BRUSH – Mason Unrein relies on her defense every game.
But on Thursday, Unrein wasn’t leaning on her teammates to field ground balls, make good throws or run down pop flies for a change. The other eight players in the field were mostly there for moral support, as the Brush junior pitcher took matters into her own hands while throwing a four-inning perfect game and striking out each of the dozen batters she faced in a 13-0 road win over Valley.
“It was really nice having my team behind me. We were really talking and I had the conifdence out there,” Unrein told KSIR’s John Beltran after the game. “Just having them on my back was really nice. It was super nice. We were having some fun. They had some good jokes today.”
Unrein’s dominant solo effort helped push the Beetdiggers’ record to 10-8 and lowered her ERA to 3.96. It certainly put the Beetdiggers, who were Class 3A runners-up in 2019, on track to best last year’s 11-8 record and could provide some momentum for the club to make a posteason push in a daunting Patriot League that includes No. 2 Eaton, No. 3 Strasburg, No. 5 University and No. 6 Sterling.
“It’s been super nice and my team has been super great behind me,” Unrein said. “It’s super fun. Everyone thinks it’s our growing year, but hopefully we can come out and get them in the end.”