Softball pitcher K's every batter in perfecto

Hope Trautwein pitched the most perfect perfect game ever

April 12th, 2021
Photo via @MeanGreenSB

Perfect games are, well, perfect. They're rare and only happen when a team allows zero hits and zero walks to an opponent and makes no errors.

But there is a performance that's a step above the perfect game. It's even more perfect. It's when a pitcher just does it all on their own and strikes out every single batter that walks up to the plate. That's exactly what North Texas' Hope Trautwein did over the weekend, becoming the first to accomplish the feat in NCAA Division I history.

Even though Trautwein was historically dominant -- she had zero three-ball counts in the 3-0 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff -- the senior told the Dallas Morning News that she didn't know it was happening:

“I really didn’t realize it,” Trautwein said. “I was like, ‘OK, another win down, on to the next one.’ But until [Coach] Tate walked over with the game ball and it had it written on there, and he was like, ‘I don’t think anyone’s done that ever,’ I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. I think you’re right.'"

College pitchers have notched that many strikeouts in a game before (Trautwein actually had 21 K's in a five-hitter earlier in the year), but nobody has ever done so during a seven-inning perfecto. There's little evidence it's ever happened in any pro baseball or softball leagues, either. Maybe if Trautwein had known how perfect her day was going, she could've pulled a Satchel Paige and told her fielders to sit down while she handled the Lady Lions' lineup all by herself.