TACOMA — For Melissa Korb, the gaudiest of seasons began in the most unpretentious of places: a cold, cement-floor shed off Sherman Hill Road that would make Martha Stewart grimace and Leo Durocher smile.

The only permanent occupants now are a pitching machine, batting cage, and softball championship banner, but it was in this 30 by 36-foot shed — built by Melissa’s father, Randy — that an outstanding season and an outstanding pitcher were developed.

After a career at North Kitsap High School and in the American Softball Association, Korb has posted eye-popping numbers as a pitcher for Division III’s Pacific Lutheran University.

She is undefeated at 16-0. She leads the team in earned run average (0.18), in strikeouts (177) and in strikeouts per game (12.7). She has thrown six no-hitters, and so far this year has as many perfect games as earned runs allowed (two of both).

When asked to recall a favorite game among Korb’s starts, PLU head coach Rick Noren answered with stunned silence.

“There’s been so many good ones,” Noren said after a moment. “I mean, look at all those no-hitters. How can you pick from one of those? How’s one no-hitter better than another?”

Korb will lead the undefeated Lutes into the NCAA division III tournament in two weeks. She’s looking forward to the future, but said that the past, and all the hours spent working with her father and other coaches, helped make her the pitcher she is.

Randy and his wife, Jane, said they spotted Melissa’s talent early: after she begged them to pitch, she quickly grew so successful in Little League ball that other parents would sidle up to Randy and complain that Melissa was striking everyone out.

Because Melissa and her brother both played baseball, Randy bought a pitching machine. Then, because he works in construction, he built a shed to go around it.

As Melissa progressed as a pitcher, she and Randy spent hours there, working on pitching, working on hitting, working on everything.

Randy would kneel behind the plate, demand a certain pitch in a certain location, and Melissa would serve it up, or try to serve it up.

Sometimes Melissa would practice 300 days out of the year, and most of the time Randy was there to catch for her.

Melissa said, “He was there every day — down there catching. It probably wasn’t fun with a 15 or 16-year old jerk who didn’t want to practice.”

The work showed up on the mound for Melissa, who pitched for the North Stars program, then joined the Washington Fury, one of the elite ASA teams in the state, and helped take them to regional and national tournaments.

Teams weren’t necessarily scared of the 5’5” pitcher, said Fury coach Ken Olson; at least, not until she delivered the first pitch.

“Her appearance on the mound doesn’t make it appear like she can throw hard,” Olson said. “It’s only obvious now. Now everyone in the Pacific Northwest knows her.”

With a 65-mph fastball, a riseball that hops upwards as batters flail low, and a batter-lurching change-up, Korb quickly became the team’s crutch. She once pitched four games in one day to propel her team deep into a regional tournament; Olson had been so unsure about the team’s chances that he hadn’t made hotel reservations after that day. He spent much of the night looking for lodging.

She has been equally amazing at Pacific Lutheran, where she hopes to add a few postseason wins to her 66-11 career record.

“I still don’t think it’s set in, how we’ll we’ve done,” Korb said. “It probably won’t until a couple of weeks after the season’s over. It’s not fathomable right now.”

Korb said the hours she spent on pitching were hard at first. Then the nation’s leader in earned run average said: “It’s always frustrating to start a new thing when you’re not good at it. But I’m really glad I did it now.”