Mahopac High School's Shannon Becker Highlights Sophomore piling up strikeouts, Ks 21 in a perfect game.
Mahopac softball pitcher Shannon Becker and catcher Michelle Dellamura pose after Becker's 21-strikeout game.
@MahopacSoftball
Commentary: "You can always do something better."
Shannon Becker’s admiration of Jennie Finch used to be a one-way road. Recently a return route opened.
A sophomore at
Mahopac (N.Y.) High School, Becker made history on May 8 by being better than perfect. She was perfect squared.
Becker struck out all 21 batters in an 8-0 seven-inning win over rival
Carmel (N.Y.). Seventeen went down swinging. She tossed 83 total pitches.
Thursday the
NYSPHSAA confirmed it as the only known 21-k seven-inning perfect game in state history.
"To get 21 straight strikeouts, it's something you don't see in a lifetime," Mahopac first-year head coach Cristina Giansante told the
Journal News. "I don't think people that are outside the softball world or the baseball world understand the magnitude of that."
Finch – very much absorbed into the softball biosphere – fully appreciated the feat. Having never thrown such a game in high school herself despite a resume that includes Olympic Gold and a College World Series title, Finch liked and commented on a Twitter post recognizing the achievement. She wasn’t alone.
"It felt amazing,” Becker told
WCBS-TV. “It was a really cool feeling,"
According to the
NFHS Record Book, 41 pitchers have struck out 21 batters – or more – in a 7-inning game. The record is 24 by Kelly Holmes of Plymouth Canton (MI) who K’d 24 against Walled Lake Western (MI) in 1992.
Faieta is committed to St. John's University.
Becker’s undecided – for now.
Making varsity as an eighth-grader, Becker owns 33 career wins and 654 strikeouts. This season she is 14-3 with a 0.29 ERA. Depending on Mahopac’s postseason run, Becker could challenge for the state’s single-season strikeout record of 411. She currently has 283.
Becker’s fastball tops out at over 60 mph, which is comparable to an 87-plus mph pitch in baseball. She’s struck out 14 or more batters in 15 of 17 games and has 11 shutouts this season.
"She pitches really hard, but she's a really good teammate," Mahopac catcher and Becker’s best friend
Michelle Dellamura told WCBS. "If we're down, she's the one who picks us all up."
A straight-A student, Becker’s pitching pledge was cemented as a 10-year old when she posed for a picture with Finch. The image has been an enduring inspiration.
"I love coming back from failure, because in a game you fail more than you succeed," Becker told WCBS. "And I think it's really cool to overcome your failures and just compete, because - you can always do something better."
Well…not always.
