So I usually don't share this too often as my athletic exploits are modest, in all honesty.
As a high school freshmen, I played varsity baseball at a small school, maybe 240 kids in the high school, total. There were a handful of freshman on the team but only a couple of us played much. I made the team as a RF/pitcher and even mixed in some 1B. Now to be clear, I was not very good (although for this league, I was okay). I had a 2-seamer, 4 seamer, and a palm change, which were slow, slower, and slowest. I was also incredibly lanky and uncoordinated (someone once told me they couldn't tell where the ball was coming from).
In my first start as a pitcher, I didn't make it out of the first inning, as the opposing team just beats the snot out of everything I'm throwing. Later in the season, we travel to play the same team that knocked me out in the first inning. I've pitched a few
more games so I'm not as nervous but still expect to get hit hard, as they were one of the better teams in our league. But in the outings since my first miserable start, I'd learned to keep the ball down, work in and out, and rely on my teammates behind me. I also noticed that the salivating, over-aggressive swings my weak shit used to illicit from the opposing team worked to my advantage so I wasn't afraid to get hit as I knew my teammates would handle the plays reasonably well.
So, I manage to get thru the first inning, issued a walk, no k's, but avoided any runs. Second inning, more of the same. A walk, maybe two, and some solid defense getting the outs. Third inning rolls around and this is when it got fun for me. We had some stunning plays in the field, a diving catch by the CF (and this guy loved to just lay out for a ball, he seemed to enjoy that more than anything), my brother (older, playing SS - definitely the more gifted player) making an odd play to prevent a run, rather than get the force at first, and a routine grounder to get the third out. The whole time I'm cheering my teammates for some hustle plays and really bailing me out. I get into the fourth, my usual effectively wild approach, trying my best to keep the ball down.
Now this team had one guy who could really hit. And before the game, my brother (also the best pitcher on the team) warns me "Don't pitch this guy inside. He loves inside pitches and will make you pay." Sure enough, I miss my spot, throw a meat pitch right in his happy-zone. The guy scorches a shot down the third base line, and our thirdbaseman, who is all guts, barely gets his glove up in time to catch it. Another spectacular play. I manage the rest of the 4th without much issue. more of the same, effective wildness (walks) and relying on my defense. The fifth inning, I'm worn out... I get a cople outs then walk the bases loaded... My coach pulls me, my brother comes in to finish the game. I sit down, and watch as my big brother bails me out. He is by far a better pitcher and strikes out the hitter. My teammates start smacking me on the head and shoulders and my brother hands me the ball. And I'm still wondering what the hell is going on. He says, "You still don't realize you just threw a no hitter?" He had made the play to home instead of first to preserve the shut-out and make the hit a fielder's choice. Apparently he'd been telling the rest of the team to keep it quiet and I had no clue until the game was over. I managed to throw 4 2/3rd inning of a no hitter, recording something like 8 or 9 walks and maybe two strikeouts.
I still have the ball, signed by all my teammates. To this day, my brother and I laugh at the story because I had no business throwing a no-hitter and wouldn't if not for his help.
