Aaron Madison Pitches A No-Hitter For Cheney

It was just before the seventhr inning that Cheney Junior Legion coach Jack Greaves ordered pitcher Aaron Madison to the bench.

Then Greaves excluded the right-hander from a brief meeting with the rest of his players.

To that point, Madison hadn’t allowed a hit in the June 12 South Division contest with East Valley, and Greaves was trying to convince his squad to keep it that way.

“I told the guys they needed to be as focused as they could be,” Greaves said. “For many of them it was the first time they were around a no-hitter. I didn’t know if they knew the situation. It was something special for Aaron.”

Madison had no idea what the talk was about.

“After the game I figured he was telling them I was throwing a no-hitter and to stop everything they could,” said Madison, 16, who will be a junior at Cheney High School.

He used the time to rest in the shade, since it was a hot day.

“I knew I was throwing a pretty good game and just wanted my arm to stay hot,” said Madison, a 5-foot-10, 145-pounder. “I don’t throw a lot of complete games.”

And he never had thrown a complete-game shutout. Cheney won 1-0, and Madison realized a dream he said he’s had since he was a little kid playing pee-wee ball.

“I didn’t know it was going on until I heard somebody on the other team’s bench say, ‘We can’t let this guy no-hit us,”’ Madison said.

His previous best performance was a three-hitter as a freshman.