Taylor Elizabeth McQuillin (born October 17, 1996) is a Mexican-American, former collegiate All-American, 2020 Olympian, professional

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. She 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 ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, where she was a starting

. In her senior year, McQuillin led Arizona softball to a berth in the

2019 Women's College World Series The 2019 NCAA Division I softball tournament was held from May 31 to June 4, 2019, as the final part of the 2019 NCAA Division I softball season. Thirty-two teams were awarded automatic bids as champions of their conferences, and the remaining 32 ...

after being absent for nearly a decade. After graduating from college, McQuillin was selected sixth overall by the

Cleveland Comets The Cleveland Comets were a women's professional softball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. Founded by General Manager, Stephen Dunn. They moved to Cleveland from Akron, Ohio, in 2018. The Comets played as a member of National Pro Fastpitch Nation ...

in the second round of the 2019 NPF Draft. McQuillin is a member of the

Mexico women's national softball team Mexico women's national softball team is the national team for Mexico. The team competed at the 1990 ISF Women's World Championship in Normal, Illinois where they finished with 2 wins and 7 losses. The country's softball team finished fourth with ...

that placed fourth at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. She played in the inaugural season of

Athletes Unlimited Softball Athletes Unlimited Softball is a women's professional softball league in the United States, founded in 2020. League history Athletes Unlimited was founded by Jonathan Soros and Jon Patricof. There are no team owners, and league investors are c ...

league.

Early life

McQuillin attended

Mission Viejo High School Mission Viejo High School is a four-year comprehensive education, comprehensive State school, public secondary education in the United States, high school located in Mission Viejo, California, United States, as part of the Saddleback Valley Unif ...

. McQuillin is legally blind in her left eye due to

Duane syndrome Duane syndrome is a congenital rare type of strabismus most commonly characterized by the inability of the eye to move outward. The syndrome was first described by ophthalmologists Jakob Stilling (1887) and Siegmund Türk (1896), and subsequently ...

College career

, McQuillin began her career as a Third-Team All-

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

performer. She debuted on February 12, 2016, throwing a

shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

with 6 strikeouts against the

Southern Utah Thunderbirds The Southern Utah Thunderbirds are the varsity athletic teams representing Southern Utah University in Cedar City, Utah in intercollegiate athletics. The university sponsors seventeen teams including six men’s sports: basketball, cross country, ...

. In 2017, she was named conference Second Team and had a career best strikeout ratio (9.2). McQuillin opened the season by striking out a career best 17 batters in a shutout win over the

CSUN Matadors The Cal State Northridge Matadors (branded as the CSUN Matadors) are the athletic teams that represent California State University, Northridge in Northridge, Los Angeles, California. The Matadors field 17 teams in nineteen sports. The Matadors co ...

. As a junior, she set season highs in wins,

strikeouts In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

(school top-10 record), shutouts (led the NCAA) and innings pitched. She was also named a First Team All-

honoree. Facing the

New Mexico Lobos The New Mexico Lobos are the athletic teams that represent the University of New Mexico, located in Albuquerque. The university participates in the NCAA Division I in the Mountain West Conference (MW) since 1999, after leaving the Western Athle ...

on February 11, 2018, McQuillin threw a

no hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

and began a career highlight of 14 consecutive wins, until suffering a loss to the

Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac- ...

on March 23. 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 The South Dakota Coyotes, also known as the USD Coyotes (locally pronounced ; ), are the athletic teams for the University of South Dakota. Their team colors are vermilion and white. They have been members of Summit League of the NCAA's Division ...

on March 8. She gave up just 7 hits, 11 walks and fanned 36 for a 0.60 WHIP. 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. She set season bests in

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

and

WHIP A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...

. McQuillin led the Wildcats back to the

Women's College World Series The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States. Eight teams participate in the WCWS, which begins with a double-elimination tournament. In other wo ...

and opened with a victory vs. the

on May 30, 2019. McQuillin made her last appearance by pitching four scoreless innings with 6 strikeouts in a elimination loss to the

Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I as a mem ...

on June 1. She would graduate ranking top-10 in career victories (7th), strikeouts (9th) and innings (10th).

National team career

McQuillin was named to the roster for

Team Mexico Team Mexico is a professional wrestling stable that was first formed in 2004 to compete in TNA Wrestling's America's X-Cup Tournament and has since returned to compete in other TNA X Cup Tournaments. History 2004 The original team consisted of ...

and competed at the

. 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 Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

2–3.

Statistics

References

External links

Arizona Wildcats bioCleveland Comets bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:McQuillin, Taylor 1996 births Living people American softball players Arizona Wildcats softball players Cleveland Comets players Japan Diamond Softball League players Softball players from California Sportspeople from Mission Viejo, California Mexican softball players Olympic softball players for Mexico Softball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics