Blades Breaks Granger’s NCAA Strikeout Mark

Courtney Blades, a senior at Southern Mississippi, struck out 16 batters in winning a doubleheader over South Florida Saturday at Hattiesburg, Miss., and broke Michele Granger’s NCAA career record for strikeouts.

Granger, who set national high school records at Valencia High from 1985-88, struck out 1,640 batters from 1989-93 at California. Blades struck out 11 in a 9-0 victory in the first game Saturday, then struck out five batters in three innings of the second game, a 10-2 victory, to push her career total to 1,643.

Granger completed her career at Valencia with a national record of 1,687 strikeouts and 37 no-hitters. She was a member of the gold medal-winning 1996 U.S. Olympic team.