Whenever Shepard pitcher Kailey Selvage reminisces about her senior season, she will undoubtedly start with opening day.
The weather — and the DePaul recruit — was absolutely perfect. And, oh, the drama.
Selvage captured it well Monday when she told the story during a break in practice.
On that March 18 afternoon against Homewood-Flossmoor, the right-hander retired the first 18 batters she faced. Along the way, nobody was talking about it, not even senior catcher and longtime friend Madison Scapardine.
“I didn’t even really notice I had a perfect game going until the end of the sixth inning,” Selvage said. “After the sixth ended, I was like, ‘Oh, my God. I’m so close.’”
Selvage struck out the first two batters before throwing three straight balls to the next one.
Time for some self motivation.
“I remember thinking to myself, ‘Oh, come on, Kailey. You’ve got this. Come on, just throw it like you know. You know how to throw. Just throw.’”
Her next three pitches were all strikes to complete the 7-0 victory.
It was time for hugs.
“After the last strikeout, I put my stuff down and ran straight to Madison,” Selvage said. “We’ve played our whole lives together. There was no better feeling than running up to her and both of us being excited. I couldn’t do it without her either.
“I didn’t want to really think too much going into that game. And wow, I was confident in my ability, but I didn’t expect a perfect game on opening day. It really gave a nice kick to my senior season. I want to go out with bang.”
Selvage finished her perfect game with 17 strikeouts. It was a nice kickoff to what could be a record-setting journey.
Including opening day, she has 245 career strikeouts. The current career record-holder is 2022 graduate Kelly Greene with 409.
Before Greene, the strikeout queen of Shepard softball was 2019 graduate and new Astros head coach Bridget McDermott, who had 320.
That’s quite a string of pitching prowess.
“I think it’ll be a good thing to strive for,” McDermott said, smiling. “It’s fun. It’s been a cool thing to have so many good pitchers come through Shepard. It definitely helps the program a lot.
“Watching Kailey grow as a pitcher has been amazing. I’ll be glad if she’s the one to break the record.”
Selvage had a 2024 season to remember. She was the South Suburban Red’s player of the year and put up all-area numbers that included a 14-5 record, 12 shutouts and 196 strikeouts in 123 1/3 winnings. She also contributed offensively with a .438 batting average.
Kelsey Clifford, who stepped down as head coach but remains as an assistant to McDermott, said that Selvage earned her spot as a staff ace through determination but also patience.
“We had a conversation her sophomore year,” Clifford said. “She did not start on varsity, but we had a need to pull her up. When she came up she said, ‘Coach, what can I do to get innings?’
“I was honest with her. I told her, ‘We’re looking for accuracy, movement, your softball IQ. And you don’t do that right now.’ She swallowed that and increased everything. She started seeing a pitching coach (Jason Bolden), who was phenomenal.”
It was like flipping a switch.
“She was already an athlete, but he took the athlete that she was and just drove with that,” Clifford said. “She truly put in the work and grew into a top-level club kid in a matter of six months.”
Scapardine has seen the progression since they started playing together in summer ball when they were 5 years old.
“She just has the motivation and the drive to be better than the batter she’s facing,” Scapardine said. “There’s a joke we tell on the teams we’ve played together about how when she walks out to the circle it’s with a straight face, no emotion.
“Kailey will stare the batter down in the eyes. She wants to dominate and she does. The way she pitches, the way she keeps her composure, if I was the other team, just from the way she looks …
“I’d be scared.”
Tony Baranek is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
