The Cleveland State Vikings probably don’t care to see her when she feels on.
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Sharp retired 18 of the 19 CSU hitters she faced to record her first collegiate no-hitter in an 8-0 victory.
“I didn’t even know I was throwing a no-hitter,” said Sharp, a Lakota West High School graduate. “I guess because I wasn’t really feeling like myself, I was just trying to focus on getting right.”
After issuing a one-out walk in the third, Sharp retired the final 11 hitters she faced.
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The Raiders led 2-0 after five innings, but they put together a long, six-run rally in the top of the sixth that left Sharp sitting in the dugout for an extended period.
But she got two pop ups and a groundout in the bottom of the sixth
“I didn’t know I had thrown one until everyone came in to congratulate me and some said, ‘Do you know you just threw a no-hitter,” Sharp said. “I was like, ‘No way.’ ”
The win kick-started a weekend sweep for the Raiders, with Sharp getting the win in all three games. She allowed two runs on six hits in the second game of the doubleheader, 10-2 WSU win. On Sunday she pitched the final five frames of a 2-1 triumph in 10 innings.
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The sweep enabled the Raiders to keep pace with first-place Illinois-Chicago in the Horizon League.
WSU enters this weekend’s home series against Oakland at 12-20 overall and 7-2 in the conference, 2 1/2 games behind the Flames (24-17, 11-1).
“At the beginning of the year our pitching wasn’t on or our hitting wasn’t on, but slowly we’ve gotten the two to come together,” Sharp said. “We had a slow start to the season. It just felt like it took us a while to get comfortable.”
Sort of the way it was for Sharp during the first three innings of her no-hitter.
Baseball: Despite losing their first conference game in 12 tries Sunday, the Raiders received votes in this week's USA Today Coaches' Poll.
WSU received two votes, marking the fourth time the team has been a part of a poll this season. The Raiders debuted at No. 25 in the Baseball America poll after winning two of three in a season-opening series at Clemson and received votes in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Top 25 that week. WSU also received eight votes in the March 6 USA Today poll.
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The Raiders are 23-8 overall and 11-1 in the HL, clinging to a half-game lead ahead of UIC.
WSU steps outside of conference play this weekend for a three-game home set against Tennessee-Martin. Then the team will try to defend its Joe Nuxhall Classic title beginning Tuesday at the University of Cincinnati. The Raiders play Miami in the first round, with the winner advancing to face the Xavier-UC victor for the title on Wednesday.
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