Only coach Dale Been may have been aware of the achievement, but Strafford’s Zoey Mullings did indeed throw a seven-inning no-hitter in Tuesday's 10-0 win against Clever.
Immediately after the final out was recorded, Bean exclaimed from the dugout, ‘That’s a no hitter!” and encouraged his players to rush over to Mullings and celebrate.
What instead occurred was a confused Mullings and her Strafford teammates wondering what the extra enthusiasm was all about.
GAME PHOTOS: STRAFFORD VS. CLEVER
“I knew. I didn’t even know if my assistant coach knew or not either,” Bean said. “I looked at the scorebook at the end of the sixth (inning), and we had only given up one error and a walk.”
Mullings struck out eight and walked two over seven innings. Clever also had a batter reach base on a error. The news of a no-hitter came as a surprise to Mullings, although Bean had Strafford give the sophomore right-hander a proper congratulations in a postgame huddle soon after.
“I had no idea,” Mullings said. “I was totally clueless and I thought there were only two outs. So, I was like, ‘What? What’s going on?’”
If that wasn’t enough, Mullings was also a monster at the plate, bashing three extra-base hits. She finished 3-for-4 with two doubles, a triple, three RBIs and two runs scored.
Strafford had 10 hits in the game, six going for extra bases. Hayley Frank’s RBI triple in the second inning – she would come around to score on the same play thanks to a Clever error – gave Strafford an early 2-0 lead and was a sign of things to come from the Indians’ lineup.
“We swung the bats really well,” Bean said. “(Emily) Mendenhall, Clever’s pitcher, she’s not a bad pitcher and she throws the ball pretty well. Their record shows it. I was very pleased with our bats today.”
Strafford added three more runs in the third inning, scoring on a pair of wild pitches and a Mullings’ RBI double. In the fourth, Mullings followed Rilie Vote’s RBI single with a 2-run double that pushed Strafford’s lead to 9-0.
Samantha Gott added an RBI single in the seventh inning.
“We have some speed and good percentage-type hitters early in the lineup,” Bean said. “That’s kind of our recipe: Get them on, get them over, and get them in. If we can do that consistently, it’s a hard out to get.”
Strafford improved to 13-0 overall, surpassing its win output from last season when it finished 12-8-1 overall. Mullings said pitching alongside an improved defense has given her extra confidence this season.
“When the ball’s up in the air, I’m starting to think, ‘OK, we got this,’” Mullings said. “Last year, I was not like that and it was so different from now. My defense is always there and they do everything they can to get there. They dive for stuff and they’re always there for me.”
Strafford hosts its own tournament this weekend. Clever (11-2 overall) hosts Forsyth on Wednesday then competes in the SWCL Tournament this weekend.
Strafford 10, Clever 0
Strafford 0-2-3-4-0-0-1—10
Clever 0-0-0-0-0-0-0—0
Hits: Mullings 3 (2 2Bs, 3B), H. Frank (3B), Bishop (3B), K. Frank (2B), Lorenz 2, Vote, Gott
