Central right-hander Shelby Willard flirted with perfection in Wednesday’s District 6-AA high school softball game against Red Bank. She had to settle for domination.
The sophomore’s no-hitter included a career-high 17 strikeouts and the Lady Purple Pounders clinched at least a tie for the district regular-season championship with a 5-0 victory at Central.
Both teams wore pink-themed uniforms in the game, with profits going toward breast cancer research, but it was Willard that left Red Bank (10-8, 3-2) feeling blue. She had 14 strikeouts in a game last year. Her previous season-high was 13 when Central beat Brentwood High 6-1 in six innings in a tournament game.
“Shelby was on,” Red Bank coach Mandi Munn said. “We just couldn’t hit her. She did her job, and that was shut us down.”
The game was originally scheduled the day before, but a steady rain began falling during the top of the fifth inning and it ended up being postponed. Willard had seven strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings pitched Tuesday. She surpassed that early in Wednesday’s game when she struck out every batter the first time through the lineup.
“I just felt good when I came out here,” Willard said. “I felt confident after yesterday. We hit well. We played defense. I felt like I had a team behind me.”
Willard lost her bid for a perfect game in the fourth when she walked leadoff batter Gretchen Von Peters, whom she walked again in the sixth. She also hit two batters and one reached on her error off a squibbed grounder in the fourth.
Until the Lady Pounders batted around while scoring three times in the sixth, the three they had tagged out at the plate were more than they had cross it.
“Their catcher did a good job,” Central coach LeeAnne Shurette said of Ashlen Mitchell. “We run the bases very well. She hung on to the ball every time with some tough girls coming in on her. It was all clean, too. She did her job. Our girls did theirs.”
Sara Walker was 3-for-3 with an RBI and Brook Womack was 3-for-4 with a run scored. The second of Hannah Powell’s two singles drove in two runs and Sammie Braley singled in a run and also walked and scored twice.
Central (18-10, 4-0) has one league game remaining and it’s this afternoon at 4:30 against East Hamilton at the Summit of Softball Complex. Regardless of the outcome the Lady Pounders will be top-seeded in the district tournament, which is scheduled at Warner Park starting May 7.
“This was our first goal,” Shurette of earning the top seeding. “We have an ultimate goal, but now we’ve got to go win the district tournament.”
Willard clarified any uncertainty about the ultimate goal.
“Our goal this year is to win our last game,” she said.