OXFORD — Caitlyn Calhoun made a return trip to the Talawanda High School softball record book last week when she recorded career strikeout number 794, passing a record that had stood for more than a decade.

Calhoun’s senior season isn’t over, and already she has added to her career total with a record-tying 19 strikeouts Tuesday in a 13-2 victory over Eaton. Her final tally will make it all the more difficult for the next Talawanda pitcher with an eye to breaking it.

“I want to make the record a thousand strikeouts,” she said. “My coach told me she would only be impressed with a thousand. And I want to get 300 strikeouts this season. That would be a season record.”

Coach Christina Beckett said those goals are ambitious but likes Calhoun challenging herself.

“I love her attitude and personality,” Beckett said. “She accepts the umpire’s calls and does not get flustered. She is an adaptable pitcher. I’m impressed with her as an all-around pitcher.”

The career strikeout record Calhoun claimed last week had belonged to Heather (Clark) Hebrank, who has made several appearances in the school and state record books.

Hebrank once struck out 31 batters in a 15-inning game against Harrison in 2000. At the time, it put her in third place in the state record book for most strikeouts in an extra-inning game.

“It was a very long game. It seemed like it lasted forever,” she said. “It was very exciting. It changed some things for me. It’s probably the big reason I was inducted into the Butler County (Softball) Hall of Fame last October. That was cool. It’s one of those things you will remember no matter how old you get.”

Hebrank also is remembered for her feat of throwing every pitch of every inning in every game in her four years of high school.

Calhoun comes close to that feat. She did not pitch every game as a freshman and as a sophomore pitched in every game but not every inning. She has pitched every inning of her junior and senior seasons.

Hebrank said her strikeout record was bound to fall some time, and said she is happy for Calhoun.

“It’s awesome. I know what it’s like to be in that position,” Hebrank said. “It’s exciting for her that the college coaches will hear those numbers.”

Calhoun also has a single game strikeout record of her own.

Her 19 strikeouts Tuesday tied the record for most strikeouts in a regulation seven-inning game, which she established against Mount Healthy in 2009.

There is more than a touch of irony in the fact that the new career record came against Harrison, the same team Hebrank beat while striking out 31 batters in 2000.

Calhoun sees the strikeout record as a great memory, but has not made a big deal out of it, mostly because the season continues and every strikeout is a new record.

“I did get the ball from Harrison as a trophy,” she said. “I can say I got to do something in high school most people do not get to do.”

She started out playing T-ball and machine-pitch as a child and started playing competitive softball at age 8. She was a catcher because she did not want to be in front of batted balls, fearing she could not react in time to get out of the way.

Eventually she tried pitching in the Ross youth league in seventh grade and found that she had some control over where the ball was hit.

“Where you put the ball determines where they will hit it,” she said. “It works.”

Of course, as a strikeout pitcher, she has less of a worry about balls being hit back at her.

Talawanda ran its record to 13-5 overall and 7-4 in the Fort Ancient Valley Conference earlier this week, starting with a 22-0 thrashing of Mount Healthy at home.

“Our losses have been to Division I teams — Edgewood and Harrison — and we played well against them,” Beckett said. “We competed well against Division I teams. All five losses were to Division I teams. At tournament time we face teams of our own size. We will go out and play well.”

Only one of those losses, 4-0 at Harrison, was a shutout. Calhoun has thrown shutouts in eight of Talawanda’s first 13 wins.

The tournament draw will be held Sunday in Milford and Talawanda will be placed in a pool of Cincinnati-area schools again this year after having been moved to the Dayton district last year.