Sarah Lawton has been a solid pitcher for Florida SouthWestern College in her two seasons, but what she did Thursday was historic.
Lawton twirled the first perfect game in the history of the Bucs in an 8-0 run-rule victory over Polk State College at City of Palms Park. Lawton faced 15 batters over five innings, and she retired them all.
Lawton began the fifth and final inning with a called strike three, her fourth punch-out of the game. The next batter grounded back to Lawton in the circle, and she calmly stepped toward first and fired to Natavia Ellis for the second out. The final batter hit a grounder to third baseman Madison Johnson, who took her time and fired a strike to Ellis.
Lawton jogged toward the first baseline like it was the ending to any game. This more than just any game, however, as the former Holy Cross star made FSW history. The game took just one hour and one minute to play. Lawton improved to 8-1 on the season, and her ERA fell to 1.53. The Bucs, ranked No. 1 in the country, improved to an astounding 42-1.
