It is difficult to do anything on a softball field for the first time at the University of Arizona -- the Wildcats eight times national champions on the watch of a coach who just won his 1,500th game.
No matter the feat, an All-American or Olympian who preceded you probably got there first.
But as the seventh inning arrived in Sunday's series finale against sixth-ranked Washington, pitcher Danielle O'Toole was three outs from helping the Wildcats do something new. Not once since the Pac-12 moved to its current schedule format in 2010 (three games in a row at a single site) had Arizona swept a conference series without allowing a run (it last did so under any format in 1995).
After 18 shutout innings in three days, including 13 from O'Toole to that point, Arizona was on the verge of not just a weekend-long shutout but doing it against one of the nation's best lineups. O'Toole got two outs. She could have had a third, if not for an error behind her. Then came a two-run home run that did no damage to the outcome, a 5-2 Arizona win, but ended the shutout streak.
She calmly retired the next batter for the final out and the win, her 16th this season and the 1,500th of Arizona coach Mike Candrea's career.
Of course, the fifth-year senior did throw her first collegiate no-hitter two days earlier. She stands out in at least one other way, too. After allowing just those two unearned runs and three hits in 14 innings against the Huskies, striking out 10 and walking just two batters in the sweep, she is espnW's national softball player of the week.
Even if for a pitcher who is now 16-1 with a 0.69 ERA, fifth-best in the nation, it was in some ways only a slightly above average week.
"You can watch her and you can tell she's special," Candrea said earlier this year. "She's mature. She keeps the game slow. She's got a really high softball IQ. And she expects nothing but the best from herself every day. She's a very mature pitcher in the circle right now."
There remains some irony that the player who has done the most to restore Arizona pitching to at least shades of its former glory the past two years is someone the Wildcats didn't recruit. A late bloomer who came into her own after Pac-12 programs had committed scholarship money elsewhere, she started her career at San Diego State. In two seasons there, she won 45 games with a 1.87 ERA. In those same two seasons, Arizona pitchers compiled a 3.65 ERA.
O'Toole isn't the only reason Arizona is 32-1 and in line to potentially host both an NCAA tournament regional and super regional for the first time since 2011. But any list of reasons has to start with her.
"There's no doubt she has helped this program," Candrea said. "She's embraced the opportunity. I think she's helped us, and we've helped her. She always wanted to be in the spotlight, and in Arizona she's got the opportunity to be in the spotlight."
O'Toole rolled through her no-hitter in just 92 pitches. After her lone walk, she struck out the next two batters swinging. She struck out the final three batters of the game. For the 2,308 in attendance at Hillenbrand Stadium, it must have felt like all was right with the world again. A program that had an uninterrupted pitching run with the likes of Susie Parra, Nancy Evans, Jennie Finch, Alicia Hollowell and Taryne Mowatt, among others, was again in good hands.
It is the right kind of company to keep.
"She's a kid I really feel has national-team capabilities," Candrea said. "And it's not just because of her physical tools, but I think just her mental and emotional approach to the game are all in the right place."
Previous winners: Cal Poly's Sierra Hyland (March 22) | Syracuse's Sydney O'Hara (March 15) | Arkansas' Nicole Schroeder (March 8) | Texas A&M's Samantha Show (March 1) | LSU's Bailey Landry (Feb. 22) | Washington's Taran Alvelo (Feb. 15)