| K is for Cat: Hosfield moves to No. 9 on national strikeout list |
By: By JOSH EZZELL
|
|
 Email  Print
|
Cat Hosfield
|
|
|
Cat Hosfield spells her first name with a C, but she might want to consider changing it to Kat, using the K, which in baseball/softball parlance stands for strikeout.
That's because the Riverdale junior keeps striking people out. Against Lebanon last Thursday in the District 7-AAA title game, won by the Lady Warriors 9-0, she fanned 13 and set a new state record for most strikeouts in a season with 565, eclipsing the old record of 559 held by former David Lipscomb and current University of Tennessee pitcher Megan Rhodes.
"We wanted to come in and really get them," said Hosfield, a Tennessee commitment who entered the Lebanon game with 552 strikeouts this season. "I knew I had (the record) because I could hear (the dugout)."
Hosfield is referring to the "565" chant her teammates did in the dugout. After every strikeout the Lady Warriors would chant the number of strikeouts Hosfield had at the time.
"(Beating Lebanon and Cat getting the record) are both big for us," Riverdale coach Jeff Breeden said. "That's four (district title) in a row."
Hosfield is ninth on the nation's all-time, single-season strikeout record book. Sitting at No. 8 is Pisgah's (Ala.) Holly Currie, who fanned 567 in 2002. Huntsville Grissom's (Ala.) Anna Thompson set the record with 657 strikeouts in 2006. Hosfield is 92 strikeouts away from tying the national record.
"She's unbelievable," Breeden said of Hosfield. "She's got a chance to be No. 1 in the country. Every game is a stepping-stone. We've just got to keep winning."
Hosfield set the state record in the fourth inning when she got Lebanon catcher Jordan Freeman to swing and miss, capping a frame in which she struck out the side. Hosfield (39-3-2) surrendered only one hit — a single to second baseman Kelsey Blackburn in the first inning — and struck out at least one batter in every frame.
"I'm happy to catch her record strikeout," Riverdale senior catcher Kelsey Woodruff said. "We played pretty good."
Woodruff, however, hasn't been the player catching most of Hosfield's strikeouts. Senior J.P. Edwards is the normal starting catcher, but she had an emergency appendectomy May 4 and is likely out for the season.
"It's my first time in four years of high school," Woodruff said of catching. She was a center fielder for three years and played shortstop this season before Edwards' surgery.
"I wish J.P. was with us," Woodruff said.
Nevertheless, she's gotten the job done. Woodruff has worked with Hosfield on things such as framing a pitch and setting up in the proper spot.
"It's been pretty good," Hosfield said of working with Woodruff. "She has to know where to set up. We have good chemistry. She's really easy to work with."
Hosfield enters the Region 4-AAA Tournament with a 0.16 ERA and a career record of 87-9 with 58 career shutouts. She has 14 no-hitters and five perfect games during her Lady Warrior tenure. This season she has three perfect games and seven no-hitters.
|
|
Related Articles
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Login and voice your opinion!
|
Digg
Facebook
MySpace
Yahoo!