Even in Hampshire Regional’s illustrious softball history, no one’s ever had quite a day at the ballpark like the one senior pitcher Jocelyn Mettey authored Thursday.

She threw a perfect game against Northampton in a 17-0 victory, striking out all 15 batters with just 51 pitches. Only two Blue Devils even made contact with the ball, and that wasn’t until the fifth inning. Nine strikeouts were looking compared to six swinging.

“That’s something I’ve never seen. Even in my baseball life, I’ve never seen it,” Hampshire coach Brian McGan said. “She moved the ball around really well, was throwing good velocity, kept the ball down and had them swinging and missing, obviously a lot.”

There was no keeping the secret from Mettey or avoiding the topic. She knew what was happening and just kept it going.

“I sort of knew. It’s easy to know when no one’s getting on base,” Mettey said.

Mettey, who notched her 100th hit Monday against East Longmeadow – the first Raiders pitcher to reach that plateau, also hit two two-run home runs. She has 73 strikeouts in 46 innings pitched for the Raiders (7-2).

“Lately I’ve been hitting the ball really hard. I’ve been so unlucky, they’ve been line drives right to the outfielders,” Mettey said.

The Lasell University commit now has six career no-hitters, including her varsity debut as an eighth grader. She’s up to 100 strikeouts for the year and 450 in her career. Mettey has only allowed six earned runs in nine games.

“I set myself, I locked my head in there and said, ‘you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to win the game,” Mettey said. “We obviously hit really well.”

Hampshire’s Ashley Cortis (three hits) and Riley Dubay (two hits) drove in three runs each. Rachel Hickox went 2-for-2 for the Raiders.

Mettey isn’t about to dwell on the success, either. She knows the next game is just as important and will require just as much focus.

“It’s a good thing, but we have to move on,” Mettey said. “We’re ready for practice tomorrow.”

Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.]]>