SPRING GARDEN – Setting a new school record doesn’t happen to an athlete every day, but Spring Garden sophomore softball pitcher took Wednesday afternoon in stride.

She felt comfortable in the circle against Class 1A, Area 12 rival Gaston, knowing she needed just six strikeouts to surpass Jessica Barnes’ mark of 491 career Ks.

Blevins’ historic moment came in the top of the third inning. She struck out the Lady Bulldogs’ Melanie Brooks swinging to record the first out of the inning. That prompted Spring Garden coach Ann Welsh to call timeout and stop the game to recognize Blevins’ record to the crowd.

Blevins went on to pitch a one-hitter with 16 strikeouts in Spring Garden’s 2-0 victory over Gaston. She now has 502 strikeouts for her career.

And it doesn’t look as if Blevins is going to slow down any time soon.

“It was exciting,” Blevins said of her historic day. “I knew I had to get five more strikeouts (to tie the record), but I had no idea I’d get 500. Hopefully by the time I’m a senior, I’ll have 1,000 or more.”

Welsh said she couldn’t be more proud of her sophomore pitcher.

“I didn’t want to put any extra pressure on her. I just wanted for her to come out and be confident, just go out there and have fun pitching,” Welsh said. “She looked real smooth. I knew she knew it was coming. I know she was excited, and I know sometimes it’s hard to control that when you’re pitching. To go out there and pitch a one-hitter, and pretty much dominate the other team, that’s impressive.”

For a while, Blevins found herself in a pitching duel with Gaston’s Tanna Lawson. Neither pitcher allowed a run through four innings, but Spring Garden (15-5, 9-0 area) was able to crack Lawson in the bottom of the fifth.

With one out, Jordan Sides stepped to the plate and delivered a double to center. She scored on Heather Smart’s single to center, giving the Lady Panthers a 1-0 lead.

Spring Garden plated an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth. Lindsey Lambert tripled to right to lead off the inning. She scored on Harley Bonds’ sacrifice fly to center, putting the Lady Panthers on top 2-0.

Blevins retired the side in the seventh for the final.

Lambert, Smart and Sides all had a pair of hits for Spring Garden. Tara Mullinax was 1 for 3 with a triple.

Welsh said she was glad to see the Lady Panthers put a couple of hits together at crucial moments in the game.

“We’ve been hitting the ball really hard the past few games, but our scores haven’t been that high,” she said. “It seems like we hit it hard right at somebody. I’ve been trying to stress for someone to step up with their hitting, and the next person should follow up with a hit. We had that a couple of times today.”

Jessica Wilburn had Gaston’s lone hit. She belted a single to center off Blevins in the top of the fourth.

Lawson suffered the loss for the Lady Bulldogs (7-10, 5-4). She went the distance, giving up both Lady Panther runs on seven hits with two walks and five strikeouts.

But the day belonged to Blevins.

“It’s great to have somebody to be able to set that (strikeout) mark,” Welsh said. “It gives something to the younger girls to shoot for. I’m looking forward to the next two years and what comes with that.”