High school pitcher tosses fourth straight no-hitter

[Adder]

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. (AP) - A Florida high school pitcher tossed his fourth consecutive no-hitter.

Mitchell High senior Patrick Schuster did it Monday night on his home field at the suburban school northwest of Tampa.

The lanky left-hander struck out 17 to help his team beat rival Pasco High 5-0 in front of a full house of several hundred spectators.

"I never thought this would happen," he said. "I'm just having so much right now."

Schuster's streak began April 3. He's piled up 60 strikeouts in the four games, helping Mitchell to a 19-3 record. He's 7-0 on the season.

He said he was trying not to think about the streak, but late in the game he asked his outfielders to take a few steps because he didn't want to give up a bloop hit.

Mitchell coach Scot Wilcox called the performance "vintage Schuster."

"I'll tell you what, he's got command of every single pitch," Wilcox said. "His curve ball, his slider, his change-up, he was just spotting it nicely. He was keeping their hitters off balance."

Schuster said the streak has been harder on his mother, Sharon, than it's been on him.

"I've got the confidence, and she's over there biting her nails and stuff," he said. "I'm having fun with it and she's nervous. She's probably going to make me cry as soon as I see her."

Schuster, whose fastball tops 90 mph, has signed to play at the University of Florida next year but hasn't ruled out going straight to professional baseball.

The record for consecutive no-hitters in high school baseball is six.

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/9479716/High-school-pitcher-tosses-fourth-straight-no-hitter/?gt1=39002

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I read some comments that he's going to go pro right out of High School.

[The Gold Standard]

Saw this on ESPN this morning, it's insane. It is funny because I bet most people would say this is nothing new after the 4th in a row, but this kid was very excited about it.

[toxic rooster]

Are you serious The Gold Standard. Come on

[RoXer]

Meh. Those other teams just suck.

[The Gold Standard]

Are you serious The Gold Standard. Come on

The way things are going these days, people are only looking for the paycheck and that bothers me. This kid, to me at least, gave me hope that it won't be like that anymore

[YOUR Hero]

Meh. Those other teams just suck.
...right

[toxic rooster]

So you expect most guys to not be excited after throwing 4 no-hitters in a row?

[Jesus Shuttlesworth]

Was more surprised to see that someone else threw 5 in a row in 2007 yet I don't remember hearing anything about it...Weird

[LoDownM]

Don't care for baseball. But 4 no hitters in a row is impressive, regardless if those 4 teams suck or not.

[SammyG]

Sooo ridiculous.

[owenbrown]

Hope this kid isn't jinxed on his next start on the mound. :-\

[Big Fat Mike]

Brien Taylor.

[Mooияakeя™]

Mitchell coach Scot Wilcox called the performance "vintage Schuster."

Obviously an avid watcher of RAW.

[The Mackem]

I thought that as well as thinking that the kid can't be too old to even have 'vintage' anything.

[WestNZ]

heck, 4 in a row. most pitchers would be lucky to get 4 in a lifetime. Good on him.

[OssMan]

This was posted 8 days ago, what happened in his next start

[Loose Cannon]

he gave it up in the 3rd.

I bet the media buzz got to his head a little

[WestNZ]

still, to go that long without giving up a hit.

[Adder]

Bit of a cheap hit he gave up. Looked like the fielder could have made a bigger effort for the ball given the circumstances. Now I don't know what happened after that hit... if he gave up others or not.

[Adder]

READ THIS STORY~


MONROE, Conn. (AP) - Rachele Fico's 23rd perfect game for Masuk High School wasn't her best.

The LSU-bound senior only struck out 20 of the 21 batters she faced Wednesday, giving up a soft grounder to second base for the game's penultimate out. The other team erupted into applause over one of their players just putting the ball in play.

For four years they've been cheering for foul tips," said Masuk coach Jacqui Sheftz. "To the other teams' credit, they are coming out here and taking their cuts ... but Rachel right now is at the top of her game."

The 11-0 victory was Fico's 43rd no-hitter, fourth consecutive perfect game, and seventh this season. She has a career ERA of .006.

Fico (90-2 career) pitched another no-hitter on Thursday as Masuk won 10-0, but her streak of perfect games ended when she walked a batter. Through 11 games this year, she has given up just two hits and two walks.

"She's throwing in Connecticut, which isn't exactly known as the national hotbed of softball," said LSU coach Yvette Girouard. "But I don't care what level you're participating in, the mark she's setting - you just kind of shake your head and scratch it. It's just an unbelievable feat what she's doing right now."

It's also unprecedented. Marissa Marzan held the previous record for perfect games, pitching 20 for Bullard High School in Fresno, Calif., between 1998-2001, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.

Fico, who goes by Ray, said she's been working at her game since she was 5 years old, playing coed T-ball in her hometown of Oxford.

"I remember crying," she said. "I didn't want to play."

But she discovered she was good at it, and when she was 9, she switched to softball.

"I would just go outside and pitch in my backyard," she said. "When I was younger, I practiced like six or seven days a week."

Her father, Ralph, said Fico would constantly ask him to play catch. He eventually put a batting cage and a pitching machine in the yard. By the time she was in middle school, she was throwing the ball 57 mph. She also threw about 30,000 pitches a year.

"I'm not kidding," he said. "We counted them. It was 100 pitches a day."

Ralph Fico decided to get his daughter some professional help, and eventually found Jen Hapanowicz, a former University of Rhode Island pitcher who runs a training center in Durham, Conn.

Since then, Fico has played for a variety of elite national teams, helping the Gold Coast Hurricanes of Florida to an 18-and-under Amateur Softball Association national championship last summer.

"She has a fire inside and a drive," said Ralph Fico. "This record thing, I don't want to say it bothers me, but it's not something she was looking to set. She just wants to win."

Rachele said she actually likes hitting more than pitching. On Wednesday, she was 4 for 4, including a double and a home run. But she pitches right-handed and bats left, exposing her throwing arm to the mound when she bats. So in college, she's likely to stick to the pitching circle.

She throws a curve ball, a change-up, a drop-curve, a screwball, a riser and something called a screw-rise, often topping 70 mph.

Sheftz, who was a catcher in college, said she's never seen anyone with Fico's combination of control, power and movement. What's it like to catch her?

"It hurts," she said.

Playing for her summer league teams, Fico has pitched against competition from Japan, Venezuela and Taipei. She even threw an inning against the U.S. Olympic team, giving up five earned runs on four hits, with a walk.

Fico is quick to credit her teammates for her perfect games, noting that they sometimes have to wait several games to get a single chance at a ball in the field, but are always ready.

She said she "dreams big" about the future, but wants to concentrate now on helping Masuk to a third consecutive state title. In college, she plans to study special education and just enjoy being a part of the LSU softball team.

Girouard said the feeling is mutual.

"We don't want to put any undo expectations on her," she said. "But let's just say everyone in Baton Rouge is salivating for her arrival."

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/9522002/?gt1=39002