The St. Catherine University softball team had three explosive wins Friday to extend their season winning streak to eight in a row and move to 8-1 on the season, Â which matches the program total from a year ago. The Wildcats had solid performances all around, but none was more impressive than the perfect game thrown by first-year pitcher Krista Flugstad (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson). For her remarkable feat, she has been named the Wildcat Athlete of the Week.Â
In American sports, the perfect game doesn't come around very often. But for Flugstad, the elusive accomplishment happened in just her fourth collegiate start against North Central University Friday in the Plymouth Dome. Flugstad and the Wildcat defense didn't allow a single run to advance to first base with the first-year striking out 13 of the 15 batters she faced in her five innings pitched. The 13 strikeouts is the third time this season a Wildcat pitcher has reached that number in a single outing. Her perfromance on the mound helped the Wildcats to a 31-0 rout of the Rams.Â
According to available records, Flugstad is the first Wildcat to throw a perfect game in the last 15 years and is the first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) pitcher to do so since Kirstin Biegelbach of the University of St. Thomas accomplished the feat against Saint Mary's University in 2012. Her performance was also the second no hitter of the day as first-year Kailee Berquam (Kenyon, Minn./Kenyon-Wanamingo) didn't give up a hit in the 16-0 win over Maranatha Baptist University justthe game before.Â
Flugstad also went 2-for-3 at the plate Friday with two RBI to add to the Wildcats' offense. This season, Flugstad is tied for second in the MIAC with a 0.28 earned run average (ERA) in her 25 innings pitched. She also has three wins and two-consecutive shutouts.Â
Flugstad and the remainder of the Wildcats are scheduled to return to MIAC action Wednesday in a 3:30 p.m. doubleheader against Bethel University in Arden Hills, Minnesota.Â
