A college softball pitcher struck out all 21 opposing batters in a historically perfect pitching performance

• North Texas University softball pitcher Hope Trautwein struck out all 21 batters in a perfect game.
• It is believed to be the first perfect 21-strikeout game in the history of NCAA Division I.
• It was Trautwein's second 21-strikeout game of the season.

North Texas University softball pitcher Hope Trautwein struck out all 21 opposing batters in a perfect pitching performance against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

The performance on Sunday was the first perfect game in NCAA Division I softball history in which a pitcher struck out all 21 batters faced without allowing the ball to be put in play, according to The Associated Press.

"That was a great performance by Hope," North Texas head coach Rodney DeLong said of Trautwein's effort Sunday. "Any time she gets the ball, she never surprises us with the success she has. She's the hardest worker on our team, she brings it every day, and she deserves all the credit and all the success in the world."

NCAA records list two other pitchers with 21 strikeouts in a seven-inning game, but neither of those was a perfect game. Alabama's Alexis Osorio had a 21-K game against Fordham in 2018, and California's Michele Granger did that against Creighton in 1991, according to The Associated Press.

Still, Sunday's performance wasn't even Trautwein's fist foray into joining that shortlist of players. She previously recorded 21 strikeouts against Texas A&M in February 2020 and did it again this year in North Texas' first game of the season against Southeastern Louisiana on February 13.

Trautwein also had two career no-hitters before Sunday, the first coming in April of 2018 against Mississippi State Valley and the second coming in April of 2019 against Sam Houston State.