Autumn Pease kept the Minnesota Gophers’ season alive and nearly threw a perfect game against Northern Colorado in the NCAA tournament Saturday night.
Pease was perfect through six innings and it wasn’t until the leadoff batter in the seventh inning bunted for a single to break up the Big Ten Pitcher of the Year’s bid for a perfect game. The bunt single was the only baserunner allowed by Pease, who struck out 10 in the 4-0 Gophers victory.
The last perfect game in the NCAA tournament was May 18, 2019 when Oklahoma used three pitchers against the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.
It goes down as Pease’s 19th complete game of the season.
Minnesota needed a win to avoid elimination and advance to play McNeese State later Saturday night, and they wound up losing 1-0 to have their season come to an end.
McNeese had just two hits in the win while Minnesota had six hits but couldn’t come up with the big hit with runners in scoring position.
