The Spartanettes junior had two wins by shutout, allowing five hits and three walks while striking out 18 in 13 innings. Against Dunmore, she pitched 6.1 perfect innings and finished with a one-hitter with one walk and 11 strikeouts in a 3-0 win. Against Western Wayne, she secured a six-inning win with a four-hit shutout, allowing two walks and striking out seven. She also went 2 for 3 at the plate in the 21-0 victory.
Family: Mom, Michelle, dad, Donny, and brother, Donald.
Take me through that Dunmore game. What was working for you?: My curveball and my changeup were my two best pitches that game, and I threw those the majority of the game. I felt great that game. I felt really prepared going into it. Warmups were great. Talking to Coach P (Michael Piercy), letting him know what was working best. Me and him have that kind of bond where I could talk to him about that and he calls my pitches the majority of the time, but he also wants my input, too, and what I think we should call. But, my curveball and my changeup were my best pitches, and I felt great going into that game.
Did you know you were throwing a perfect game? What were you feeling on the mound?: I did know that I was throwing a perfect game. I honestly wasn’t really feeling anything. I was excited because it would have been my first no-hitter of the season, but I was OK that I gave up that hit. It was a really good hit.
You had a walk-off loss to Old Forge the game before. How important was it to try to get back on track after that loss?: Coach P really told us to not let that game bother us, to not let it defeat us because we’re not going to be perfect and he did tell us that. We kind of felt like that loss was much-needed just to put it in our heads that we’re not going to be perfect, we’re not going to win every single game, but that we have to work harder than we do every single day. We honestly worked really hard the two practices before we played Dunmore.
You’re scheduled to play Holy Cross on Thursday, with the winner in the driver’s seat for the Lackawanna League Division II title. You’ve had some battles with Holy Cross over the years. What’s it like playing Holy Cross and what’s your preparation going to be like?: I love playing Holy Cross because it gives us all that competition that we need, and it gives us the opportunity to see, like, it’s kind of like we’re playing in a district game with them because it’s always been that type of game with us. It’s always a close game, always making back-to-back plays or back-to-back hits, just constantly giving us that district feeling. But, I love playing Holy Cross. We’re preparing this week for them, offensively, defensively. Obviously me pitching, I have to prepare for that, but if we play them the way we played them the first time, we should have a good chance of winning.
What do you think of the team’s performance so far this season?: I’m so incredibly proud of how we’ve performed this year. Obviously, we have a lot of underclassmen. We only have two seniors, so as a junior pitching I feel like it’s my role to kind of take charge and take the underclassmen under my wing and bring the team together and give them our input because I won districts two years in a row. Freshman year, obviously we made it to the first round of states. My sophomore year, we made it to the state semifinals. So it kind of just gives me that kind of spark to share with the team. We’ve honestly been so competitive this year. It’s so great.
You keep reaching milestones. Most recently, you surpassed 500 career strikeouts. What was that like for you?: That was a really big goal for me this year. I know the record is like 8-something, so I definitely want to beat that. But I honestly love hitting goals. 500 was definitely my goal for this year and counting, but it felt super great, especially because we got it against Honesdale, so it was a good feeling. Coach P is a big supporter of the team. It felt great to hit that.
What did you work on in the offseason to prepare for this season?: I definitely prepared to face battles, just challenges. Over the fall, I was hurt, but it wasn’t major. So, I had to bounce back from that. I always work in the offseason, especially with Coach P, we’re always working, always working on something new, like my changeup was definitely something that I really did work on over the fall. And constantly just my pitches and hitting my spots and all that, getting the right movement. We just mainly focus on that.
Athletes you admire: Jordy Frahm and Karlyn Pickens. I just love their ambition when it comes to pitching and how amazing they are.
Superstitions or rituals before or during a game: I have a mental talk with Coach (Stephen) Hooper.
Favorite food: Pasta.
Favorite sports teams: Nebraska softball and Oregon football.
Favorite TV show: “The Rookie”
Favorite musical artist: Hudson Westbrook
Three people you’d like to have dinner with: Morgan Wallen, Jordy Frahm and Karlyn Pickens.
Future plans: I do want to play softball. I want to go and be a speech pathologist.