OXFORD — When the Mason High School baseball team met Oak Hills on March 30, the Comets won 4-0 for a second-straight victory against their Greater Miami Conference rival.
The Comets duplicated their success with a 7-0 win over Oak Hills on Wednesday at McKie Field at Hayden Park to advance to the Division I regional finals.
Both teams entered the matchup on a three-game winning streak after taking their districts at the end of May.
However, Mason decided the final outcome in just the first inning when the Comets scored four runs.
A seven-inning no-hitter from senior Andrew Visconti kept the Highlanders off the board through the whole game.
“I’ve known all season that if I’m in the zone, no one can hit me,” Visconti said. “Just being able to slow myself down gives me a lot more time to fill it up in the zone. Everything takes care of itself from there.”
Consecutive bobbles in center allowed junior Sam Davies and senior Cade Landheer to score the first points of the day, giving the Comets a 2-0 lead that they quickly built on. Junior Liam Sander’s fly ball allowed senior JJ Darst to reach home, and Sanders finished his trip on the next play when junior Isaac Vargo singled to left field.
Despite their 4-0 advantage, the Comets kept the foot on the pedal. Head coach Curt Bly said the team’s goal was to build on the strong start.
“Guys know we want to score first and we want to add on,” Bly said. “That’s our offensive approach. Getting a big inning in the first, I think everyone takes a breath. It’s a big game. It’s a pressure game. Everyone wants to start off well. It’s always great when you can score in the first inning and put yourself in position to try to add on.”
Following two scoreless innings, Mason extended its lead once again thanks to a deep hit from senior Drew Johnson that allowed him to score along with Vargo in the bottom of the fourth.
Junior Liam Sander sacrificed a fly ball to send senior Chase Cox home from third base, bringing Mason’s advantage to 7-0 going into the sixth inning.
Three more outs, including two more Visconti strike outs, ended the game in the top of the seventh inning with Mason up 7-0.
“When you play back-to-back days in the regional, you want to use as little pitching as you can on day one because it gives your bullpen the opportunity,” Bly said. “We needed [Andrew] to go deep. We didn’t expect a seven-inning no-hitter, but we needed him to go deep. But he was cruising. He was strong. I think there’d have been a fight [from] him if I tried to take him out of there.”
Mason returns to McKie Field today for a regional final against Springboro.
“Tomorrow’s a big one,” Bly said. “It’s an opportunity to win a championship and move on to the final tournament of the year. Our guys understand what’s at stake. They’re happy with the win, they’re happy for Andrew, but they’ll turn the page very quickly and get us to the next one.”
