Tag Archive for: Sydney Mercer

IMMERSED IN TALENT

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BELOIT OH- Very rarely you come across athletes that stick out as one of the best players in the arena, no matter what sport they play. For West Branch senior Sydney Mercer, that is the case. She is one of the best volleyball players in the area, she leads the basketball team in rebounds, and she mashes home runs like it’s her job.

In the midst of this basketball season, while Sydney won’t get the media attention that she does in volleyball, and softball, she is a critical leader, and plays an important role for the Warriors team that is heading to regionals. So while she isn’t the points leader of the team, she does the dirty work. She gets rebounds, leads the team in that. She defends some of the best players in the area as well.

Mercer has also become a huge role model. The amount of young girls that she was talking to while celebrating the team’s district championship was proof that she is pouring in to the future of the West Branch program. She is proud to be a Warrior, and she is proud to help the Warrior’s growth even after she graduates.

Sydney has committed to play volleyball at Mount Union, but also plans to play softball at Mount Union as well.

Anthony Hartwig had the chance to talk to Sydney after West Branch’s district championship about her journey. They talk about being in regionals, who some of her role models are, and much more. West Branch is in the sweet 16, get to know one of their seniors in this exclusive player profile.

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WARRIORS DOMINATE BOARDMAN

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BOARDMAN OH- West Branch won their Third game in a row on Monday night as they went into Boardman and handled the Spartans 65-28.

The Warriors were in control from the tip as they took a 19-7 lead into the second frame, and never looked back from that point on.

Sydney Mercer and Anna Lippiatt both led the charge for the Warriors each scoring 15. Emma Egli was also in double figures with 10.

Boardman was led by Mackenzie Riccitelli with 9 points.

The now 7-2 Warriors hit the road on Wednesday to take on Carrolton. Boardman will try to regroup as they get ready to play Hoban on Monday at South Range.

 

 

WEST BRANCH WALKS AWAY WITH WIN IN DEFENSIVE BATTLE

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AUSTINTOWN OH- It didn’t take much research to guess that Wednesday night’s matchup between Fitch and West Branch was going to be a defensive struggle. The two programs are built around defense. When you add that to the fact that the Warriors are trying to get in sync on offense, and it was the Falcons first game, the stars aligned for a low scoring affair. West Branch walked away victorious after trailing at the half with a final of 41-29.

West Branch was led by Anna Lippiatt who finished in double figures with 10 points. Livvie Showalter finished with 8. Sydney Mercer fathered 10 rebounds for the Warriors.

The Falcons got a strong night from Zayda Creque who totaled a game-high 14 points. Jocelyn Jourdan finished with 7.

The Warriors return to action Saturday as they head home to host Marlington. Fitch will host Ursuline on Wednesday.

WARRIORS WEAR DOWN GARFIELD

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BELOIT OH- The last time the West Branch Lady Warriors stepped on the floor it was to warm up for a Division II State Semifinal game in Columbus. Because of COVID-19, that game got cancelled, and West Branch said goodbye to six seniors, and four starters. Fast forward to Saturday night with four new starters, the Warriors haven’t lost a step. Their depth outlasted Garfield in a 48-33 victory.

it was a slow start for the Warriors, Garfield used an 8-0 run in the first quarter to take a 10-6 lead. It would be 10-8 at the end of the frame. The perimeter game of the Warriors showed up as three different players knocked down long shots in the second quarter. It was a quarter that the Warriors Win 18-9 to lead 26-19 at halftime.

A very experienced Lady G-Men squad fought back in the third quarter. After West Branch scores to make it 31-19, the G-Men went on a 10-0 run to cut it to two. In what may have been the biggest play of the game for the Warriors, Bella Laut drove inside and connected on a bucket, and got the foul. She completed the three point play to end the Garfield run and put the Warriors up 34-29. The Warriors would score the next seven points after that to lead 41-29.

Gardield had no steam left in the final frame. West Branch may have lost six seniors from last year’s team, but they still have a deep bench. Their depth overwhelmed the Lady G-Men.

