MARCELLUS - A heavy weight being lifted off her shoulders.

That's what 1,279 strikeouts feels like for Jordan-Elbridge pitcher Colleen Ryan. The senior broke the New York state high school softball record, against Marcellus on Wednesday, surpassing Jamesville-DeWitt's Sarah Reed, who set the previous mark at 1,278 in 2004.

“This was definitely a relief,” Ryan said after the game. “I didn't even know how many there were until my dad came out.”

The game was temporarily stopped in the fourth inning when Ryan struck out Marcellus' Amy Sniffen as Jordan-Elbridge coach Joe Ryan (Colleen's father) and the team came out to congratulate her in the pitcher's circle. The record had been a long time coming for the pitcher, who has been on the Jordan-Elbridge varsity since 2002.

She threw a career high 325 strikeouts last season as the Eagles soared to a 21-1 record. She needed only 153 coming into this season.

The inevitable countdown started after she threw 13 strikeouts in the Eagles' opening game against rival Cazenovia.

This is the only current state softball record for the Section III, Class B school and Ryan, who is headed to play softball at SUNY Stony Brook next year, has seven more regular season games to add to her milestone.

“This is really good for our school,” Ryan said. “I'd like to hold the record, but there are a ton of good pitchers out there. Any one of them can just do what I did and go for the record too.”