Daily Journal Athlete of the Week: Capuchino’s Lily Thomas

If all Thomas had done last week was throw a perfecto, she would have been a lock for Daily Journal Athlete of the Week honors. But, the junior right-hander did so much more, pitching in three games for the Mustangs — Tuesday’s perfect game; into the ninth inning for Thursday’s 4-2 extra-inning loss at Woodside; and into extra innings again Friday with 4 1/3 innings of relief to earn the win in a 10-7 victory at the King’s Academy — totaling 19 2/3 innings through four calendar days.

“She’s awesome,” Capuchino head coach Tanya Borghello said. “She’s a workhorse. She never complains, even when her arm is falling off.”

Thomas admitted she was feeling sore after Thursday’s 8 1/3 innings, a tough-luck complete-game loss that ended in a walk-off two-run home run by Woodside’s Nina Aranda. That was after the junior hurler gave up four runs in the game, though only two were earned, including a dropped fly ball in the first inning that led to Woodside’s first run. It was the only run Woodside scored through seven regulation innings. So, all things being equal, Cap would have won it 1-0 had the game not gone to extras.

“She’s holding tough,” Borghello said. “She knows her job and she is working through some of the defensive stuff that we have going on.”

Thomas was quite pleased with her defense Tuesday, though, especially after the game ended with two challenging plays in the seventh. She was in a groove against Aragon, which is really saying something, as the Lady Dons, currently batting .361, are the best hitting team in the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division. When the dust cleared, though, Thomas finished with a career-high 10 strikeouts.

“I had a lot of strikeouts, and usually I’m not a big strikeout type of pitcher,” Thomas said. “So, I knew I was having a really good game, and didn’t have any walks. So, I kind of knew (I had a perfect game going). But ... I just tried to stay in the game and focus on each batter.”

After striking out the side in the sixth inning, though, Thomas’ defense turned in two perfecto-preserving plays. The PAL Bay’s leading hitter, Taylor Workman, led off the final inning, getting under a 1-1 offering and sending a towering popup to the right side of the infield. Cap second baseman Brooklyn Rose was dancing under it for what seemed like an eternity, only to go into emergency mode and lunge for a basket catch.

“It was pretty windy that day,” Thomas said. “So, it was a tough one. Hit really high in the air. I know she’s a really good hitter.”

Aragon sophomore Aliyah Adle, a really good hitter in her own right, followed with a sharp one-hop grounder along the first-base line, where right-handed first baseman Kiki Ngaluafe ranged to make a clean snag and run it to the bag for the second out.

“A hard shot,” Borghello said. “It was like a one-hop line drive, and she just scooped it up.”

Thomas finished off the perfect game with another popup, this one to the left side of the infield for third baseman Leeanna Patolo to corral it for Cap’s first perfect game in 10 years.

“After the game, I was like: ‘Wow! I really did it!” Thomas said.

With a tradition of college-bound pitchers in recent years, Cap’s last no-hitter was April 29, 2025, with left-hander Lola Sierra (now a freshman at College of San Mateo) firing a five-inning no-hitter in an 11-0 mercy-rule win over San Mateo. The last regulation no-hitter was March 3, 2022, when right-hander Nohemi Livingston (now a transfer junior at Jessup University) fronted a 7-0 win over Mercy-Burlingame on opening day in the first of her two career no-hitters. Livingston also threw a five-inning no-no May 6, 2023, in a 10-0 mercy-rule win over Leigh-San Jose.

Cap’s last perfect game was Feb. 25, 2016, a four-inning mercy-rule effort by Rafaela Dade, in a 15-0 win over El Camino.

Unlike any time in recent memory, however, Thomas is the only primary pitcher of Cap’s staff. Ngaluafe has shouldered 8 2/3 innings through five appearances this season, but, in her third varsity season, Thomas has indeed been the workhorse, totaling 77 1/3 innings through 13 games.

“It’s been nice, we’ve always had a pitcher in waiting with someone we knew we could throw in when we needed to,” Borghello said. “[Thomas] came in to some really tough situations last year to get [Sierra] out of some jams. So, I think she knew what she was stepping in to ... but it’s probably a very different vibe for her, to be in control all the time and know it’s her. Especially since she doesn’t have a pitcher in waiting.”