COTUIT, Mass. — James Hays made the walk from the home bullpen back to the dugout. The walk was slow. Hays carried all of his gear along with a drained expression. Not because his team had lost. And not because he had pitched poorly. He wasn’t necessarily even physically gassed.
“My mind’s tired right now,” Hays said. “I’m really taxed. My brain’s tired. And I think that’s due to the fact of me locking in on every pitch.”
The right-hander’s mentality—his ability to notice, manage and harness the thoughts that were swirling around in his mind—led to one of the best outings of his career.
The Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox entered Tuesday night on a nine-game winning streak. Hays dominated the red-hot Sox, tossing five perfect innings with six strikeouts and helping his Cotuit Kettleers beat Y-D, 8-2. He needed only 57 pitches (41 of them strikes) to retire all 15 batters he faced.
While Hays did not finish the game, his outing was rare and historic. There have only been two five-inning perfect games in recent Cape League history, both shortened due to weather. Nick McCully pitched a five-inning perfect game for the Bourne Braves in 2008, and Nick Dombkowski was also perfect through five for Bourne in 2019.
A native of Hawkinsville, Georgia, Hays spent his first collegiate season at his home-state school. He appeared in only two games for the Bulldogs and transferred to Stetson prior to his sophomore year. Hays totaled 53 innings over 12 starts for the Hatters in 2025, pitching to a 4.92 ERA. He’s now made three starts for Cotuit on the Cape and has a 2.38 ERA with a 0.97 WHIP in 11.1 innings.
Pitching at the highest level is like the great Battle of Wits between Vizzini and Westley in “The Princess Bride.” There are so many factors, so much strategy and thought, that go into every pitch and every at-bat. Speeding up and slowing down. Changing location. The pitcher is constantly trying to outsmart the batter, while the batter is desperate to discern what is coming next.
Hays said he has struggled with getting too far ahead of himself on the mound. Thinking about future pitches rather than staying present and focusing on the one he is about to throw. There were moments on Tuesday when Hays got behind in counts. He started to feel shaky, and his mind started to swirl. But he had the presence of mind to step off the mound and reel himself back in.
“I’ll talk out loud to myself,” Hays said. “Positive reinforcement. But sometimes I’m like, ‘How far can you hit this pitch?’”
Hays struck out the side in the fourth inning, needing only 12 pitches to retire the top of the Red Sox batting order with his well-located fastball and wipeout breaking ball. He dealt just one ball in the inning.
He tried as best he could to keep his mind clear and not allow himself to think about the perfect game. Hays is a golfer and draws similarities between the mindset required in each sport.
“You’re playing a good round of golf, you don’t think about the score or anything that you’re doing,” he said. “You just hit the next shot. It’s the same thing out there on the mound.”
Hays equates the thought of not hitting a poor shot to the thought of not walking a batter. It’s hard to stop the doubt from creeping in. Hays admits he’s not the best at thinking positive thoughts. He said he shifted his mindset on the mound last month.
“When you think about it and put it in your head is when you’re going to do it,” Hays said. “Instead of saying, ‘I’m not going to walk this guy,’ I say, ‘I’m going to get this guy out.’ Because as soon as you hear that word ‘walk’ in your head, you’re going to do it. Or you hear ‘bad shot’ in your head, you’re going to do it.”
On Tuesday, Hays stayed focused and kept the negative thoughts away. He told himself to attack hitters and not worry about anything except the next pitch.
And that’s what he did. Y-D had no answer.
(Featured image by Molly Sheehan)
