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78 GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED As does the confidence. It's a must-have for an elite athlete, the belief formed by supreme ability, the self-assuredness there is no one better. It's what Fecho oozes on the mound in a steely-eyed look toward the batter's box, a resolute determina- tion the hitter will not win. "What I love so much about Lilly is that she is very aggressive and she's very fearless on the mound," senior Paris Andrew said. "She's just got this aura about her that's very confident in what she can do." It's a trait, interestingly, that is seemingly void elsewhere. When Fecho is asked about her pro- gression to get to this level and at what point she knew she could be as good as she is — to become one of the best pitchers in Pur- due's history — she feels like it's a loaded question. Like answering in the affirmative would mean she's admitting she is a good pitcher. She's hesitant to do so, presum- ably because it'd make her look cocky. Which teammates and coaches swear she's not. Or perhaps for fear that her taking credit for individual talent would somehow lessen the impact of the collaborative effort of such success, the catcher's involvement, the defense's contributions, the coach's pitch calls. But there are plenty of facts to back up any such claim. Entering her final season, Fecho is filling up Purdue's record books. She's one of the most dominant strikeout pitchers ever. She has set school records for single-game and single-season strikeouts and, barring a shocking turn of events, will end her career as the school's career strikeout leader. When asked about the potential accom- plishment, though, Fecho flat-out says "no" when asked if setting the record would matter. "They're exciting when you see them happening for anybody, but they were written to be broken," said Fecho, who needed only 130 strikeouts entering the season to break the record and had 28 in her first four appearances of 2016. "I think it's exciting at the time, but that's not at all why I play. "Despite all the wins and losses, it's going to be going on all the travel trips with our team, the family dinners, just getting to have all those lasting memories. So when you look back, it's like, 'Oh, that was cool, threw the ball, had a few strikeouts, got a few wins.' I think we have some really great goals and we want to go very far, but I also think enjoying every step of the process is a lot more important than focusing on having to get that win. When you're en- joying it and having fun, that's when the wins come." Purdue certainly hopes the victories add up in 2016, and Fecho's performance will be a deciding factor. Good thing her stuff is legit. The money pitch is a screwball that breaks away from right-handed hitters and in to left-handers. When she doesn't throw it well — when it doesn't quite move how it's supposed to — it can look like a rise ball. And still be a pitch that gets hitters swinging. A bad screwball often turns out to be a good rise ball, so, really, it's no surprise the screw is Fecho's best pitch and the one she and her teammates feel most confident in. She'll switch it up with a change-up, which can be as much as 10 mph slower than the screwball, and make hit- ters buckle. There's a curveball, a "real" rise ball and a drop ball at her disposal, too, but she usually sticks with what's work- ing, and that's usually the screw-change-up combo. Tom Campbell Fecho, described as "hilarious" by teammates, transforms when she's on the mound, a place where she's throwing heat and quickly sending opposing hitters back to the bench. None more frequently than Florida Gulf Coast last season when Fecho struck out a single-game record 19.