FRENCH CAMP — For nearly six full innings, Thomas Garrity had thrown a one-hitter on the road against a good French Camp Academy team in Game 1 of the MHSAA Class 1A South State semifinals.

That was until what had originally been ruled a single by French Camp starting pitcher Cole Henson in the bottom of the first inning was changed to a fielder’s choice heading into the bottom of the seventh.

Garrity ended up with a no-hitter and struck out 10 batters as the Cathedral Green Wave overcame a tough first inning to defeat the Panthers 8-2 to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.

The Green Wave had a chance to put the pressure on the Panthers in the top of the first inning, but Garrity, who led off the game with a single and then stole second base, was tagged out at home plate on a Ty Brown single.

Garrity nearly compounded the situation on the mound after back-to-back one-out walks to Hunter McKnight and Michael Erving. After a successful double steal, McKnight scored on an error and Erving came in on Henson’s RBI fielder’s choice for a 2-0 lead. But Garrity was able to get out of the inning with a groundout and a strikeout.

“That was a squeeze play. We tried to get the runner out at home. That’s where the fielder’s choice came in,” Cathedral head coach Craig Beesley said.

Cathedral took the lead for good with a three-run rally in the top of the third inning. Garrity hit a lead-off single, went to second on a walk of Andrew Beesley and this time scored on a Brown single. Beesley went to third base and Brown went to second on the throw. That turned out to be huge for the Green Wave as Zach Flattmann brought in Beesley on an RBI groundout for the game-tying run and Craig Bradley hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield that scored Brown for the go-ahead run.

And that was really all the run support Garrity needed as he settled down in a big way from the second inning on.

“He got into a good rhythm after (the first inning). He didn’t walk another batter after the first inning. He did a real good job for us tonight,” coach Beesley said.

The Green Wave scored three more runs in the top of the fifth inning. Flattmann hit a double to score Beesley and Brown and later scored on an error to give them a 6-2 lead. They finished off the Panthers with two runs in the top of the seventh on a Flattmann triple that scored Brown and a Bradley single that brought in Flattmann.

“He hit the ball hard his last two at-bats,” coach Beesley said about Flattmann.

In addition to the no-hitter, Garrity allowed two runs, one earned, with two walks and he went 3-for-4. Brown went 3-for-4 with one RBI and Flattmann finished 2-for-4 with four RBIs. Bradley ended up 1-for-3 with two RBIs.

“We’ve been hitting the ball well the last couple of weeks. We just hope it continues (today),” coach Beesley said. “We need to have a couple of other hitters step up.”

Cathedral (20-5) can wrap up the series and advance to the Class 1A South State Championship series with a win today at Chester Willis Field. Game 2 starts at 6 p.m.