Leading West Branch was Emma Egli with 13 points. Anna Lippiatt added 7, she hit a pair of threes. Freshman Lucie Showalter had a good debut contributing 7 points as well. Sydney Mercer has 6 points, and 10 rebounds.

Jenna Smith led the Lady G-Men with a game high 14 points. Grace Mills has 9. Smith also led in rebounds with 8.

West Branch is 1-0 and will travel to Canfield on Tuesday.

MERCER SHINES IN WARRIORS VICTORY

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BELOIT OH- Sydney Mercer showed her power on Tuesday night as West Branch made quick work of conference for Minerva with a sweep (25-16 25-16 25-16).

In the first set, the opening points told a story of a back and forth match. Although Minerva never led in the set, they also didn’t trail by more than 2. That was until West Branch went on a 5-0 run to push a lead to 20-14. They coasted their way through the rest of the set, scoring 5 of the next 7 points to win 25-16. Sydney Mercer has 6 kills in the set.

The second set was much of the same as the two teams traded points back and forth in the start of the set. Minerva was actually able to grab a couple of one point leads. With the set tied at 14-14 Minerva took a timeout. This plan backfired as the Warriors rattled off seven straight points out of the time out with Bailey Campbell serving. The Warriors used the momentum to win 25-16. Sydney Mercer had another 6 kill set.

The third set belonged to West Branch from the get go. Their middle blockers started to get involved on both the offensive, and defensive sides of the net. Alexa Gusset also contributed a handful of kills from the right side position. West Branch ran away with set three 25-16.

West Branch served extremely well, totaling 11 service aces as a team. Mercer led the team with 13 kills on the night. Mikalyn Fitts finished with 5 kills.

West Branch will travel to Canton South on Thursday to continue conference play.

HOT CORNER: WITH SPECIAL GUEST JUSTIN MCLEOD

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Welcome to another week inside the Hot Corner. As players begin working towards their fall season we will continue to bring you coverage of all things softball on this blog. In this edition we shine a spotlight on a familiar face. Sydney Mercer of West Branch High School, and Ohio USSSA Pride-Scarlett talks about her summer in our first spotlight interview. I’m excited to do more of these in the future. Also this week’s special guest is Justin McLeod. Softball fans may know him better as Justin’s World of Softball. He does a fantastic job covering softball at every level. The Adam Shefter of the sport we all love.

Spotlight: Sydney Mercer.

Sydney Mercer spent her summer with our friends at Ohio USSSA Pride-Scarlett. She dazzled at the plate all summer long, putting up monster numbers. In 53 games played Sydney hit .544 with 24 HR and 80 RBI. With an eye popping OPS of 1.891 Sydney strikes fear in the eye of every pitcher she comes across. Mercer is a class of 2022 that plays her high school ball at West Branch. She also plays volleyball, and basketball. Her three sport routine keeps in her in shape for achieving her goals. Sydney was kind enough to take time to talk to me about her summer season.

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

Special Guest Justin McLeod

Justin is one of the premiere people that covers softball on a national scale. He covers the sport at all levels whether it be Division III college, travel ball, or professional. Justin started doing what he does for a similar reason YSN was founded. He wanted to cover a sport he saw no one covering. He started Justin’s World of Softball in 2012. Justin has been very helpfully to me when I started this blog. He gave me great advice on contacting college SID’s in order to get some of the wonderful guests we’ve already had on the Hot Corner. I was happy to return the favor and have the man who is usually asking the questions answer them. You can visit Justin’s World of Softball at justinsworldsb.com for the latest softball news from around the country.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeZ1U2C9qB8[/embedyt]

 

HOT CORNER: WITH SPECIAL GUEST CHEYANNE TARANGO

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Welcome to another edition of the Hot Corner. The blog that is all softball all the time. The summer travel season is starting to wind down. The softball talent across the nation is doing the opposite of winding down. It’s growing exponentially. Every edition we will highlight a player from the amateur ranks local or national that you will need to remember. The goal of this blog is to always highlight the growth of the sport. We’ll also continue to have amazing guests from the National softball scene. Today our special guest is Cheyenne Tarango. Her interview will be at the bottom of the page.

