VIDALIA — Two weeks ago, Vidalia High School junior pitcher Tristan Weatherly was on the brink of a no-hitter. Yet, he got in his head and it cost him his chance of claiming what all pitchers strive for.

But on Tuesday at the Vidalia Recreational Complex as the Vikings took on the Lakeview High School Gators in the LHSAA Class 2A in the bi-district round, Weatherly didn’t think about the possibility of throwing a no-no. And that mindset paid dividends.

“It’s awesome to get a no-hitter, especially in a playoff game,” Weatherly said “I got close two weeks ago but couldn’t finish it off in the seventh inning. So, it is something I have been thinking about and I’m happy I got it (Tuesday).

“I try not to (think about throwing a no-hitter). That’s what I did last time and I didn’t finish it. So, I try not to think about it.”

Thanks to Weatherly’s no-hitter, the Vikings won with ease as they defeated the Gators, 10-0 in five innings.

While Weatherly was all smiles after the game, he said he couldn’t have achieved such a milestone without Vidalia’s defense behind him.

“My defense helped me out a lot,” Weatherly said. “I allowed a couple … should-have-been base hits, but my centerfielder and shortstop helped me out.”

Weatherly saidhis pitching location also assisted him in throwing his no-hitter. However, he was adamant giving majority of the credit to his defense.

Not only did Weatherly praise Vidalia’s defense, but so did coach Mike Norris.

“Defense was good,” Norris said. “If we pitch like that and play defense we can beat someone 1-0.”

The Viking defense had zero errors against Lakeview.

Although Vidalia’s pitching and defense were perfect Tuesday, Norris felt his hitting was lacking — despite tallying 10 hits. Norris said the Vikings were not perfect at the plate because they were out on their front foot, meaning that off-speed pitches was giving Vidalia some fits.

“We have to hit the ball better as the playoffs move along,” Norris said. “You are fired up and keyed up for the playoffs, and somewhere down the road a pitcher might throw a lot of good curveballs — which will cause us to be on our front foot and might hurt us.”

Norris was adamant that going forward, his team needs to drive the ball further because against Lakeview, he admitted that his team lucked out with the Gators missing some routine pop flies.

While on the scoreboard Vidalia seemed perfect on Tuesday, Norris said it wasn’t. He knows his team could perform better, despite the Vikings run ruling their first playoff opponent. However, he was glad that Weatherly was finally able to put together a no-hitter.

“For the most part, he started off against batters with a first pitch strike,” Norris said. “We know, if he starts off with a first-pitch strike, he is going to get them out 80 percent of the time. That’s what we told him to focus on — first-pitch strike.

“Tristan did exactly what we thought he would do — he no-hit them.”