YPSILANTI, Mich. - Senior pitcher Meredith Whitney broke Bonni Kinne's 28-year old career strikeouts record of 593 with seven punch outs, now giving her the mark at 595, in WMU's 7-3 win at Eastern Michigan on Saturday.
"This means a lot to me," said Whitney. "I do take some of the credit but I also give a lot of credit to the catchers I have worked with during my career. I have worked with two great catchers (Sarah Thomas and Allie Carlson) and they have definitely been the reason for a numnber of the strikeouts I have."
Whitney entered the season with 495 career K's and needed to get only to the Broncos' 28th game of the season to surpass Kinne's mark, set six years before Whitney was born.
"I wasn't worried about [when I would break the record]. I knew I was close because my dad has been counting down, but today was more about coming back from yesterday.
The Scottsdale, Ariz.' native's record-breaking strikeout was her sixth
of the game. It came with one out in the inning and was on a 3-2 count
to EMU's eighth hitter in the line up.
The game itself had its ups and downs for the Broncos as Eastern Michigan jumped out to a 2-0 lead after two innings. WMU scored seven straight runs between the fourth and seventh innings before the Eagles had an answer.
Courtney Rousseau, who went 3-for-4 with two runs score and an RBI, started things off in the fourth for WMU with a lead off single and later scored on Diana Patterson's fielder's choice. Pinch runner Bri Russell later scored on Jennifer Tschetter's ground out to tie the score.
Tara Buchanan gave WMU a 5-2 lead with one swing of the bat in the fifth, belting a three-run home run, her fifth of the season and the 13th of her career, to score Elisha Handshoe and Rousseau.
The Broncos capped their scoring with a pair of runs in the seventh when Rousseau drove in Whitney, who also had a pair of hits on the day, and Mackenzie Shepeck scored on Gracie Barstad's fielder's choice RBI.
Western Michigan has at least 21 games remaining on its 2012 schedule with Whitney likely pitching in more than half of those. With that known, the number of strikeouts she has at the end of her career could reach or surpass 700 but that is not on her mind.
"I don't think about what number [of strikeouts] I will possibly end with when my career is over. I think that would only prove negative for our team and for me when preparing for each game."
