Trio of Washington County pitchers celebrate perfect games on same day
Last week, on a blustery Friday evening, in the span of about two hours, three Washington County pitchers across two sports each achieved one of the rarest accomplishments in sports.
Perfection.
Clear Spring senior Dawson Kehr, South Hagerstown senior Madi Wade and Boonsboro sophomore Addison Tyler faced 15 batters each in a trio of games that ended after five innings by the 10-run rule. None of those 45 batters reached base, and 32 of them struck out.
Kehr and Wade will be playing for NCAA Division I programs at this time next year — Kehr on the East Carolina baseball squad, Wade on the UMass Lowell softball team. It appears a safe bet that Tyler will be signing with a Division I softball program down the road, too.
Let's take a deeper dive into each of the three perfect games, and the athletes who pitched them.
Dawson Kehr
Entering this season, Kehr was considered one of the best Washington County baseball pitchers returning. After all, he was a key part of Clear Spring's back-to-back Class 1A championships as a sophomore and a junior, even hitting a walk-off home run to win the title last spring. He earned all-county first-team honors last year, recording 51 strikeouts in 35⅓ innings.
He didn't rest on his laurels.
"He's put in the work in the weight room. He's probably put on 15 or 20 pounds since last year," said Clear Spring coach Brandon Glazer. "His work ethic is unmatched. He doesn't play a fall or winter sport, and he just grinded all offseason to put in that work."
Kehr started this season with a victory over North Hagerstown in the opener. His last two starts have been electric. On April 6 in a shutout of Walkersville, he allowed two hits and two walks while striking out 13 over six innings.
He was even better against Williamsport on Friday. He needed 58 pitches to complete his five perfect innings, throwing 44 for strikes and striking out 10 batters.
The biggest key: He threw first-pitch strikes to 14 of the 15 batters.
"I've been preaching to him to go out and get strike one, and he did an amazing job of that," Glazer said. "If he can do that, he's so tough to hit off of when you give up that first strike. He commanded all three of his pitches and really pounded the zone with fastballs early in the counts.
"Mentally, he's years beyond where he was at last year. He's able to adjust pitch to pitch, and that's turned on at the plate, as well. That's his biggest advancement, is last year he'd make a bad pitch and it would take him an inning or a couple batters to adjust. Now, I don't have to say anything and he will adjust on the next pitch."
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Madi Wade
Wade's softball accomplishments are lengthy. She's a three-time all-county first-team honoree who was the hitter of the year as a sophomore and the player of the year as a junior.
She's probably better known for her hitting than her pitching — she has hit better than .500 each season and matched the county single-season record for home runs as a sophomore with 10 (she had 22 homers in her first three seasons) — but she also went 25-12 and struck out 360 batters over those three seasons.
Entering Friday's game against Smithsburg, Wade had struggled to a 2-2 record with a 5.76 ERA. But she needed just 49 pitches (including 36 strikes) to put away the Leopards, recording 10 strikeouts (and passing the 400-strikeout career mark in the process) while lowering her season ERA by 1.12 points.
"She was pretty happy. She knew she needed six strikeouts to reach 400, so I definitely wanted to give her a start in a home game and have a chance to get that," said Rebels coach Chelsea Showe. "She was humble but ecstatic to reach that milestone. Last year, she surpassed the school career record for strikeouts, so setting her own milestone for that, I couldn't be more proud of her. She's a great kid on and off the field and no one deserves it more than she does.
"She didn't even realize she threw a perfect game. She's just so humble. Hopefully this really gets her back into the groove of things and she can be her best self going forward."
Addison Tyler
Boonsboro had to wait a year for Tyler's debut, as injuries kept her in the dugout as a freshman. The wait was worth it, as she has been electric for the undefeated Warriors.
"I know her and her dad, and they're always training, going to different pitching or hitting lessons," said Warriors coach Mark Wadel. "A couple weeks ago, they were in Chicago just for instruction. They invest the time and the money that goes with it as well."
Tyler came close to a five-inning perfect game on April 1 against Clear Spring, giving up only a fourth-inning single while recording all 15 outs by strikeout.
On Friday against North Hagerstown, Tyler struck out 12 and needed 56 pitches (including 44 strikes) to polish off the Hubs.
Tyler is 6-0 with a 0.25 ERA over 28⅓ innings this season, surrendering just one earned run. She has struck out 49, and the next walk she issues will be the first of her high school career.
"She's got very good control and she's very aggressive as a pitcher," Wadel said. "She goes after hitters, instead of avoiding hitters. She's very consistent and works hard at it."
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Dawson Kehr, Madi Wade, Addison Tyler pitch perfect games
