Taran Alvelo
USSSA Pride
Pitcher
Born: (1996-06-14) June 14, 1996 (age 27)
Carroll, Ohio
Teams
Career highlights and awards
Medals
Women's softball
Representing  Puerto Rico
Pan American Games
Silver medal – second place 2023 Santiago Team
Bronze medal – third place 2019 Lima Team
Central American and Caribbean Games
Gold medal – first place 2023 San Salvador Team

Taran Mackenzie Alvelo (born June 14, 1996) is an American professional softball player for the USSSA Pride of the Women's Professional Fastpitch (WPF). She played college softball at Washington, where she led the Huskies to three consecutive Women's College World Series appearances from 2017 to 2019.[1][2] She represented Puerto Rico at the World Cup of Softball, and won a gold medal at the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games.[3] Alvelo stands at 5’10 and weighs 300 pounds.

Early life

Alvelo attended Bloom-Carroll High School in Carroll, Ohio.[4][5]

College career

Alvelo made her college softball debut for Washington on February 12, 2016, throwing a complete game in a 10-3 shutout of No. 9 Oklahoma.[6] She finished her freshman season with an 18-7 record, leading the Huskies in starts, complete games, innings pitched, and strikeouts,[7] despite missing the final two series of the regular season with an ankle injury.[8] Following the season she was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. She returned on the final day of the 2016 Seattle Regional against No. 12 Minnesota, then appeared in both games of the Tuscaloosa Super Regional as the Huskies were knocked out in two games by Alabama.[9]

As the Huskies' No. 1 starter in 2017, Alvelo led the Pac-12 with 254.0 innings pitched,[10] and her 35 wins are fourth-most in Washington history.[11] She opened the 2017 season with a 10-inning complete game, allowing one run on four hits as the No. 13 Huskies upset No. 2 Auburn at the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge.[12] Two days later, she threw a complete-game shutout against No. 1 Oklahoma.[13] The weekend earned her NFCA Pitcher of the Week, ESPNW Pitcher of the Week, and the first of three Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week honors that season.[14]

Alvelo threw her first collegiate no-hitter against Montana on May 19, 2017[15] in Washington's first game of the Seattle Regional and went on to throw 55 innings in 10 postseason games.[16][17]

As a junior, Alvelo threw 31.1 scoreless innings to open the 2018 season, not allowing a run threw her first five outings. As the season went on, Alvelo began to split pitching duties more and more with freshman Gabbie Plain,[18] and an injury to her ribs limited Alvelo in May. She only made one appearance in each of the Huskies' final two regular-season series, and only threw three innings at the 2018 Seattle Regional. After Plain pitched the first game of the 2018 Seattle Super Regional against No. 12 Alabama, Alvelo got the start in Game 2, striking out eight in a 94-pitch shutout.[19]

Alvelo came out of the bullpen in Washington's first two games at the 2018 Women's College World Series, before taking the ball to start against No. 4 Oklahoma. Throwing another complete-game shutout, she struck out six Sooners to send the Huskies to the National Championship.[20] Alvelo started Game 2 of the championship series, allowing seven runs in 3.1 innings and taking the loss as Florida State won its first Women's College World Series.[21]

Coming into her senior season, Alvelo ranked seventh all-time in UW history with 595 strikeouts. In 16 nonconference appearances, she racked up 118 more, compiling a 1.11 ERA. Washington opened up conference play against No. 1 UCLA, with Plain coming off of two straight no-hitters. Alvelo came out of the bullpen in the Friday night game and took the loss, allowing a three-run double in the sixth inning of a 3-0 loss. Two days later, Alvelo gave up 15 runs on 15 hits in a loss.

Following the UCLA series, Alvelo bounced back. In her final 17 appearances of the regular season, she went 13-0 with a 0.75 ERA and 114 strikeouts.[22]

With the Huskies making their third straight trip to the WCWS, Alvelo started their first game and took the loss in a complete game against Arizona. She came out of the bullpen with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning and the tying run on second against Minnesota, getting a strikeout to keep the Huskies' season alive.[23] Later that day, Alvelo started against Oklahoma State and struck out 16 in a 1-0 shutout, the most by a UW pitcher at the WCWS.[24] In Washington's 10-inning loss to UCLA in the semifinals, Alvelo threw three innings of relief before giving Plain the ball back. With the final pitch of her collegiate career, she struck out Kinsley Washington looking for her 895th career strikeout, passing Jennifer Spediacci for second all-time in UW history.

