Tag Archive for: Golden Flashes

HOWELL SWEET IT IS

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WARREN OH- When you’re talking about the Champion softball program, the first thing that comes to you mind is the one two punch the Flashes have in the circle. One of those punches comes from senior Sophie Howell. On her own, Sophie is one of the best pitchers in the area, paired with fellow senior Allison Smith, she becomes the most lethal pitcher you’ll find in the area. What makes Howell so electric is her ability to throw a riseball at all three levels with pin point accuracy. With someone like Smith backing her up, there is no pressure for her to be great every time out.

Howell has a career ERA of 1.05. And her strikeout total is at 386. Those numbers have helped her and her program win three consecutive state championships, and if it weren’t for COVID-19 putting an end to the 2020 season they’d be favorites to win a fourth. Sophie was part of a pitching staff that gave up no runs in the tournament last season. She says that success comes from the looseness of the team. They dominate people, and have fun doing it. Howell is still out staying in shape as she prepares to move on to play softball at Youngstown State next season.

Anthony Hartwig got a chance to talk to Sophie through video conference. They discussed the success of Champion softball, her favorite off field memories, and much more. Go deeper into Champion softball with the first Golden Flashes Player Profile “Howell Sweet It Is”

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfWD_j4z9HU[/embedyt]

AMAZING GRACE

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WARREN OH- Champion softball has been nothing but dominant over the last three seasons. The senior class of 2020 has a lot to do with the Golden Flashes success. Abbi Grace is one of those seniors looking for her fourth straight state championship. Unfortunately COVID-19 has put a stop to the 2020 season. The seniors of Champion won’t be able to compete for their four peat, but they’re still doing all they can to see the program win again in 2021.

Abbi Grace puts a lot of importance on helping the young players in the Champion program grow. From meeting the young kids after winning a state championship and signing softballs for them, to giving words of encouragement to the underclassmen. Grace continues to find ways with her fellow seniors to propel the program forward.

As far as her playing career, Abbi has been quite impressive. In 95 games played in the purple and gold, Grace has accumulated a .399 batting average. Her strength was in the field. As a catcher, she has a career fielding percentage of .933, and only committed 5 errors in her entire career. Grace was also never caught stealing in her career, with a perfect 18/18 mark.

Anthony Hartwig had the opportunity to catch up with Abbi via video chat. They discussed her team off the field, building the program’s future, and much more. Learn about another fantastic Golden Flashes senior in the latest Player Profile “Amazing Grace.”

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 [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OskLGipZCw8[/embedyt]

HOT CORNER WITH ANTHONY HARTWIG (ISSUE 1)

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I’m Anthony Hartwig, Social Media and content director at YSN, and this is my new blog, Hot Corner. In the hot corner, we will be talking softball. All softball, all the time. There’s so much to talk about in this great sport. From the elite level of division 1, and professional softball to the youth travel organizations softball is one of the fastest-growing sports in the country. We’re going to have some fun with the local, and national scope of softball, and maybe have some special guests along the way.

To kick things off in issue 1 of Hot Corner let’s talk playoff softball and what we might be seeing if it weren’t for COVID-19. Locally, when it comes to postseason softball all eyes would be on Champion. The Golden Flashes have won three Division III state championships in a row. Champion lost virtually nothing from their team a season ago, a team that did not allow a single run in tournament play. Led in the circle by Allison Smith, and Sophie Howell Champion’s pitching comes dangerously close to untouchable. Smith had an ERA of 0.14 in 2019. To dive deeper into what that means, in 102.2 innings pitched she gave up exactly 2 earned runs. She struck out 215 batters while only walking 15. Howell’s seems easy to hit following up those numbers but even her ERA was an impressive 1.52. Both will be division 1 pitchers next season. Most high school teams are lucky to have 1 D1 pitcher on their team and Champion rolls out two of them. And if you think the Flashes only get it done in the circle, you’d be dead wrong. As a team, Champion hit .408, with 52 HR’s, and 276 RBI. With five hitters in their lineup with at least 30 RBI, pitching to Champion was as much of a nightmare as trying to hit off them. The Flashes were poised, to say the least, to make it four state championships in a row. Their biggest obstacle might just be Cardington Lincoln, who they’ve beaten in the last two championship games. The Pirates were returning quite a bit of talent themselves, and it’s hard to beat a team in a state final three times.

