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ROSS TWP. — Ross High School sophomore pitcher Brittany Fernandez had the ho-hum look of someone who didn't know she had just thrown a no-hitter.

But that wasn't the case.

She knew she threw it. She just didn't feel the need to celebrate it.

"I just didn't think it was that big of a deal," Fernandez said following the Rams' 10-0, five-inning victory against Kettering Alter in a Division II sectional tournament first-round game Tuesday, May 13, at Ross.

The win moves top-seeded Ross (19-4) into a second-round game Thursday at home against No. 10 seed Bellbrook. Alter ends its season 7-13.

"I'm happy, don't get me wrong," Fernandez said. "I'm happy any time we win."

The no-hitter was Fernandez's fourth of the season and fifth of her career, and it would have been a perfect game had it not been for a Ross error on the first batter of the game.

After that, Fernandez retired the next 15 batters, including seven on strikeouts to raise her record to 15-2 and lower her earned-run average to 1.01.

"She wasn't as sharp as she has been, and she didn't have as much pop on the ball, but she hit her spots," said Ross coach Paul Fernandez — Brittany's uncle.

The Rams got to Alter pitcher Amelia Kinsella (5-11) for two runs in the first inning, but they went down in order in the second and third innings, and it looked as though the 11th-seeded Knights might be poised to give Ross a game.

But the Rams sent 11 batters to the plate in the fourth, scoring six runs on four hits and four Alter errors.

"I knew it was gonna happen eventually because we haven't played in more than a week," Paul Fernandez said. "Sometimes it's just a matter of timing and getting into a rhythm."

Brittany Fernandez singled in the big fourth inning and doubled home a run in the first to finish 2-for-3. Hannah Ellinghausen (2-for-3, two runs) and Shelby Richards (2-for-3, two RBIs, run) also had multi-hit games for Ross.

Courtesy runners Brittany Berry and Shelby Ellinghausen each scored twice, while Kenna Sheehan scored the mercy-rule clincher on a play that summed up Alter's defensive performance.

With the bases loaded and no one out, KJ Huff hit a routine comebacker to Kinsella, who then sailed the ball over catcher Amanda Brunner's head, enabling Sheehan to score.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2193 or jmorrison@coxohio.com.

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