Silverdale Baptist senior Ella Cunningham continues to deliver extraordinary performances on the softball field.
Monday's regular season finale was perhaps one of her finest.
The motivated left-hander threw her fifth no-hitter of the 2024 campaign and also hit her team-leading 14th home run to beat eight-time reigning Division II-AA state champion Baylor.
After leading the Lady Seahawks' 2-0 nonregion victory, which improved their record to 42-3 overall and produced their 29th straight win, the ace of the defending DII-A state champions revealed one of her greatest purposes for her final prep season.
"Since the beginning of this season our goal is to play for the people from (Bahamian Island) Eleuthera, in the Blackwood community, from our mission trip this past January," said Cunningham, who wore a blue and yellow bracelet and ribbon in her hair to represent the national flag of the Bahamas. "The people there hold a special place in our hearts and really impacted our team. Our goal is to play for them and to shine a positive light every time we are on the field competing."
Cunningham's rise ball continually generated swings and misses against a powerful lineup for the state's most storied softball program.
The southpaw even sprinkled in a changeup for a strike-three call before fanning the next two hitters with deadly fastball's to punch out the side in the top of the third inning. Cunningham leads the state with 293 strikeouts, which ranks seventh nationally according to MaxPreps.com, while she has a minuscule 0.66 ERA with 14 earned runs in 148 1/3 innings.
Meanwhile, Cunningham's sharp single to right field in the first inning scored sophomore pinch runner Allie Weber who drew a throwing error to score as she went from first to third on the hit.
Silverdale Baptist added one more run for good measure on Cunningham's tape measure shot over the right field fence in the bottom of the sixth.
Cunningham completed her no-hitter with two of her dozen strikeouts in the seventh against the heart of the Lady Red Raiders order. She now has double digit strikeouts in 19 appearances this season.
Baylor (14-5-1) only had two runners reach base, which came on a hit by pitch in the sixth and a walk to three-hole slugger Riley Oleksik in the seventh.
"Ella is a fierce competitor who hates losing," Lady Seahawks coach Jackie Freelend said of her cleanup hitter who leads the team with a .523 batting average and is tied with Kennedy Stinson with 48 RBIs. "The tougher the competition, the more she steps up at the plate and the mound. Any time we play Baylor it is a fight. She really led the way for us and did amazing again today. This is a great win to send us into the postseason."
With the Michigan State signee leading the way from the circle and batter's box, Silverdale looks to be in store for another memorable month of May where they hope to win their second straight Division II-A state championship in Murfreesboro.
Meanwhile, Baylor will look to boost their state record to nine straight Division II-AA state titles.
"To face Baylor at the end of the regular season is great," Cunningham said. "We are going to see great competition similar to them in the postseason. I didn't expect to throw a no-hitter. My goal was to spin the ball hard and hit my spots really well. My teammates and I were really calm all day today and that was big. We love to compete together and have each other's backs no matter what."
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com.