Did This M.B.A. Candidate Pitch the Most Perfect Softball Game Ever? – The Wall Street Journal

She didn’t know all she’d done, at least at first. 

Sure, Hope Trautwein knew she’d had a good day in the pitcher’s circle. A very good day. She’d been throwing darts all afternoon for her college softball team, the “Mean Green” of the University of North Texas, and the strikeouts were piling up, but Trautwein isn’t the sort of pitcher who comes back to the dugout and peeks at stats. She cools off, resets, and focuses on what’s next. 

“I didn’t even realize it was happening, until afterwards,” Trautwein told me Monday.

Trautwein’s catcher, Ashlyn Walker, didn’t know either. She knew Trautwein was in a groove Sunday versus the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, but that wasn’t unusual. That’s often the case when Trautwein, 21, is pitching. 

“She’s very consistent,” Walker said. “She’s good at hitting her spots.” At the start of every inning, the freshman catcher gave Trautwein a modest pep talk: Wow, Hope, you’re doing awesome, keep it up! But as for the full scope of what was happening, the enormity of what the North Texas pitcher was poised to accomplish?