Another team of note when talking about the local playoffs, of course, is Poland. They got to the state semifinals last season before falling to Jonathan Alder. Returning 7 of 9 starters the Bulldogs seemed like they’d be in a good position to make another run. The fact that this season they would have had Kaili Gross in all their games would have helped. Gross had an ERA of 0.78 last season in the first twelve games of the season. She’d be one of the premier aces in a pretty stacked NE8 as far as pitching goes. Poland separates themselves from the pack with their bats. As a team last year they hit .412. Poland hasn’t won a state championship since 2011, but this season might have been their best chance to change that narrative.

On the national stage, this past weekend would have been the end of the NCAA regular season, Sunday would host the selection show and the road to the WCWS would have started this week.

Here’s who I think would have made the WCWS based on what we saw in 2020.

Washington
Alabama
Oklahoma
Arizona
UCLA
Texas
Florida St
Florida

The conference schedule never got started, and that’s when you really find out what these teams are made of. I definitely believe the PAC-12 is back on the rise after a long period of SEC dominance in the sport.

We won’t have champions at any level in 2020, no gold medal to be won, no national champion crowned, no state title dreams achieved. But the conversations and the growth of the sport have to continue. We can not let this virus backtrack the hard work that so many people have put in for the growth of the game. So keep on joining me in the Hot Corner and we’ll talk some softball.

Do you have some softball topics you want to be discussed? Guests you’d like to see in future blogs? Let me know! You can find me on Facebook at Anthony Hartwig, Twitter, and Instagram @ahartwig01.

MASTER IN THE CIRCLE: ALLISON SMITH

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WARREN OH- Allison Smith has become a household name in the area. Just one look at her career numbers at Champion and there’s no question why. With a career ERA of 0.48, and 458 strikeouts Smith has been virtually untouchable in the circle. In fact, her career opposing batting average is just .122. However, Smith doesn’t stop with impressive numbers hurling the ball, she is also a pitcher who can rake. Her career batting average is .500, with 51 HR’s and 162 RBI.

These numbers have caught the eye of many college coaches, but none of them could compete with the home state Buckeyes. Smith is signed to pitch for Ohio State next season. She says she can’t wait to be a part of the Ohio State/Michigan rivalry and give Hall Of Fame Head coach of the Wolverines Carol Hutchins some problems the next four years.

Anthony Hartwig got the chance to talk with the Champion ace via video chat. They discussed winning three straight state titles, her recruiting process, and much more. Dive in to this exclusive interview with one of the area’s premiere softball stars in the latest Golden Flashes Player Profile “Master In The Circle: Allison Smith”

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RAIDERS TAKE THE NEXT STEP

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CUYAHOGA FALLS OH- The South Range Girls Basketball program made their fourth trip to the Cuyahoga Falls regional in seven seasons. The program was never able to win a game in the Tigers gym. The key to building a great program though is to keep going back to the atmosphere and eventually taking that next step. Wednesday night the Raiders took that step. They dominated the second half in route to a 47-25 win over Champion,

The Raiders could not have asked for a better start. They forced three straight turnovers that led to 6 points. This spurt really set the tone for the whole night. Champion was no slouch on defense either though. They forced the Raiders into a ton of turnovers. The Raiders led 13-9 after a turnover riddled frame from both teams. The story stayed the same throughout the second quarter. Both teams played solid defense and forced the other into uncharacteristic mistakes. The Raiders were only able to score eight points in the second quarter, but it was enough to maintain a five point lead at the break 21-16.

The third quarter is when the separation began for the Raiders. They kept holding the Flashes, and their offense made adjustments to get more points up. The Raiders outscored Champion 17-7 in the third to go up 38-23. Then in the fourth, the Raider defense was smothering, allowing just two points the whole frame. Defense definitely wrote the story for the Raiders impressive win. They only allowed nine total second half points. They also stayed away from foul trouble. They didn’t put Champion in the bonus in either half.

This is the first South Range basketball team boys or girls to go to the regional championship.

Izzy Lamparty led the Raiders with 20 points. Lexi Giles has a strong night as well finishing with 13.

South Range advances to play Elyria Catholic in the Regional Championship on Saturday at 1:00 at Cuyahoga Falls High School.

POLAND ESCAPES THRILLER IN CHAMPION

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The start of the new season for the Poland Lady Bulldogs looks very similar to the start last season when they won by two at Salem. This time around they escaped Champion with a 52-49 win.