Professional career

On April 16, 2019, Alvelo was selected eighth overall in the 2019 NPF Draft by the Aussie Peppers of the National Pro Fastpitch league.[25] In her rookie season, she put up a 7-1 record and a 1.38 ERA in 45.2 innings pitched.[26]

On Jan. 15, 2020, Alvelo signed with the Chicago Bandits.

Statistics

Washington Huskies[27]
Year App GS W L SV CG IP ERA H R ER K BB
2016 32 25 18 7 1 14 152.2 3.16 156 89 69 153 65
2017 47 38 35 9 2 29 254.0 2.07 224 92 75 200 83
2018 35 27 23 5 3 24 188.0 1.30 104 40 35 242 36
2019 41 28 26 6 3 18 203.1 1.55 146 52 45 300 43
TOTALS 155 118 102 27 9 85 798.0 1.96 630 273 224 895 227
USSSA Pride
Year App W L SV CG IP ERA H R ER K BB
2019 31 7 1 0 0 45.2 1.38 31 10 9 33 3

References

  1. ^ Hays, Graham (June 1, 2017). "Washington's Taran Alvelo never blinked in dramatic WCWS debut". ESPN. Archived from the original on March 24, 2019. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  2. ^ Barnes, Katie (June 1, 2018). "Huskies pitcher Taran Alvelo applauds Gabbie Plain for taking the ace role and running with it". ESPN. Archived from the original on March 24, 2019. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  3. ^ McKelvey, John (July 8, 2017). "American pitchers make most of chance to compete with Puerto Rico". The Norman Transcript. Archived from the original on March 24, 2019. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  4. ^ Lane, Mary Beth (June 5, 2015). "Star Bloom-Carroll softball player charged with theft; status for state final unclear". The Columbus Dispatch. Archived from the original on March 24, 2019. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  5. ^ Calkins, Matt (May 25, 2017). "UW star softball pitcher Taran Alvelo grateful for second chance after high-school shoplifting incident". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on March 24, 2019. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  6. ^ Erickson, Erik. "Huskies open season with back-to-back victories in Las Vegas". The Daily of the University of Washington. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
  7. ^ "Washington Huskies" (PDF). Washington Huskies. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
  8. ^ Erickson, Erik. "Schreyer shuts out Stanford in series opener". The Daily of the University of Washington. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
  9. ^ Loh, Stefanie (May 22, 2016). "Taran Alvelo helps UW softball beat Minnesota and advance to Super Regionals". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on March 24, 2019. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  10. ^ "Softball Statistics". Pac-12. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
  11. ^ "Washington Huskies" (PDF). Washington Huskies. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
  12. ^ "Washington Huskies". Washington Huskies. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
  13. ^ "Washington Huskies". Washington Huskies. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
  14. ^ "Washington Huskies". Washington Huskies. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
  15. ^ "Washington Huskies". Washington Huskies. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
  16. ^ Loh, Stefanie (May 22, 2016). "Alvelo pitches UW softball into NCAA Super Regionals". Yakima Herald-Republic. Archived from the original on March 24, 2019. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  17. ^ Loh, Stefanie (May 19, 2017). "Huskies pitcher Taran Alvelo gets her first career no-hitter as UW softball beats Montana 8-0 in NCAA Regionals". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on March 24, 2019. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  18. ^ "Washington Huskies". Washington Huskies. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
  19. ^ "UW shuts out Alabama to advance to WCWS". The Daily of the University of Washington. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
  20. ^ "Alvelo shutout sends UW to championship series". The Daily of the University of Washington. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
  21. ^ "Washington Huskies". Washington Huskies. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
  22. ^ "Leaving a legacy: Taran Alvelo's career in a season". The Daily of the University of Washington. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
  23. ^ "Huskies wait out lightning, beat Gophers to stay alive in WCWS". The Daily of the University of Washington. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
  24. ^ "Alvelo dazzles in record-setting performance to send UW to semis". The Daily of the University of Washington. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
  25. ^ "Taran Alvelo Picked Eighth In NPF Draft". gohuskies.com. April 16, 2019. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
  26. ^ "Bandits, Taran Alvelo Agree to One-Year Contract". National Pro Fast Pitch. 2020-01-15. Archived from the original on March 4, 2020. Retrieved 2020-06-01.((cite web)): CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  27. ^ "Washington Huskies". Washington Huskies. Retrieved 2020-06-01.

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