Sloane pitched a perfect game, not allowing a single hit and benching every batter she faced.
To be fair, the game was only five innings long due to the mercy rule. Nevertheless, Sloane earned it, striking out 11 of the 15 Brookline batters.
She struck out the side to in the first inning, with Warrior batters swinging far too late to make contact with her fastball. In each of the remaining four innings, two out of the three Brookline batters were struck out.
According to Sloane, she began to realize that a perfect game was possible about halfway through the game. “It felt extremely satisfying at the end,” Sloane said.
As well as displaying superior pitching, the Tigers also showed off their hitting. “We were patient, and did a good job waiting on the ball,” Sloane said.
Leading off in the bottom of the first, senior Lydia O’Connor managed to hit a single, steal second and reach third on a passed ball. Like O’Connor, many other Tiger base-runners took full advantage of Brookline’s errors. The hits speak for themselves.
In the second, senior Katie Caruso, a captain, sliced an inside-the-park homer into the gap between right and center.
The Tigers began the second with a 3-0 lead. Junior Emma Berger led off with a walk, and like Sloane’s opening at-bat in the first, she stole second and advanced to third on a passed ball.
In the next at-bat, sophomore Shannon Riley was thrown out at first on a passed-ball third strike, but Berger took advantage of the error, scoring from third.
A little drizzle in the third inning sure didn’t rain on the Tigers’ parade; In fact, it was the team’s best inning, hitting wise. Junior Bridget McLaughlin got the ball rolling, lining a single into center. The runs that piled on for the rest of the third seemed almost superfluous, but displayed the team’s hitting ability.
By the end of the third, the team’s victory could have been set in stone, but achieving the perfect game was another story. Sloane stayed in control through the fifth, and grinned as she threw her final strike for the win.
