High School Pitcher Tosses 66-Pitch Perfect Game In California

It only took Michael Strem 66 pitches to achieve a perfect game.

According to Mercury News, Strem threw a 66-pitch perfect game this weekend to lead St. Francis High School over Monta Vista during the first game of the Central Coast Section Division I playoffs in California.

It was the first perfect game in St. Francis history.

Strem told Prep 2 Prep: “It’s a pretty amazing, special day that I’ll remember for the rest of my life… I had all four pitches working today. I was getting ahead early so I was able to keep my pitch count down.”

Strem threw 66-pitches, 48 of which were strikes, and struck out eight batters during his perfect game. For anyone doing the math at home, that’s about three pitchers per batter.

Despite Strem’s 66-pitch perfect game, the St. Francis Lancers were only able to take the victory by 2 runs. Monta Vista pitcher Peter Stern was able to hold the Lancers scoreless through the first six-innings, but he would end up allowing three hits and two runs before the game was over.

Strem, who has committed to Boston College next year, added: “It definitely helped that the game was close because I couldn’t lose focus at all… And this being a CCS game, we knew that tomorrow wasn’t guaranteed so we had to step up as a team. The important thing was to get the win.”

St. Francis improved to 26-4 as they advance in the Central Coast Section Division I playoffs.