Miller Tosses First Northwest No-Hitter Since 2001

Before Stephanie Miller could focus on beating Bethesda-Chevy Chase, the Northwest sophomore had to defeat self doubt.

Making her first start in the circle this season, Miller hurled six consecutive balls to start the bottom of the first inning against B-CC and walked the first two Baron batters.

“I was just really nervous,” she said after Monday’s game. “I was like, ‘I can’t let myself get down.’ It was a battle between whether I was going to let it affect me or not.”

Miller won the battle.

After struggling early, including walking four in the first two innings, Miller settled down and tossed a no-hitter and the Jaguars defeated the Barons 23-0 in five innings at B-CC. Miller’s no-no was the program’s first since Shannon Fry accomplished the feat in 2001.

Miller struggled with control at times, but managed to work her way out of any trouble. She walked five, hit one batter and struck out six. She threw 40 of 78 pitches for strikes and threw a first-pitch strike to eight of 19 batters. Only two Barons reached second base and only one advanced to third.

After issuing her fourth walk of the game with one out in the second inning, Miller retired seven consecutive batters, including four via strikeout.

“She was able to find a rhythm,” Northwest head coach Kevin Corpuz said. “Once she warmed up … she started hitting her sports and she relaxed and was her nice old smiling self and out there having fun. You always like to see that from a coaching perspective.

“We’re very proud of Stephanie because she’s worked hard.”

Northwest assistant coach Kevin Rigsby calls pitches from the dugout. Rigsby said Miller struggled with her screwball and was most effective with the fastball.

“She worked through” her early struggles, he said. “We got her in [the dugout] and had her doing a couple things to work on mechanics issues --- turning over a lot and stepping the wrong way --- but she got settled in pretty well.”

Miller’s nervousness can be attributed, in part, to her inexperience in the circle. She learned how to pitch last season as a freshman and entered Monday’s contest having pitched four innings during the 2011 campaign. To help calm her nerves, she tried to take after the team’s other starting pitcher, freshman Lily Schenkel.

“I envy a lot about Lily how calm she is all the time,” Miller said. “I just wanted to take some of her traits for my own and make myself better. I was just trying to get myself mentally focused and not let myself get in my own head.”

The Jaguars played errorless defense against the Barons. Two days prior, Northwest committed four errors during a loss to Blake.

Offensively, Northwest took advantage of a B-CC team that lost to Gaithersburg and Watkins Mill by a combined score of 39-3. The Jaguars pounded 12 hits and benefited from 15 bases on balls against a pair of soft-tossing Baron pitchers.

“It’s really hard not to be anxious, but I think all of us know we need to keep our balance and just time it right,” Northwest senior catcher Emily Forst said. “If we time it right, we keep our same bat speed. It’s all about timing.”

The Jaguars scored eight first-inning runs, including a two-run single by sophomore shortstop Taylor Simpson. Northwest drew 10 walks during an 11-run fourth inning and got run-scoring singles from freshman third baseman Jenna Brown and Miller.

Brown finished 3 for 5 with four runs and four RBIs, Miller went 3 for 4 with three runs and two RBIs and Simpson was 2 for 5 with three runs and four RBIs. Senior second baseman Ciarra Cristostomo finished 2 for 3 with two runs and three RBIs.

Senior outfielder Sarah Weaver scored four runs and tallied two RBIs for Northwest.

The victory improved Northwest’s record to 2-2. The Jaguars will host Gaithersburg at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday.