Taylor Elizabeth McQuillin (born October 17, 1996) is a Mexican-American, former collegiate All-American, 2020 Olympian, professional softball pitcher. She played college softball at Arizona, where she was a starting pitcher.[2][3][4][5] In her senior year, McQuillin led Arizona softball to a berth in the 2019 Women's College World Series after being absent for nearly a decade.

Taylor McQuillin
Personal information
Born (1996-10-17) October 17, 1996 (age 28)[1]
Long Beach, California
Height5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Sport
CountryUSA
SportSoftball
College teamArizona Wildcats
Team

After graduating from college, McQuillin was selected sixth overall by the Cleveland Comets in the second round of the 2019 NPF Draft.[6][7] McQuillin is a member of the Mexico women's national softball team that placed fourth at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She played in the inaugural season of Athletes Unlimited Softball league.[8]

Early life

edit

McQuillin attended Mission Viejo High School.[9][10] McQuillin is legally blind in her left eye due to Duane syndrome.[11]

College career

edit

At Arizona, McQuillin began her career as a Third-Team All-Pac-12 performer.[12] She debuted on February 12, 2016, throwing a shutout with 6 strikeouts against the Southern Utah Thunderbirds.[13] In 2017, she was named conference Second Team and had a career best strikeout ratio (9.2).[14] McQuillin opened the season by striking out a career best 17 batters in a shutout win over the CSUN Matadors.[15]

As a junior, she set season highs in wins, strikeouts (school top-10 record), shutouts (led the NCAA) and innings pitched.[16] She was also named a First Team All-Pac-12 honoree.[17] Facing the New Mexico Lobos on February 11, 2018, McQuillin threw a no hitter and began a career highlight of 14 consecutive wins, until suffering a loss to the Washington Huskies on March 23.[18] For the streak, she tossed 93.0 innings, allowing 35 hits, 2 earned runs, 22 walks and amassing 121 strikeouts, resulting in a 0.15 ERA and 0.61 WHIP. For one of the wins on February 22, she sealed the victory with 2.1 scoreless innings and went on a personal best 30.1 shutout streak that was ended in the third inning of a win over the South Dakota Coyotes on March 8. She gave up just 7 hits, 11 walks and fanned 36 for a 0.60 WHIP.[19]

For her final year, she earned her second First Team and fourth overall conference honor and also was recognized a First Team All-American by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.[20][21] She set season bests in ERA and WHIP. McQuillin led the Wildcats back to the Women's College World Series and opened with a victory vs. the Washington Huskies on May 30, 2019.[22] McQuillin made her last appearance by pitching four scoreless innings with 6 strikeouts in an elimination loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide on June 1.[23] She would graduate ranking top-10 in career victories (7th), strikeouts (9th) and innings (10th).[24]

National team career

edit

McQuillin was named to the roster for Team Mexico and competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She made one appearance and threw 1.2 shutout innings, striking out two batters. McQuillin did not play in the bronze medal game where Mexico lost to Canada 2–3.[25][26]

Statistics

edit
Arizona Wildcats
YEAR W L GP GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA WHIP
2016 12 8 29 20 10 2 1 128.0 131 73 58 43 137 3.17 1.36
2017 16 4 39 25 20 6 0 120.1 84 38 32 34 159 1.86 0.98
2018 28 12 44 35 30 15 3 242.0 148 66 58 82 287 1.68 0.95
2019 24 8 35 30 26 10 1 207.0 136 61 45 58 232 1.52 0.93
TOTALS 80 32 133 105 77 33 5 697.1 499 238 193 217 815 1.94 1.02

References

edit
  1. ^ "Baseball/Softball McQUILLIN Taylor - Tokyo 2020 Olympics". July 26, 2021. Archived from the original on July 27, 2021.
  2. ^ Rosenblatt, Zack (April 1, 2016). "Taylor McQuillin envisions bright future at Arizona". Arizona Daily Star. Archived from the original on June 29, 2019. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  3. ^ Rosenblatt, Zack (July 21, 2017). "Arizona Wildcats looking for pitcher Taylor McQuillin to become ace". Arizona Daily Star. Archived from the original on June 29, 2019. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  4. ^ Hays, Graham (February 28, 2018). "392 reasons why Arizona's Taylor McQuillin is espnW softball player of the week". ESPN. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  5. ^ Cohen, Max (May 2, 2018). "Arizona softball ace Taylor McQuillin not letting disorder define her on or off the field". Arizona Daily Wildcat. Archived from the original on June 30, 2019. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  6. ^ Gonzalez, Norma (April 17, 2019). "'Why stop now?' Wildcats ace Taylor McQuillin plans to finish strong, then join pro ranks". Arizona Daily Star. Archived from the original on June 29, 2019. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  7. ^ Boan, Christopher (June 10, 2019). "Former Arizona Pitcher Taylor McQuillin Hired By Pima Community College". Tucson Weekly. Archived from the original on June 30, 2019. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  8. ^ "Ex-Wildcats Mauga, McQuillin hitting their stride in new softball league | Arizona Wildcats softball | tucson.com". tucson.com. September 7, 2020. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  9. ^ Krider, Dave (June 8, 2014). "High school softball pitcher Taylor McQuillin stars despite Duane Syndrome". MaxPreps. Archived from the original on June 30, 2019. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  10. ^ "Incoming UA pitcher McQuillin finishes HS career with record". Arizona Daily Star. June 6, 2015. Archived from the original on June 29, 2019. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  11. ^ "High school softball pitcher Taylor McQuillin stars despite Duane Syndrome". Maxpreps.com. June 8, 2014. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
  12. ^ "Pac-12 announces 2016 softball all-Conference honors". Pac-12.com. May 19, 2016. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  13. ^ "Southern Utah at No. 13 Arizona" (PDF). Arizonawildcats.com. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  14. ^ "Pac-12 announces 2017 Softball All-Conference honors". Pac-12.com. May 15, 2017. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  15. ^ "Cal State Northridge (0-2) -vs- # 10 Arizona (2-0)". Arizonawildats.com. February 10, 2017. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  16. ^ "NCAA Softball Division I Shutouts". Ncaa.org. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  17. ^ "Pac-12 announces 2018 softball All-Conference honors". Pac-12.com. May 12, 2018. Archived from the original on May 14, 2018. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  18. ^ "New Mexico (1-3) -vs- # 7 Arizona (4-1)". Arizonawildcats.com. February 11, 2018. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  19. ^ "2018 Softball Schedule". Arizonawildcats.com. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  20. ^ "Pac-12 announces 2019 softball All-Conference honors". Pac-12.com. May 8, 2019. Archived from the original on May 8, 2019. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  21. ^ "2019 All-American Awards". Ncaa.org. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  22. ^ "# 6 Arizona (48-12) -vs- # 3 Washington (50-8)". Arizonawildcats.com. May 30, 2019. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  23. ^ "# 8 Alabama (59-9) -vs- # 6 Arizona (48-14)". Arizonawildcats.com. June 1, 2019. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  24. ^ "Arizona Softball Record Book" (PDF). Arizonawildcats.com. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  25. ^ "MEX 2, CAN 3". Olympicssoftball.wbsc.org. July 26, 2021. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
  26. ^ "McQuillin". Olympicssoftball.wbsc.org. July 26, 2021. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
edit