The Bulldogs had to deal with a very slow offensive start. Plagued by turnovers Poland couldn’t find a rhythm in the beginning stages of the game. However Jackie Grisdale and Brooke Bobbey both covered up the miscues with three pointers. Poland’s shut down defense didn’t miss a beat, holding down Champion while their offense worked things out. Poland trailed 12-10 after one quarter.

Poland opened the second quarter with a 9-0 rally and it looked like they were going to run away with the game. The Flashes fought back though, answering with a 6-2 run as the half dwindled down. Bobbey hit her second three of the game before the halftime buzzer to give the Bulldogs some breathing room heading into the locker room with a 24-18 lead.

Champion outscored the Bulldogs 16-10 in the third quarter helped out tremendously by the work of Emma Gumont down low. After three the game was tied 34-34 and it promised to be an exciting finish.

After the teams traded points back and forth for the first couple minutes of the fourth, the perimeter game came in to effect for Poland. Grisdale and Bobbey both hit threes late to give Poland breathing room. With a 46-40 lead the Bulldogs found themselves in a position to win the game at the foul line. They struggled though to knock down free throws down the stretch which gave Champion the opportunity to inch closer and closer. The Bulldogs went to the line leading by 2 with about 10 seconds left. They hit one out of two to make it 52-49, but it also gave Champion a last shot opportunity. Grisdale stole the ball away to deny them that chance and Poland escaped with a 52-49 win.

Jackie Grisdale led the way with a strong 26 point performance going 4/8 from three. Brooke Bobbey also finished in double figures with 12.

Poland stays on the road traveling to Struthers on Thursday night.

GOLDEN FLASHES OUTSHINE RANGE END RAIDERS SEASON

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The South Range Softball team saw their season come to an end on Thursday with a 14-0 loss to defending state champion…Champion.

The Flashes got on the board early scoring 2 in the top of the first. The Raiders has a chance to get an out on a popped up bunt but Jillian Strecansky just couldn’t dive far enough to catch it.  Bree Kohler got her first of 8 strikeouts in the game to end the Champion threat.

The start of the bottom of the inning seemed eerily similar to the top. Marlaina Slabach walked and then Drew Feren popped up a bunt attempt, the similarities ended after that however as Champion caught the fly ball and went on to strand Slabach at 2nd base.

Kohler got the first two outs of the second inning quickly and seemed to be settling down, but the depth of the Champion line up showed itself as their nine hole hitter White put a bloop single down the right field line. After an intentional walk and another bloop single the offensive leader for Champion Cassidy Schaffer blasted a grand slam to dead center to grab control of the game for the Flashes.  The next Champion batter would make it back to back jacks and give Champion a controlling 7-0 lead.

Marlaina Slabach got the Taiders their first hit of the day a few innings later, a hard slap through the 5-6 hole into left field. She reached base 2 out of her 3 plate appearances. Alyssa Tracy also reaches base with a HBP.

Kohler struck out 8 hitters on the day to put her season total at 201. It ends a record setting season for her as she became the single season record holder in hits and stolen bases.

The Raiders graduate 5 seniors. Drew Feren, Maddie Helon, Marlaina Slabach, Hanna Dennison, and Brooke Sauerwein. For most programs losing 5 seniors would seem like a rebuild would be in order but the young talent that is sprinkled in the Raiders lineup gives them hope of more strong seasons on the horizon. They finish their 2019 campaign at 18-9 and the South Range District Champions. The programs 6th title, all of which have come since 2010.

 

NUMERO UNO

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The band “Three Dog Night” created the famous song, One is the Loneliest Number, in 1968.

Fast forward to present day, the number one signifies immortality, excellence, the beginning, a foundation, as well as many other things.  There are pressures to wearing the lone digit, as you are often representing the top of the roster, and the first name that fans and opposition see when looking at the bill.

Youngstown State Baseball at Pittsburgh at Charles L. Cost Field on March 13, 2019 (Photo by Rob Hayes)

For Youngstown State’s Lucas Nasonti- there’s an obligation and constant reminder of where he sets the expectations for himself.  He’s the Sherriff of the Penguin outfield as the Centerfielder.  He’s often the table-setter among the top of the lineup, and he proudly dons the number one on his back each time he takes the field.

Youngstown State Baseball 2019 Photo Day – Dec. 7, 2018 (Photo by David Dermer)

The former high school baseball State Champion from Champion, Ohio sat down with YSN General Manager for this week’s YSU Baseball Player Profile to discuss the season so far, and the expectations heading into Horizon League Play.  This week’s Player Profile is NUMERO UNO.