Pitchers Have Been Big Hit This Season

Pitching talent had a countywide impact on softball this season.

Monte Vista’s Suzy Lawrence, Kelli Schott of Vista and Madison’s Jennifer Booker and Natalie Hurlburt all have enjoyed exceptional seasons.

The four combined this regular season to pitch 446 innings, strike out 570 batters while walking only 80 and compile a 55-11 record.

Booker, a sophomore, went 10-2 during the regular season with four consecutive shutouts. In the middle of that streak, Booker tied a national record of two consecutive perfect games, a record also achieved by Castle Park’s Dawn Wood.

Madison Coach Steve Miner said Booker’s strengths are consistency and velocity.

“She moves the ball around the strike zone,” Miner said. “She has the ability to throw it where she wants it.”

Miner said Booker didn’t have the tough opponents left-handed senior Hurlburt (10-4) had--”Her losses have been against some very good teams,” he said.

Miner said Hurlburt has more velocity but less control than Booker.

“Her drop’s sharper,” Miner said, “and her ball moves a little bit better.”

Lawrence (16-1), who will attend the University of Hawaii, has emerged from the shadow of ace Melissa Rodriguez, who graduated last season.

She had pitched eight consecutive complete-game shutouts and 76 consecutive scoreless innings dating back to a March Easter tournament before May 15, when Grossmont scored a run on her in the seventh inning of a 4-1 Monte Vista victory.

“She’s in control of every pitch,” Monte Vista Coach Charlie Costello said. “The speed at which her ball comes in, if not the best in the county, is one of the best.”

Schott (17-3), on her way to play at UC Santa Barbara, finished the regular season with 200 strikeouts in 151 innings, with a .090 ERA.

“Just how smart she is makes her so good,” Vista Coach Kevin Woodrow said. “She knows what to pitch and when to pitch it. She knows she doesn’t always have to go right at the batters.”