Wood, Trying for 3rd Straight Perfect Game, Settles for 1-Hitter as Castle Park Wins, 19-0

Castle Park High School softball pitcher Dawn Wood, bidding for her third consecutive perfect game, came up a little low Tuesday at Castle Park.

Wood’s intended riseball on a 3-2 count to Coronado’s Courtney Harold with one out in the fifth inning crossed the plate only about four inches off the ground. The walk, only her eighth in 13 games, ended Wood’s bid for a national record that she had tied Thursday against Chula Vista.

“I was kind of nervous about giving up a hit,” Wood, 16, said. “I never thought I’d give up a walk.”

After Castle Park took a 9-0 first-inning lead en route to a 19-0 victory, the only questions left were whether Wood, a junior, could establish the national record, or at least gain her third consecutive no-hitter and a county record-tying 21 straight hitless innings.

When Christina DeJesus’ popup landed between third baseman Kirsten Law and shortstop Mary Mundry to lead off the seventh inning, the no-hitter was lost as well.

Wood, who improved her record to 10-3, struck out 13. She has allowed just two hits in her last 28 innings.