March 28, 2024

Stanley surpasses 1,000 K

JEWELL – Entering Saturday's South Hamilton Tournament, Interstate 35 senior pitcher Carlyn Stanley needed just nine strikeouts to reach a career milestone.

Stanley wasted little time reaching that milestone, as she eclipsed 1,000 career strikeouts.

Interstate 35 beat Southeast Valley 7-0, Greene County 8-0 and fell to host South Hamilton 5-1 in the championship game.

In 19 innings of work at the tournament Saturday, Stanley sat down 39 batters via strikeout. She struck out 15 against Southeast Valley in seven innings, 13 against Greene County in only five innings and 11 in the loss to South Hamilton.

"She has a pretty good fastball," said Interstate 35 head coach Tim Bogs. "Her fastball and her rise ball look pretty similar. You think you're getting a fastball and it's a rise. You have to swing. She does a pretty good job of getting ahead in the count. We're throwing it inside and it's pretty hard. You have to protect and then it's out of the zone before you know it."

At the conclusion of the tournament, Stanley ranked third in all classes with 260 strikeouts for the season in just 134 innings pitched, having posted a 0.99 earned run average.

Stanley ranked seventh in the state as a junior with 309 strikeouts and sixth as a sophomore with 307 strikeouts. She struck out 148 batters as a freshman and six as an eighth-grader.

"She's thrown really well," Bogs said. "She really didn't pitch much, just one or two games as an eighth-grader. As a ninth-grader, she had not quite 200 strikeouts. She's had 800 strikeouts in 2 1/2 years."

Stanley's ability to stay healthy and be a workhorse for Interstate 35 has been another key to her success.

"People love strikeouts, but that's a lot of pitches you have to throw," Bogs said. "I think the big thing is she doesn't walk very many people. For that many strikeouts, her walk ratio is way down there. That's the amazing stat – for that many strikeouts, there's not very many walks."