RICHMOND HILL — It was Leighton Finley’s first no-hitter at any level and it couldn’t have looked any easier as the big Georgia-bound righthander dominated Woodstock Thursday night in a 2-0 win at Wildcat Field.
“I’ve been close to a no hitter before,” Finley said. “I’ve had one-hitters, two-hitters but this is a first.”
Finley was dominant, as was Woodstock starter Kevin Maurer, as he struck out 13 and did not walk a batter. The Wolverines had only one base runner and that came in the fourth when Jack Hartman reached on a dropped third strike.
First baseman Ty Goldrick then snared a line drive and stepped on first for a double play to end the inning. Technically it wasn’t a perfect game but Finley, who has signed to play at Georgia, still faced the minimum 21 batters.
Richmond Hill (4-2) squeezed out a run in the first and then got an insurance in the sixth to give Finley some breathing room as the Wildcats won their fourth straight game.
“I was comfortable and I had a rhythm,” Finley said. “I felt like I couldn’t be stopped. The run we got in the sixth was definitely a big run because I was facing the top of their lineup in the seventh.”
Finley’s gem came against one of the top teams in the state in Class 7A. The Wolverines (2-2) were 27-10 last year and advanced to the Elite 8 in the state playoffs. In 2020 the state tournament was cancelled due to COVID but the year before Woodstock got to the Final Four before being eliminated by state champ Parkview.
“They’re a great program,” Finley said. “They’re a good hitting team, too. You could tell that by the way their hitters handled themselves at the plate. Getting a no-hitter against a team like Woodstock is a good feeling.”
The Wolverines did not have anything closely resembling a hit and Finley’s height—he’s 6-foot-5—proved to be an asset when he deflected a high hopper to shortstop Ethan Fuller who easily threw out the batter.
Connor Truax singled to start the game, moved to third when the Wolverines couldn’t handle Luke Boone’s hard-hit ground and with two outs stole home for what proved to be the only run Finley needed.
The Wildcats had a golden opportunity to break the game open in the sixth when they loaded the bases with one out but they could manage but the one run thanks to a two-out walk to Jalen Varnadoe.
Maurer nearly matched Finley pitch-for-pitch as he struck out 13 and gave up only two hits while not walking a batter in five innings. In addition to Truax’s hit Finley and Hunter Legas also singled.
Legas was the winning pitcher in a 9-4 win at Wayne County the day before thanks to a nine-run fifth inning.
The Wildcats found themselves deadlocked 3-3 going into the fifth. However, they sent 14 batters to the plate in ringing up six hits to go with three walks, a hit batter and two errors by the Yellow Jackets.
Boone and Evan Cowan led the onslaught as Boone had three hits, including a triple, to drive in two runs and Cowan had three RBI on a double and single. Finley doubled and singled while scoring three runs. Richmond Hill had 10 hits, nine by the first four batters with Truax picking up a pair of singles.
Richmond Hill’s next four games are on the road starting with a game at Ware County on Monday followed by a game at Islands on Tuesday. Its next home game will be March 9 against Brunswick in a Region 2-6A game.