Sports Reporter
There are just a few stats in sports that truly jerk heads when you hear them: a hole-in-one in golf, 2,000 yards rushing in football or 81 points in a basketball game. Then there’s the perfect game. It’s rare enough to still cause a reaction of disbelief, but the gods of the diamond allow it to happen enough so it can be celebrated. Ashley Pulido, the senior pitcher for the Mavericks, is one of the few that can put a perfect game on her resume.
If there’s any room for it, that is.
Already the vice president for Associated Student Government and a part of the Event Management Staff, Pulido talks about how she feels the pressure, but she gives you a feeling that she thrives under it.
“It was kind of funny that day because one of my teammates asked me if I have ever thrown a perfect game before, and I said no way, not even close. I’ve never even been close,” Pulido said. “It was strange. It was on my mind already, and I knew I was throwing it the entire time which made it a little more stressful, especially when the girls started to realize that this might be a perfect game.”
That Mid-March Saturday matchup against New Mexico Highlands, 45 of her 62 pitches went for strikes. The Mavericks won 9-0, and Pulido retired four batters on her own.
“The last few innings were getting stressful because at the start of the game they just were hitting bombs off me, but they were going to people. It was stressful that they were hitting so hard, but we were making great plays in the field, and it helped knowing that and going into the last few innings. Going into the last inning, my coach told me number eight was the only one I had to worry about. She was the only one that hit hard off Jessica [Severinsen] in the last game. Of course she wasn’t in the lineup until the last inning, and she was the second batter, so I saw her in the batter’s box, and I started freaking out a little bit (she’s of course chuckling at that now.) I knew my team was behind me though. I knew they had my back, and I had theirs.”
Two pop-outs and a ground-out to second base by number eight sealed it. Pulido pitched a perfect game.
Her team did have her back. Run support is crucial for a pitcher to focus on the game pitch by pitch. The Mavericks led from the start of the second inning and put Pulido’s mind somewhat more at ease with a five-run explosion in the fourth inning.
Looking where she was last season, a perfect game is an incredible triumph. She missed the start of last year due to a labrum injury in her shoulder, something that astounded doctors because that kind of injury is a rarity in softball. Coming back after rehab, softball had an entirely new atmosphere at CMU from the new coaching staff.
“With a new coach it’s always hard getting used to a new coaching style and a new way to go about things. But we’re stronger than we ever have been as a team, and we have more talent than I’ve seen here. I’m looking to go far this year,” Pulido said.
The game in the rural eastern stretch of New Mexico was sparse of Mav fans in the crowd, but that didn’t mean the word didn’t spread. After the women’s basketball win in Canyon, Texas, Event Manager Jermaine Williams and Athletic Director Tom Spicer made the four-hour drive to congratulate her and watch the team finish the four-game sweep. Her parents, living in California, were predictably the most proud, and in a softball family, nothing could have meant more.
“I was joking with my friend, and I said I feel like I have gotten more texts from people today than on my birthday. My older sister was a pitcher too, and she sort of always had more achievements than I did in college, but she never had a perfect game. It’s kind of like graduating college with a 4.0. Its what you’ve been working for. Throwing a perfect game isn’t something you expect. Its just something you work for your whole life because it’s the top of the top for softball. Not many people can say they’ve thrown a perfect game in college, and being able to do that is amazing.”
This weekend, Pulido was credited with both wins in the weekend split against Fort Lewis in Durango. The Mavs lost the first game 8-4, all of the Skyhawks runs coming in the 5th and 6th innings and in game three off of a walkoff wild pitch. Mesa didn’t trail in the third game until the very last play, and in the top of the last inning Karissa Nickeson hit a solo homerun for a Mesa 6-5 lead that was evaporated from the wild pitch.
In the games they won, Mesa was clearly in control, winning the second Saturday game 13-3. Pulido allowed the only three runs for Ft. Lewis but struck out eight batters on the way to the rout. By the way they were swinging in game four, the Mavs were obviously peeved at the unusual ending to the Sunday morning game, starting off with five unaswered runs. They went on to win 8-5 and remained fourth in the RMAC (17-15, 16-10) with every team ahead of them in the standings yet to play each other.
brjthomp@mavs.coloradomesa.edu
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