished the game with 17 strikeouts and allowed only one batter to reach base, walking Royalton-Hartland’s Juliana Buscarino in the top of the first.

“The pitching was plus, plus again today,” Fredonia head coach Jesse Beers said. “A playoff no-hitter, really, what more can you say about it? We talked about it a little after the game and it’s almost getting to the point where we kind of expect her to keep everyone off the bases, but I told them we can’t have that attitude. But then another no-hitter. It’s an accomplishment every time. I don’t care if you’re playing tee-ball.”

Dunkirk’s Callie Draggett successfully steals second base ahead of the tag by Royalton-Hartland shortstop Kaitlin Mettler during Thursday’s Section VI Class B2 quarterfinal. P-J photo by Christian Storms

With elite pitching, Fredonia hardly requires a lot of run support, but the bats delivered yesterday. Every Fredonia batter reached base at least once and the team recorded 14 hits, including a triple from both Callie Draggett and Naomi Muck, and a home run from Lucas.

“The book is kind of out on us. You can see how deep they are playing,” Beers said about opposing defenses. “Teams are not playing us with little flares in there, because we have driven the ball this year. When they’re playing that far out there it really opens up the alleys, so unless we hit it right at someone it’s going to fall, and a couple of times that happened today.”

Fredonia (13-4) scored all of the runs it would need in the bottom of the first inning as the first seven batters all reached base. The Hillbillies opened with a single from Danielle Palisin that was followed by a Draggett RBI triple. Lucas then delivered the biggest hit of the game, sending a towering shot to right-centerfield which she managed to hustle around for an inside-the-park home run to take the 3-0 lead.

“I’m not going to lie, I felt like ‘The Flash,'” Lucas said laughing about her home run. “I didn’t think I was going to get a homer and I just started running and really wanted to get a triple because I get stuck with doubles a lot because I’m so slow. So I’m like, ‘Go, go’ and then I see my coach (Lucas imitates Beers waving her home). It was so awesome. My catcher, Callie, gets those so much that I’m like, ‘I’m fast, too, I can do it.'”

Gaby Matos and Jenna Truby both singled before Ellie Van Dette walked to load the bases. The final run of the inning came when Rihanna Benner reached on an error that scored Matos.

Fredonia's Jordan Lucas hustles into home plate after hitting an inside-the-park home run during the first inning of Thursday's quarterfinal against Royalton-Hartland. P-J photo by Christian Storms

After Fredonia’s offensive outburst, things cooled down until the sixth inning.

The bottom of the sixth began with Muck reaching base on an error and it ended with her hitting a two-RBI triple that scored Van Dette and Sophia Gullo to push the lead to 11-0. The inning featured singles from Palisin, Draggett, Lucas, Matos, Truby and Van Dette as the Hillbillies came within one run of walking off the game via mercy rule.

Lucas capped off her no-hitter with a popup to her batterymate, Draggett, then two more strikeouts to put her at 17 for the day. Royalton-Hartland came closest to breaking up the no-hitter in fourth inning on a tough bunt that Lucas was able to collect. Then, in the fifth, Matos managed to chase down a softly hit ball along the third-base line before gunning it to Truby at first base.

“I’m just honing in on the skills that I have and making sure that I hit my spots,” Lucas said about what’s going through her mind as she approaches the final at-bats of each no-hitter. “My team had my back today, so I’m really happy about that.”

On Monday, Fredonia will get what it has been suspecting, as its next opponent will be No. 3 Falconer (12-5), which advanced past No. 6 Allegany-Limestone with a 16-1 victory. The Hillbillies and Golden Falcons split meetings in Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 1 West action with Fredonia winning 11-2 at home then losing 2-1 on the road as both squads grabbed a share of the league title with Olean.

Fredonia's Jenna Truby fouls off a pitch during Thursday's quarterfinal against Royalton-Hartland. P-J photo by Christian Storms

“It’s always interesting when you’re playing a league team in playoffs,” Beers said about Monday’s semifinal matchup. “It’s not like we’ve got to go look for scouting reports. Usually this time of year we’re calling around trying to find things. After the 2-1 loss, secretly, I think we kind of were hoping for this. That’s nothing on Falconer, they’re playing very well right now, probably as best as they have been, but this is kind of the scenario we saw coming and I think we’re going to be ready.”

On the other side of the bracket, last year’s Class B2 runner-up No. 5 Eden lost to No. 4 Akron 11-8 and No. 8 Southwestern (8-8) shut out No. 1 Olmstead 23-0.

Fredonia pitcher Jordan Lucas removes her face shield after tossing a no-hitter in the Section VI Class B2 quarterfinals against Royalton-Hartland on Thursday. The no-hitter is Lucas' third of the season. P-J photo by Christian Storms