Spotlight

This week’s spotlight is Hannah Capps. Hannah is a class of 2023 who plays for Coffee high school in Douglas, Georgia. In the state of Georgia, softball is played in the fall. So Hannah was not stripped of a freshman season like 2023’s here in Ohio. In her freshman season with the Trojans she hit .374 with 5 HR and 33 RBI. Hannah can play in multiple positions, but from what I’ve seen following her on Twitter for a while, catching is where she excels. Her pop time as a catcher is very good, especially considering she has plenty of time to get even better. Hannah plays travel for the EC Bullets Prairie ‘03. Hannah might just be one of the next premiere catchers that shines on the national level. With her hitting ability, and exceptional skills behind the plate, I don’t think it’s too early to see some Sahvanna Jaquish comparisons.

Friends of the Blog 

Our friends USSSA Pride-Scarlet closed out their summer last weekend in North Ridgeville. They made it all the way to the semifinals before rain ended the games, and their season. The Pride went 6-0 before the rain halted their weekend. The Pride hit 7 more HR’s over the weekend as a team. They were spread out between four players. When you look at their final offensive numbers for the season, they’re eye popping. Only two players didn’t hit above .400. Sydney Mercer finished the summer with a .544 average with 24 HR and 80 RBI. Those numbers aren’t typos. The team’s pitching numbers stayed strong this weekend too. Liana Morreale finished the year 11-3, with an ERA of 2.45. She also struck out 77.  Tori Long wasn’t far behind either. She went 12-4 with an ERA of 3.86. She struck out 58. These numbers on offense and defense are what led to a 44-9 record over the summer.  Congrats to the Pride on an amazing summer. We look forward to seeing what you all do next.

Special Guest Cheyanne Tarango

(Kevin Gregory)

Cheyanne Tarango attended Canyon High School in California before going on to continue her career at the University of Tennessee. She played on the USA Junior National Team. She also spent time with the Mexican National Team. Last summer she played in the NPF as a member of the Cleveland Comets, who are partnered with team Mexico. She also spent a season as a volunteer assistant coach at Louisville University. She was a pitcher who also hit, and played solid first base. Cheyanne is known for her devastatingly slow changeup. A pitcher who can take she hit 19 HR and 89 RBI in her career at Tennessee.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kur0nRcT3i8[/embedyt]

HOT CORNER: WITH SPECIAL GUEST EMMA JOHNSON

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Another weekend has gone by and that means more phenomenal  softball to talk about, and more great talent to highlight. Also on this edition we have a wonderful special guest. The first current college coach to join the Hot Corner. Emma Johnson, associate head coach at Kent State.

We’ll start with some news out of California. The PGF has canceled the All American game that was scheduled for August 1st and to be televised on ESPNU. Previous guest and friend of the blog Riley Frizell was scheduled to play in that game. She’ll still be playing in TCS Nationals in Georgia coming up soon. We’ll stay updated on how that goes.

This edition’s shoutout goes to Belle Hummel. Belle is a 2022 from Lakota West High School. She plays travel for Ohio Hawks 16U Gold-Hutchinson. She hit .494 last season for West with 17 RBI and 2 HR. But what she excelled at his her speed and slapping ability. Definitely capable of hitting the long ball, in fact she hit one this weekend in the Hawks tie with Lasers Teal. The fact that pitcher’s have to at least respect her power while being terrified of her speed makes this 2022 a gem. Keep an eye on Belle because she’s going to do great things.

Friends of the blog

As always we will catch up with our friends of the blog. Let’s start with Ohio Lasers Yellow who finishes their summer this weekend. The Lasers went 3-2-1. Maci Boggess pitched 22.2 innings and only gave up one earned run on the weekend. She struck out 13. Austintown Fitch’s Maddy Taylor hit .467 going 7-15 with 4 RBI. Congratulations to the Lasers on a great summer.

