You could say that rest was a good thing for Liberty pitcher Matt Leon. After sitting out two weeks because of tightness in his back, Leon came back to the mound last Friday afternoon against Freedom and put on his best pitching performance of his life.

Leon tossed a no-hitter in the 7-0 victory over Freedom to help pull the Hurricanes (5-3, 2-2) a game within division leader Freedom (6-2, 5-1).

Leon struck out 12 batters and walked three to give himself one of his most memorable performances on the mound.

"It's an awesome feeling," Leon said of the no-hitter. "Especially to throw it against Freedom. Everyone knew how big of a game this was for us and to come out and throw like that, I'm very happy."

Liberty head coach Andy Pitsilos was ecstatic as well, since Leon's absence in the rotation left a major void in Liberty's pitching.

"Matt's our clear number one pitcher," Pitsilos said. "When he's on the mound, we can beat anyone. He showed everyone what type of pitcher he's capable of being against Freedom. When he's at his finest, he's very tough to beat."

Liberty has now reeled off three straight wins, defeating Allen, Freedom and Pleasant Valley to bring themselves above the .500 mark after a rough start to the year. The 'Canes were scheduled to take on Central Catholic on Tuesday, followed by today's contest against Whitehall and tomorrow's encounter with Quakertown.

Leon's no-no last week was the second one he's ever thrown in high school, as he pitched a no-hitter against East Stroudsburg South last season.

While that was a feat itself, doing it against your city rival will be something he'll never forget.

"I threw a good game after my no-hitter last year," Leon said about what he intends to do for an encore this week. "I just want to win games and I know we're capable of beating anyone. We just needed to find ourselves as a team and I think we did that."

Last week's loss to Liberty snapped a four-game winning streak for Freedom, who got back on track Monday afternoon with a 7-5 win over Central Catholic.

After an 0-3 start to the year, Bethlehem Catholic (3-4, 2-3) has won three of four games to pull themselves back into the conversation. The Hawks took on Nazareth on Tuesday and Pottsville tomorrow to round out their week before the Easter holiday.