It was a good week for Cara Lukawesky. In a three day span, the star pitcher for the Clan softball team set a career-high in strikeouts with 10, pitched her first career no-hitter, and earned GNAC pitcher of the week for the second time this season. An impressive series of accomplishments at any time, but after a sub-par week from her beforehand, the feats were all the more welcomed.
The festivities began with a 9–2 victory over Northwest Nazarene University, the first of four straight meetings between the Clan and the Crusaders. Lukawesky went the distance in the matchup, though she did get off to a shaky start. After giving up two runs in the first inning, it looked like the losses from the week prior might have continued to mount. Instead, Lukawesky turned her performance — and the game — around quickly. She shut out NNU the rest of the game, striking out eight Crusaders over the next six innings. She had plenty of run support, but her stellar pitching didn’t require much help from her teammates.
“Cara got off to a rough start but she settled down and turned in a great performance,” said head coach Mike Renney. “Northwest Nazarene is a tough and scrappy team that wouldn’t go away,” he continued, but Lukawesky’s performance in the first contest of the four-game series was almost enough in itself.
Lukawesky would take the field again in the team’s third consecutive matchup, after number-two pitcher Kelsie Hawkins pitched a complete game herself in a 2–0 win in the second game of the series. Not to be outdone by her teammate’s shutout game, the Clan ace improved on her 10-strikeout performance by throwing the first no-hitter of her career. She pitched seven strikeouts in the Clan’s 6–0 win, her eighth win of the season. Again, six runs from the offense will keep a team in almost any game, but Lukawesky’s pitching didn’t require much help on the scoreboard. Over her 14 innings in the two games she played, Lukawesky allowed just four hits while striking out 17 Crusader batters.
Her hitless game set the tone for the Clan’s next game, as the team took the fourth contest 7–1, sweeping the series on the back of incredible pitching from both Lukawesky and Hawkins.
“I think any team in the conference would like to get two pitching performances like we got,” said Renney. And as brilliant as she was, Lukawesky wasn’t about to take much credit whatsoever.
“The team played great today,” she said. “My catcher [Brittany Ribeiro] called a great game and I was hitting my spots. The no-hitter was really just a combination of Brittany calling a great game and the defense playing well behind me.”
Despite her humility, she was named the GNAC pitcher of the week for the second time this season, while her no-hitter was the first seven-inning no-hitter in the GNAC since 2005. As hard as she tries to deflect the praise, it’s hard to deny her incredible play when there’s plenty of evidence to back it up.
And of course, it helps when the offense outscores the opposition 24–3 over four games.
After dropping three of their previous four, the quick and impressive turnaround from the Clan is a promising indication of the character the squad preached before the season. With a series of tough matchups ahead, the Clan look to be back on track, thanks in large part to the stellar play of their ace pitcher.