Now let’s see how that offense of USSSA Pride- Scarlet is doing. Yep they’re still explosive. The Pride hit 13  HR’s over the weekend. Sydney Mercer hit 4. Josie Spano hit 3. They’re pitching is still holding strong as well. The Pride has a team ERA of 2.79. Liana Morreale is leading them with an ERA of 2.39 in 67.1 IP. She’s stuck out 68. The Pride went 7-2 on the weekend and have a summer record of 38-9. They’ll finish their summer this weekend at the Midwest Summer Showcase in North Ridgeville

Special Guest Emma Johnson

(Courtesy KSU Athletics)

I am pleasured to welcome the first current college coach to join the Hot Corner. Emma is the newly announced Associate Head Coach of Kent State. Johnson is one the most decorated players in the Kent State program. She won MAC pitcher of the year twice during her career. Her senior season she led Kent State to a 41-13 record. She ranked in the top 5 nationally in strike outs per 7 innings, and had the nation’s third lowest ERA. These numbers helped Johnson be drafted 25th overall in the NPF draft by the Pennsylvania Rebellion, where she spent two seasons.

Johnson has completed her third season as an assistant on the Kent State staff. She was promoted to Associate Head Coach on July 1st.

 

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqNnu5UJ_QA[/embedyt]

 

HOT CORNER: WITH SPECIAL GUEST JESSICA SHULTS

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Welcome back to the Hot Corner! We took a week off on a rather slow weekend with a lot of local travel teams off, but we are back with a ton of softball to talk about after the 4th of July. As always promised this blog will merge local softball coverage with the elite softball world, and boy do we have some awesome guests planned for the month of July. Starting today, as the Hot Corner welcomes former Oklahoma Sooner, and 2013 National Champion, Jessica Shults. 

 

Weekend Recap

 

Now in a normal summer this would be one of the biggest weekends in travel softball. Florida and Colorado both annuals host multiple national 4th of July tournaments. However a chunk of those were canceled due to COVID -19.  Before we check in on teams that are friends of the blog, I want to give a shoutout to Kylie Macy and her Atlanta Vipers-Holbrook team. They took home the trophy in one of the Colorado tournaments not canceled. The Triple Crown 4th of July National Tournament. I’ve been following Kylie for a while. The Georgia Bulldog commit from Grayson High School is a rising star. The Vipers went 10-1 on the weekend and beat NE Gold Perkins 7-2 in the championship. Congratulations to Kaylie and the Vipers! 

 

Now to our friends of the blog! USSSA Scarlet got back in action this weekend at the USA Battle of the Burgh in Cranberry PA. The Pride went 7-1 over the weekend. In case you were wondering, yes their offense is still putting up video game type numbers. They hit 10 home runs over the weekend. Their team total is 50 now in 38 games played. Sydney Mercer is locked in this summer. She’s hitting .549 with 16 HR and 54 RBI. Don’t let their offensive power over shadow the job Liana Morreale is doing in the circle. She’s 8-2 with an ERA of 2.25 and has struck out 51, she’s only walked 19. 

 

Ohio Lasers Yellow went to the Midwest Firecracker Showcase this weekend. You can add another shutout to Maci Boggess’ tab. In their first game of the weekend she threw a gem in the Lasers 1-0 win. Going 5 innings, striking out 6 and giving up 0 runs on 3 hits. Austintown Fitch’s Maddy Taylor hit .333 on the weekend with 5 RBI. The Lasers went 4-2-1 on the weekend. 

 

If you want your team weekly highlighted on the Hot Corner, it’s really easy. Just get in contact with me (Anthony Hartwig) on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram and keep me updated on your team’s schedule and stats. The more teams that are friends of the blog the better! 

 

Special Guest: Jessica Shults

Jessica Shults(18) / Oklahoma Sooners

 

I am very excited to welcome Jessica Shults to the Hot Corner. Jessica is one of the best catchers in softball ever. It’s a short list, and in my opinion she’s on it. She played at Oklahoma from 2010-2013. Here are some of her accolades: 

3 time NFCA All American 

2012 NFCA Catcher of the Year

3 Time Selection as All- Big 12

2013 National Champion. 

 

Jessica went on to be a graduate assistant for Oklahoma from 2014-2016. She was an assistant coach at Houston from 2016-2019. Shults was drafted 3rd overall by the USSSA Pride in 2013. She played in the NPF until 2016. She won a Cowles Cup with the Pride in 2013-2014. She now does hitting and coaching lessons through Gap2Gap.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsHqrnOKkA4[/embedyt]

HOT CORNER: HAPPY WORLD SOFTBALL DAY

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Yes softball fans yesterday was the day the world gets to celebrate this wonderful sport! World softball day was all over social media as travel college, and professional teams shared memories of the game we love. What are your favorite softball memories? I’ll get to some of mine later, but first let’s check in with Ohio USSSA Pride-Scarlet.

