MARZAN’S PERFECTION PASSED

Bullard High alum Marissa Marzan held the high school national record for the most perfect games for nearly eight years.

But a call from a columnist in Connecticut let her know that her once seemingly untouchable mark in the world of softball was finally broken.

“When the columnist asked if I thought my record would ever be broken I told him ‘Of course records are meant to be broken,’” said Marzan. “I just wish I was old and senile when it happened.”

Unfortunately for Marzan she is only 25-years-old, so her hopes of holding that record till she couldn’t even remember it have vanished.

All this is because of Rachelle Fico, a senior at Masuk High. The LSU-bound Fico pitched her 21st career perfect game to surpass Marzan’s mark at 20.

The 21 perfect games also pushed her career personal records to great highs as she pitched 21 strikeouts in the game as well. Fico extended her dominance in other categories as she improved her record to 87-2, has 41 no-hitters, 78 shutouts and 1,547 career strikeouts.

And while April 23 was a sad day for Marzan, she said that Fico “was a very deserving young lady.”

After talking to Fico’s father the day her record was broken, Marzan said that she found there to be many similarities in both Fico and her in terms of pitching mentality.

Marzan went into every game looking to pitch a perfect game and if that got disrupted she went for the no-hitter. If a no-hitter was ruined she then looked for a shutout and the least she would settle for was getting a win. But pitching to win for her team wasn’t her only focus back in 2001.

“When I was in high school more focused on getting a D-I scholarship,” said Marzan. “I wanted to go somewhere after high school.”

And she did just that after her stellar final year at Bullard where she set a record seven perfect games in a single season alongside 12 no-hitters, a 0.07 ERZ and 389 strikeouts.

Continued dominance landed her a spot at the University of Arizona, and she eventually transferred to Cal State-Fullerton.

Now that her playing days are coming to a near end, Marzan is focusing on her career and transferring her pitching knowledge to the youth of the community.

She recently received a promotion at Fowler Packing Company so her time to give private pitching lessons is limited.

“A lot of it when you go to a pitching coach is technique and form and everyone has special technique,” said Marzan. “A lot of it is teaching mental toughness and working with what you got.”

While competing in high school Marzan claimed her counter part to be Jamie Southern, a Clovis High standout that went on to make her own mark at Fresno State. Marzan said Southern had all the physical features of good pitcher with height and strength, but for herself at 5 foot 3 inches she had to play to her strength of mental toughness.

“When I was pitching my counterpart was Jamie Southern,” said Marzan. I kind of had to work to my strengths to be mentally strong and work towards my advantage and the batters disadvantage.”

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed!