Rays’ Chase Berry One Out Away From MIA’s First No-Hitter

It was a masterful performance - arguably the best in school history - when senior Chase Berry came within one out of no-hitting Mason Classical Academy, Thursday, March 23, at Tyler Beck Memorial Ballpark on Marco Island.

“One out from a no-hitter,” exclaimed Lazaro Ferro, Rays manager, immediately following the game. “He gave me exactly what I asked him for. He gave us a complete game. It was phenomenal. He struck out 12 batters and gave up only one single. That’s a heck of an accomplishment. He didn’t miss on any corners. And he was very efficient - only 88 pitches. The best-pitched game in our history.”

Berry had a no-hitter going with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning when the Mason Classical batter eked out a single. Berry’s official stat line was seven innings pitched, no runs, one hit, 12 strikeouts, one walk, one hit batsman, 88 pitches.

The win was just what the Rays needed coming back from spring break. They took their lumps early in the season, struggling to a 2-8 start. But with back-to-back wins over Everglades City and Mason Classical, Ferro feels optimistic.

“After spring break,” Ferro said, "we had a meeting as a team. We're moving in the right direction. They got to relax and focus on different things and now they’re coming back to the field refreshed. Overall we were solid tonight. Better than other games. We’re heading in the right direction. Every time you win it builds that confidence. We have a lot of games ahead of us that are very winnable.”

The Rays are playing a beefed up schedule this year. They weren’t always up to the challenge in the first half of the season.

"We played some teams at the beginning of the season that I thought we were very competitive with,” Ferro said, "but we faced some very difficult pitchers. When you face pitchers that are up there in the high velocity it's very challenging, not only for us, but for every high school. I thought we were ready for that, but we didn’t perform to those abilities as a team.”

Ferro sees a renewed confidence in his team.

“We’re picking up the momentum,” Ferro said, “because once you start winning you build up the confidence that you can make plays. It builds the team up.”

Ferro used his son Zach, the team’s catcher, as an example.

"Today Zach realized he didn’t need to hit the ball over the fence,” Ferro said. "All he needed to do is put the ball in play, get a base hit to get those runners in. He shortened his swing and played for the team.”

Zach Ferro knocked in a pair of runs in the fifth inning with a sharply hit line-drive double. His hustle play in the third inning, when he ran out a towering pop-up to the pitcher, brought in two runs after the pitcher misplayed the ball.

Lazara Ferro is looking for leaders to emerge on his team.

"They need to become leaders,” he stressed. “All of them are capable of that. As we continue to win, the leader will start to come out in everybody.”

The Rays (4-8) hosted Village School on Monday and Mason Classical on Wednesday. This week they travel to Seacrest on Saturday, April 1 for a 9:00 AM start. They travel to First Baptist Academy for a 4:00 PM match-up on Tuesday, April 4.