Five innings, seven innings, nine innings – it didn’t matter. Nobody was getting a hit off Amber Matousek on Friday morning.

Matousek tossed a no-hitter Friday in the first game of the Frost Classic in Chattanooga, Tenn., hurling just the second no-no in school annals. The senior pitcher was near flawless in the 8-0 win, which was shortened to five innings because of the run rule.

Even if it would have gone seven innings, all bets would have been on Matousek. She faced 21 batters in five innings, striking out eight. If there was one downside, it was that she walked seven batters, but none of them ever crossed the plate.

Matousek has been overshadowed just a bit over the last year a half with the splashes Chanda Bell and Rachel Riley have made in the circle, but after Friday morning’s win, Matousek’s first win of the year, she’s made room for herself in the starting rotation.

Head coach Rachel Lawson raved to me in the preseason about the improvements Matousek made in the offseason. It’s becoming increasingly clear that Lawson wasn’t fibbing.

Bell tossed the program’s first no-hitter last season in a 1-0 win over Western Kentucky.