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Gold and Black Illustrated, Vol 26, Digital 4

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VOLUME 26, ISSUE 4 79 There's probably a tally on how many strikeouts Fecho has gotten with the screwball, but she doesn't know it. To her, a good pitch is any one that solicits a swing. And she will admit getting the strikeout is particularly sweet. "It's probably one of the best feelings," she said, smiling. "I think that's always really exciting — you can take as much pressure off your defense as possible. That kind of signifies you're doing something to help your team. You can go up and throw as many pitches as you can and get them to knob it off the barrel, but it still requires (the de- fense) to make a play. So if you can get that strikeout and your third baseman doesn't feel like she has to be stand- ing next to you because she's afraid she's going to get it crushed down her throat, she's like, 'Thanks for giving me a step.' 'OK, I've got you.' That's a really good feeling. "You get that positive feedback and you're like, 'OK, let's go do this again.'" Fecho has struck out batters at a high rate since she got to Purdue. As a freshman, she had a team-best 107 in only 156 in- nings. As a sophomore, she ramped it up to 196 in 223 innings. As a junior last season, she rose to another level, getting 295 (11th nationally) in only 242 2/3 innings. She limit- ed opposing hitters to only a .196 average, had five com- plete-game one-hitters and threw her first career no-hit- ter against Indiana State. (That no-hitter? She was so laser-focused on the game — not the result — that she didn't even realize she'd done it until a teammate came over to congratulate her and had to direct her attention to the scoreboard.) Scary part? Fecho can be even better, Coach Kim Schuette said. Schuette's seen progress since recruiting Fecho out of high school while she was coaching Eastern Illinois. When Schuette got the Purdue job in 2013, she had a chance to mold a player with elite-type talent. It's been a process. "She didn't have a ton of confidence when I got here. I'm not sure she knew solidly what her role was and how she should be defined as a pitcher," said Schuette, who also serves as pitching coach. "You have Greg Maddux(-type) pitchers who are masters and creative and make the ball do crazy things. You have bullet pitchers. And she didn't really know what she was. She knew she was the 6-2, awk- ward, giggly kid who I'm telling, 'You're going to be good.' And she's like, 'OK, I'm going to be good.' I think she's grown a lot. "Even though she's broken some records, it's not enough. She knows that there's a couple pitches in her pocket that she can do more with that will help her. I think that's important when you have a kid who has had some success, but they still are working on trying to break the ball more, throw the ball harder. That's good." Two years ago, Fecho wouldn't have been talking about being a "beast," Schuette said. But that's exactly how Fecho described herself on a Q&A for Purdue's athletic website. When asked later about the descriptor, she almost sheep- ishly back-tracked because, of course, that'd mean admit- ting talent. She talked about how "beastly" was a good way to describe the season for the team — that they're ready to take their collective game to the next level. Maybe the word choice emanated from Fecho having a walk-up song of the same name last season. Or maybe it was because Schuette has asked the staff to "unleash the beast." The latter is something Schuette has worked on with Fecho, to cultivate an attitude on the mound to comple- ment the ridiculous stuff she's throwing. To realize Fecho doesn't necessarily have to throw strikes — only pitches that look like strikes — because she has a weapon before she even throws the ball: That presence, that demeanor, that fierce-looking eye black. It's working. "She's a lefty, and she's super tall. Great game face, all of that. Great mound presence, very confident on the mound," catcher Kaylah Hampton says, reeling off Fecho's top-shelf qualities. "But I think what makes Lilly great, truly, is her passion, her fire, her fight, her grit, that want, that want to win. A lot of athletes will tell you, 'Yeah, I want to win.' But she wants to win. I think a lot of athletes just absolutely hate losing more than they like winning. But Lilly just loves, loves, loves winning. She's that true competitor, that true fighter. It really is a special thing to watch her play and be her teammate." j

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