Twelve-year-old Mackenzie Brown is the first girl to pitch a perfect game in the history of the Bayonne Little League in New Jersey. (Photo: Tim Farrell/Newark Star-Ledger)
League of Her Own
Twelve-year-old Mackenzie Brown becomes the first girl in her Little League to pitch a perfect game
When Mackenzie Brown took the mound for Unico Club of the Bayonne Little League in New Jersey on Tuesday, April 21, she was the only girl on the field.
She faced 18 batters—all boys—from the opposing Mackenzie Post team. She struck out 12 of them, including the last six batters she faced. Over the course of the game's six innings, she gave up zero hits and zero walks.
She pitched her team to an 8-0 victory—and became the first girl in her league's history to pitch a perfect game.
"Everybody's been asking me how I did it," Mackenzie, 12, told MLB.com, the Web site of Major League Baseball. "I don't know. I can't believe I did that."
Officials from Little League Baseball in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, estimate that there are 50 to 60 perfect games each season. They're not sure how many of those have been pitched by girls, but there are roughly 100,000 girls who play in Little League Baseball.
In New Jersey, organizers of the Bayonne Little League know many girls have pitched perfect games.
One. And her name is Mackenzie Brown.
But there was a moment late in the game when it looked like perfection would escape her.
Mackenzie had a tough time with the next-to-last batter of the game. She threw a pitch, and he fouled it off. This happened over and over again. And each time, Mackenzie, her teammates, and the people in the stands thought her perfect game might come to an end.
Then she struck him out. Mackenzie had her perfect game intact. But she was nervous. And the final out was coming to the plate.
Like a pro, Mackenzie kept her nerves in check. She threw her first pitch. A strike. Pitch two. Another strike. She stepped off the mound, settled herself down, then returned to her position.
She threw her third pitch. Strike three. Game over.
"I was just trying to get the win—and it came out a perfect game," Mackenzie told the New York Post. "I was just trying to throw strikes."
Mackenzie's accomplishment made history and turned her into an overnight star.
Teachers in the sixth-grader's school have asked her for her autograph. She has been featured on ESPN. And she threw out the first pitch at the New York Mets-Washington Nationals game at Citi Field in New York on Saturday.
"[All the attention] is a little different than what I'm used to," Mackenzie told SportsNet New York. "But I like it."
Mackenzie's perfect game came during her last season as a Little League player.
Most girls her age switch from playing baseball to softball. She stuck with baseball a little longer, and is one of only two girls in the Bayonne Little League.
Mackenzie plans to play softball next season because she wants to play college softball, or maybe college basketball. Besides being a dynamo pitcher, she's also an excellent point guard.
But first things first. She has a little league season to finish. Her next time on the mound is Tuesday, April 28.
She said she knows she can't top pitching a perfect game. But if there's anything better than one perfect game, it's back-to-back perfect games.
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