If Week 4 proved anything, it’s that the pitchers are stepping up their game. League ERAs have been trending down all season, and this weekend pushed that trend to a new extreme, with the top 5 ERA’s in the league being 2.75 or below. Five different pitchers turned in performances that would headline any week of the year, and one delivered the rarest feat in the sport.
Riley Chapman Throws a No-Hitter
The signature performance of the weekend belonged to Mount Royal’s Riley Chapman, who threw a no-hitter, a feat that’s exceptionally rare at this level of play. Across 14 innings and two starts, Chapman picked up both wins, striking out 11 while walking 7 and finishing the weekend with a 0.500 ERA and a .128 batting average against. The walk total keeps this from being a flawless outing on paper, but the bottom line doesn’t lie: opposing hitters managed just six hits off her all weekend, and none of them came in her no-hit start. On the season, Chapman now sits with the second-best ERA in the league at 2.12, and her 11 strikeouts this weekend push her to second on the season strikeout leaderboard with 44.
Madison Belden’s Near-Perfect Control
Calgary’s Madison Belden put together the most dominant per-batter performance in the league this weekend, even though her win-loss record (1-1) doesn’t show it. Over 10 innings, Belden allowed a single hit and a single walk while striking out 13, good for a .031 batting average against and a 0.200 WHIP, both elite marks by any standard. Her 0.700 ERA stands out as the one number that doesn’t match the rest of her line, but a batting line this clean is going to turn heads regardless of the final score. On the season, Belden carries the fourth-best ERA in the league at 2.68, and her 13 strikeouts this weekend move her into fourth on the season strikeout leaderboard with 33.
Rhyan Sigmeth Leads the League in Strikeouts
Regina’s Rhyan Sigmeth put together the highest-volume performance of the weekend, working 18 innings across her outings and striking out a league-best 25 batters, while facing 88 hitters in total. She allowed 13 hits and 7 walks along the way to a 2.625 ERA and a .169 batting average against. The ERA is a notch higher than some of the other arms on this list, but the workload and strikeout total are in a class of their own. Twenty-five strikeouts in a single weekend is the kind of number that usually takes several starts to reach. Sigmeth now holds the top spot on the season strikeout leaderboard with 91, well clear of the field.
Allyson McAvoy’s Perfect ERA
University of Saskatchewan’s Allyson McAvoy turned in one of the weekend’s most efficient outings, punching out 16 batters over 12 innings against just 3 walks. She finished with a 0.000 ERA and a .190 batting average against, facing 46 batters across her outings and picking up a win. It’s the kind of swing-and-miss stuff that’s becoming harder to find a counter for across the league, and her weekend pushes her to third on the season strikeout leaderboard with 42.
Kaitlyn Penner Keeps Victoria at the Top
Victoria’s Kaitlyn Penner didn’t rack up strikeouts at the same rate as the others, but she was every bit as effective, tossing 9 innings without allowing an earned run. She held opposing hitters to a .194 average, picked up two wins, and did it all while helping keep her team tied for first place in the league standings. In a league increasingly defined by dominant arms, Penner’s ability to get outs efficiently — 38 batters faced against just 5 strikeouts and a 0.000 ERA — shows there’s more than one way to shut a lineup down.
A League-Wide Shift
Taken together, these five performances paint a clear picture: the top of the league’s pitching is getting better, and fast. Four of the season’s top strikeout arms all turned in standout weekends at the same time, and two of the league’s top-four ERAs belong to pitchers who were on this list. League ERAs at the top of the leaderboard continue to trend downward as the season progresses, and Week 4 may have been the clearest evidence yet: a no-hitter, a near-perfect WHIP, a 25-strikeout weekend, and a scoreless multi-win outing, all in the same three days. If the early part of the season was about which teams could out-hit their opponents, the back half is shaping up to be about which lineups can produce against elite pitching.
Players Mentioned
Select a player to view their profile.
#47 · Pitcher / Outfield Riley Chapman
Mount Royal University View profile
#42 · Pitcher / 1st Base Madison Belden
University of Calgary View profile
#10 · Pitcher / 1st Base Rhyan Sigmeth
University of Regina View profile
#22 · Pitcher Allyson McAvoy
University of Saskatchewan View profile
#20 · Infield / Pitcher Kaitlyn Penner
University of Victoria View profile
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