Throughout her career at North Texas, Hope Trautwein has shown on many occasions just how dominant of a pitcher she is and can be. On Sunday, though, she set a new standard, an even higher bar, for herself, for her program, and for the game of softball.
In a game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Trautwein did not allow a single hitter to reach base. The first perfect game of her career, it was also the first perfect game in North Texas program history and the second in the record books for Conference USA.
But that’s not all: Trautwein also recorded every out, all twenty-one of them, via strikeout.
“Any time [Trautwein] gets the ball, she never surprises us with the success she has,” head coach Rodney DeLong said after the game. Trautwein’s success may not be surprising, but she continually finds ways to be even better than before.
Four of Trautwein’s strikeouts came on a called strike three, while the remaining seventeen came via swings-and-misses by UAPB batters. She now boasts 581 career strikeouts, second all-time in the UNT record books.
The native of Pflugerville, Texas is believed to be the first pitcher in Division 1 softball history to record such a feat, a 7-inning perfect game with every out by strikeout. While the perfect game itself was new to Trautwein and Co., a 21-strikeout performance is practically old hat for the Mean Green true senior; Sunday’s game was the third time in her career that she’s reached the 21-strikeout plateau.
North Texas swept a doubleheader over UAPB on Sunday, and will go for the series sweep in Pine Bluff on Monday.