An exciting Friday as after a 7-1 blowout of Ohio Lightning, Sommer Bourne hit a walk off home run to beat Ohio Slamforce-Hudson. That was the first of 4 home runs this powerful offense would hit on Friday. Maris Barbato hit her 5th of the summer, and Sydney Mercer hit a pair, including a grand slam. The Pride went 1-1 on Saturday. And after winning their first 3 games today, they fell to Valley Extreme 5-4.

I was not able to attend this weekend’s games but thanks to our friends at GameChanger I was able to follow the games closely. It also gives me access to the numbers this Pride team is putting up so far and…wow! As a team in 22 games played the Pride have hit 28 home runs. Sydney Mercer leads that category with 8, Maris Barbato has 7. Mercer is hitting an eye popping .537 with 28 RBI. Barbato is hitting .508. This offense is  so deep you can’t pitch around anyone. I think it’s really smart that they usually have Barbato as a lead off hitter. Coach Szolek doesn’t fall for misconception that your HR leaders need to be 4, and 5 in the lineup. Having Maris lead off a game immediately puts pressure on an opposing pitcher, and they can’t start with a lead off wall and pitch around her. She’s everything you want out of a leadoff hitter, and she adds significant power to that resume. Emily Holland had an amazing Sunday hitting 3 HR’s including a grand slam. She brought her average up to .333 and boosted her RBI total to 17.

Liana Morreale and Tori Long get the majority of the starts in the circle for the Pride, and they’re both solid. Liana is a commit to Old Dominion and has great movement on her pitches. Long does a great job countering her with a different approach. Morreale has 28 K’s on the summer, and Long has 22. With their offense has potent as it is, they really don’t have to be perfect in the circle. It takes a lot of pressure off those two and you can tell in the loose nature they bring to their pitching. We’ll continue to follow the Pride and other local travel teams as the summer goes on. Follow their team twitter @OhioScarlet.

Now back to celebration of World Softball day. I owe so much to the sport of softball. I did play special Olympics softball for 4 years with the Mahoning County Public Warriors. It was a great outlet for my competitive mindset to get out and compete at a sport. But really the thing that softball has brought to me the most is amazing friendships. I’m not exaggerating when I say that a large percentage of the friends I keep in my circle I have met from the game of softball. My love for the game started gradually as I was in high school. South Range’s softball team at the time was very successful. They won 28 ITCL games in a row during my junior and senior year, and made trips to the regional tournament both years getting to the final once. Not too far down the road at the same time in Poland, Erin Gabriel was making a national name for herself. My family knew Erin, her dad and my mom worked together so we always kept tabs on her career. When she announced that she was going to play for Tennessee, that’s when I really started to watch college softball. And man, does the game at that level get you hooked fast. Erin started at Tennessee in 2013, and she was on one of the best teams in the country. I fell in love with that team. I think since social media, especially twitter was fairly new softball fans including myself had so much opportunity for connections with the players on the highest stage. I could go on twitter and have conversations with some of Erin’s teammates who grew to be friends. Players like Lauren Gibson, Raven Chavanne, Ivy Renfroe, and Cheyenne Tarango made it so easy to get emotionally attached to the success of that team. Ivy got drafted by the Akron Racers, who I had no idea even existed before then. Once I went to Firestone Stadium to see her play, it was over. There was no going back to life without softball. And watching professional softball through the years has given me so many amazing friends. So to everyone involved in this beautiful sport happy belated world softball day.

Some of my softball memories to share with you.

I have some very cool special guests coming up soon on the Hot Corner. Softball fans won’t want to miss it. Keep following along as the Hot Corner merges the local softball scene and the elite level of the sport.