Unguessable. That’s what Talons pitcher Georgina Corrick was trying to be in Saturday afternoon’s match-up against the Volts. After logging the first complete game shutout in Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL) history, it’s safe to say no one knew what cards Corrick was dealing from the circle.
“Once she got to the fifth inning, I was like, ‘We’re not going to get her.’ She’s just dominating,” Talons head coach Howard Dobson said.
On her way to writing her name in the league record books, Corrick struck out seven batters, allowing only three hits with three walks on the day.
While there has been a combined shutout this season (Bandits Taylor McQuillin and Sarah Willis worked together for it on June 10), Corrick is the first to do it on her own. She also joins the complete game club with Volts pitcher Rachel Garcia, who has two on the year and is the only other pitcher to go the distance.
What most impressed Dobson was that she averaged less than 17 pitches an inning, throwing only 118 total in the game.
“That’s unheard of in this league,” Dobson said.
Corrick was a late arrival to the Talons because she was finishing the first half of her season in the Japan Diamond League. She said she was unsure where her game would be returning to the States at this point in the year due to the volume of work required to compete overseas.
“The one thing that I would say that I’m the proudest of myself is my mental side of the game,” Corrick explained. “I’m going to scout people, I’m going to watch swings, I’m going to know the mechanics of pitching, even if sometimes the mechanics themselves physically are very difficult to achieve.”
She also credited her catcher, Sahvanna Jaquish, who called the game and the defense behind her.
“It’s really easy, honestly, to throw a complete game when you have the defensive staff that I had behind me,” Corrick said. “Today was really cool and it was exciting to be a part of history, but it will always be a testament to the people around me that it even was available for me in the first place.”
The shutout marks the Talons’ second win in a four-game series against the Volts. They will face them again on Sunday at 6:00 p.m. CT at Love’s Field in Norman, Oklahoma. The game will be televised on ESPNU.
Savanna Collins is the Senior Reporter at Athletes Unlimited. You can follow her on Twitter @savannaecollins.
