STEPHENVILLE – No-no, no-no. That’s right, Hannah Blincoe has thrown two no-no’s in the same season, just 19 days removed from one another.
Friday night, Blincoe became just the third Texan to ever throw two no-hitters in the same season as she tossed the 13th in program history just 19 days removed from her first and 12th in program history. She has now thrown a seven-inning (Feb. 23, 2025, vs. New Mexico 2-0) and five-inning run-rule (March 14, 2025, vs. UT Arlington 8-0 (5)) no-hitter marking her as the second Texan to ever do so.
“I’m really proud of Hannah,” said head coach Mark Cumpian. “Throwing a no-hitter is no easy task and so for her to throw a second one is incredible.”
Only two other rock slingers for Tarleton State have ever done so with Jordan Withrow accomplishing the feat in 2019 (17-0 vs. Western New Mexico, March 1, 2019 // 8-0 vs. UT Permian Basin, April 5-6) and Heather Russell in 1998 (9-1 vs. Howard Payne, Feb. 14, 1998 // 2-0 vs. Incarnate Word, March 12, 1998).
Fresh off making history, Blincoe is on the edge of being able to make history once again as Withrow (’19, ’19, ’20) and Russell (’97, ’98, ’98) are the only two thus far in program history to toss three during a career while donning the Purple and White.
This marks the fifth season (’97, ’98, ’19, ’23, ’25) in the Purple and Whites 30-year history that Tarleton State has tossed two no-hitters in a single season. The feat was most recently accomplished in 2023 as Tristan Bridges tossed the 10th no-no in the Texans 2-0 victory over California Baptist after Grace Garcia threw the Purple and White’s second perfect game in program history earlier in the season in an 8-0 win over former Lone Star Conference rival and current Southland member East Texas A&M.
All but one no-hitter in program history has been accomplished by a single pitcher with the lone combined no-no coming in 2001 as Jill Ratliff and Kerrie Short combined for the feat as Tarleton State defeated Mary Hardin-Baylor 8-0 on Feb. 19, 2001, for the fifth no-hitter in program history.
Blincoe had plenty of an offensive cushion as the Texans cruised to an 8-0 (5) win over the Mavericks at the Tarleton State Softball Complex in the WAC home conference opener for the Purple and White.
Tristyn Trull got the party started early on she doubled down the left field line to score Austin Germain to make it 1-0. Germain reached base for the eighth-straight game as she hit a leadoff single to right.
As if the game couldn’t get off to a better start, the purple and White scored three runs on three hits as Kalyn Hill took the Mavericks deep to center for her fourth long ball of the season to push the lead to 3-0. With her homer, she is just one shy of tying Trull who currently leads the Texans with five home runs thus far this season.
The scoring kept pouring in for Tarleton State as the Purple and White added two more in the second. Germain once again made an impact as she singled through the right-side scoring Bella Hernandez to make it 4-0. Hayden Fox then followed right behind Germain with a single to right and then advanced all the way to third on an error by the Mavericks right fielder pushing Germain across to push the lead to 5-0 Tarleton State.
In the third inning it was no different as the Texans scored for the third consecutive inning thanks to a double from Hernandez that scored Jaelynn Duke to make it 6-0 for the home team.
After a scoreless fourth innings, the Purple and White closed the door early on their home conference opener as Hernandez singled to center scoring Kiana Gibson making it 7-0 and putting the squad from Stephenville just one run away from walking things off.
With runners at second and third, the freshman Casey Schultz stepped into the box looking for her first walk-off hit of her collegiate career. She did just that launching a double over the center fielder to drive in Riley McDaniel (pinch ran for Duke) earning her first walk-off as the Texans walked-off no-hit shutout the Mavericks 8-0 (5) capping off a historic night for the senior from Georgetown as Blincoe once again etched her name in the history books.
Tarleton State was 12-for-25 at the plate as eight different Texans record a hit with three different Texans record two or more hits in Fox, Germain and Hernandez. Tarleton State has now outscored UT Arlington 48-27 across eight matchups, four in Stephenville. Not a single batter for the Purple and White was turned away due to a strikeout Friday. This marks just the second time this season that Tarleton State has done so with first coming in the season opener at home when Tarleton State beat McNeese State 5-0 thanks to a grand slam off the bat of Hernandez, her first long ball in her 100th career game.
For the Texans, Blincoe (W, 4-2) went the distance for her second complete this season as she now has seven while donning the Purple and White. In her second no-no of the season, she went fiving innings giving up no runs on no hits while she struck out four and walked two. Blincoe now has sent 46 batters back to the dugout for the second-most strikeouts this season behind freshman stud Shelby Schultz who has tallied 67 so far.
For the Mavericks, head coach Kara Dill used a pair of arms in Emilie Hoelscher (L, 3-4) and Jade Moreno. Hoelscher went just 1.2 IP as she gave up five runs (four earned) on five hits while Moreno went 2.2 IP giving up three runs (two earned) on seven hits.
Tarleton State will be back in action Saturday for a doubleheader with the Mavericks. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. with Game 2 scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. Both games will air live on ESPN+ while live stats will also be available for Texan Nation to be able to follow all the action.
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