Growing up in Coplay, Pa., Ty Stofflet’s father, Harold, told him “to be the best at whatever I do. He said there’s no excuse for not trying to be the best.” There were no excuses for Stofflet, who was inducted in the Hall of Fame in 2004 after a 40-year career which will be difficult to surpass let alone equal. He put the Leigh Valley on the national softball map, leading his teams to ASA national titles in 1975,’ 77 and ’78. He appeared in 16 Major fast pitch national championships, compiling a 46-20 won-loss record. (second all-time) Ten times he was named an ASA All-American and five times he won or shared the MVP award in the national championship. Stofflet spent a couple hours each day (six days a week) with his Dad tutoring him.”I wanted to see how far I could go in softball when I started out,” said Stofflet. After pitching Sal’s Lunch of Philadelphia, Pa., to the ISC title in 1969, Stofflet joined a team (Rising Sun) in 1971 managed by Hall of Fame Manager Rocky Santilli playing out of Reading, Pa. Rising Sun qualified for the Men’s Major Fast Pitch National Tourney that year and finished fourth. Stofflet was 3-2, earned first-team All-America honors and won the first of his five MVP awards. Between 1971 and 1979 the hard-throwing southpaw appeared in seven ASA national championships and compiled a 28-6 record before a hairline fracture of his pitching wrist sidelined him for the 1980 season. The injury also prevented him from being a member of the USA National Team (McArdle Pontiac-Cadillac). Ty was replaced by Hall of Famer Chuck D’Arcy and the team went on to win the ISF World title in Tacoma, WA. Four years earlier in Lower Hutt, New Zealand Ty appeared in his first ISF World Championship as the USA team shared the title with New Zealand and Canada because heavy rains prevented the playoffs from being played. The USA achieved a 11-2 record with Stofflet winning four of six games. One of his wins was a remarkable 1-0 win over New Zealand and its ace pitcher, Kevin Herlihy, in 20 innings. For 18 2/3 innings Stofflet had a perfect game before a batter was hit by a pitch. Stofflet had two of the five hits off Herlihy including the game’s only RBI with a single in the top of the 20th inning. Stofflet finished with an incredible 32 strikeouts in a game that was one of the greatest ever pitched in the history of softball and certainly the best ever pitched in ISF World Championship play. Stofflet won the event’s Most Valuable Player and Most Valuable Pitcher awards. In 1978, the National Sports Festival (later changed to Olympic Festival) was started and held in Colorado Springs, CO. Stofflet pictched his East Team to the gold medal and capped the year by pitching Billard Barbell to the ASA national title. Ty finished the season 46-1 with 641 strikeouts in 334 innings and an ERA of 0.67. On August 19th, the Aurora, Ill., Sealmasters snapped his winning streak over two years at 71 consecutive wins. In the two year span Stofflet compiled a 90-4 won-loss record. In 1979, when softball was added to the Pan American Games, Stofflet was named to the USA Team, which was favored to win the gold medal. After beating Canada in the round-robin, 3-0, Stofflet lost 1-0 in 14 innings in the championship game. Ty was named to the 1983 Pan American Team and was 2-0, yet the USA still came up short again, losing to Canada in the gold medal game. In addition to the 1978 Festival (4-0), Stofflet also played in the 1979, (2-1) 1982 (2-2) and 1986 (1-1) Festvials. Stofflet retired from active play after the 1992 season and is second on the all-time list for most wins in ASA national championship play. He holds the record for most consecutive wins in national championship play (14) and the most consecutive innings (76 2/3) without allowing an earned run. During his career, he hurled more than 500 one-hitters and 650 shutouts among his approximately 1,500 wins. He hurled 172 no-hitters and 58 perfect games.
