Hope Trautwein-Valdespino (born August 26, 1999) is an American professional

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

pitcher for the Blaze of the

Athletes Unlimited Softball League The Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL) is a women's professional softball league in the United States, founded in 2024 and run by Athletes Unlimited. History On June 4, 2024, Athletes Unlimited announced a new softball league, that w ...

(AUSL). She previously played

college softball College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. College softball is normally played by women at the Intercollegiate level, whereas college baseball is nor ...

for

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

and

North Texas North Texas is a term used primarily by residents of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex to refer to a geographic area of Texas, generally considered to include the area south of Oklahoma, east of Abilene, Texas, Abilene, west of Paris, Texas, Par ...

, where she pitched the first

perfect game Perfect game may refer to: Sports * Perfect game (baseball), a complete-game win by a pitcher allowing no baserunners * Perfect game (bowling), a 300 game, 12 consecutive strikes in the same game * Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League, New Yo ...

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

history in which every out was a strikeout.

High school career

Trautwein attended

Hendrickson High School Hendrickson High School is a high school in the city of Pflugerville, Travis County, Texas, United States. It is operated by the Pflugerville Independent School District and is named after Pflugerville educator and civil servant Robert E. Hendri ...

Pflugerville, Texas Pflugerville ( ) is a city in Travis County, Texas, United States, with a small portion in Williamson County. The population was 65,191 at the 2020 census. Pflugerville is a suburb of Austin and part of the Austin–Round Rock– Metr ...

. As a senior, she led Hendrickson to a 27–3 record and a trip to the regional quarterfinals of the 2017 6A State Championship. She was subsequently named District 13-6A Pitcher of the Year in 2017.

College career

Trautwein began her collegiate career at

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

. She made her collegiate debut on February 9, 2018, where she recorded five strikeouts in innings allowing two runs in the win. During her freshman year she appeared in 41 games, including 29 starts, and posted a 15–12 record, with a 2.48 ERA and 168 strikeouts in innings. She ranked third in

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

in strikeouts and batters struck out looking and fourth in the conference in wins and innings pitched. On April 7, 2018, she pitched her first career no-hitter, and the first in program history since Ashley Kirk on April 29, 2013. Following the season she was named to the All-Conference USA Second Team and Conference USA All-Freshman Team. During her sophomore year in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, she appeared in 44 games, including 28 starts, and posted a 22–7 record, with a 2.82 ERA and 169 strikeouts in a career-high innings. She led the team in wins, ERA, strikeouts, and held opponents to a team-best .187 batting average while pitching a career-high 17 complete games. On April 3, 2019, she pitched her second career no-hitter in a game against

Sam Houston State Sam Houston State University (Sam Houston, SHSU or Sam) is a public research university in Huntsville, Texas, United States. Founded in 1879, it is the third-oldest public college or university in Texas. It is one of the first normal schools wes ...

. Following the season she was named to the All-Conference USA First Team. During her junior year in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, she appeared in 15 games, including 11 starts, and posted an 11–1 record, with a 1.64 ERA and 121 strikeouts in 81 innings, in a season that was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On February 21, 2020, she set the single game program and Conference USA records with 21 strikeouts in a game against Texas A&M–Corpus Christi. She became just the third pitcher in Division I history to strike out 21 hitters in a seven-inning game. She was subsequently named the Conference USA Co-Pitcher of the Week for the week ending February 24, 2020. During her senior year in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, she appeared in a team-high 30 games, including 21 starts, and posted an 13–4 record, with a 1.46 ERA and 235 strikeouts in innings. She set the single-season program records for ERA (1.46), strikeouts (235), opponent batting average (.172), strikeouts per seven innings (12.73) and saves (7). During conference play, she posted a 7-0 record with a 1.04 ERA and 110 strikeouts. On April 11, 2021, in a game against

Arkansas–Pine Bluff The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) is a Public University, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black university in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Founded in 1873, it is the second oldest public college or univer ...

, she made

history when she pitched the first

in which she registered all 21 outs by strikeout. This was the first perfect game in North Texas program history, and the second in Conference USA history. She struck out 17 batters swinging, including the first 10 batters she faced, and four looking. Following an outstanding season she was named to the All-Conference USA First Team and Conference USA Pitcher of the Year. On June 18, 2021, Trautwein announced she would transfer to

. She finished her career at North Texas as the program leader in ERA (2.05), wins (61), saves (15), opponent batting average (.197) and strikeouts per seven innings (8.11). She also ranks second in strikeouts (693), fourth in complete games (40), and fifth in starts (68) and innings pitched (469.0). Trautwein made her debut for

on February 10, 2022, in a game against

UC Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an independent teachers college, UCSB joined ...

. She struck out three batters she faced in two innings. Sophomore Nicole May and freshman

Jordy Bahl Jordyn Bahl (born July 24, 2002) is an American college softball pitcher for Nebraska. As a freshman at Oklahoma she was named NFCA National Freshman of the Year in 2022. As a junior in 2025 she was named NFCA National Player of the Year. High ...

combined to finish the perfect game for the Sooners. On May 27, 2022, she pitched her fourth career no-hitter in an 8–0 run-rule victory over UCF. During her redshirt senior in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

she posted a 16–0 record, with 135 strikeouts in 88 innings pitched, and led the nation with a 0.16 ERA during the regular season. Following an outstanding season she was named a first-team All-Big 12 selection.

Professional career

On May 13, 2025, Trautwein was added to the Blaze's roster from the reserve pool.

Coaching career

Following the conclusion of her collegiate career, Trautwein announced she would stay at Oklahoma as a graduate assistant coach in

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

. On July 3, 2023, Trautwein was named an assistant coach for the

Houston Cougars softball The Houston Cougars softball team is the college softball team of the University of Houston. The team is a member of the Big 12 Conference as a Division I team. Their home games are played at Cougar Softball Stadium on-campus. The team was estab ...

program.

Personal life

Trautwein married Dom Valdespino in December 2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trautwein, Hope 1999 births Living people Houston Cougars softball coaches North Texas Mean Green softball players Oklahoma Sooners softball coaches Oklahoma Sooners softball players Sportspeople from Pflugerville, Texas Softball players from Texas