TOLEDO – Sometimes the best signs of a program’s progress aren’t what happens on the field, but what happens off it.
Occasionally, one’s actions and demeanor after the game, on the bus ride, can be more telling than the game.
Braelyn Horn
Ross softball coach Tony Hill and his staff are seeing those encouraging signs from the Lady Giants.
Yes, the Lady Giants lost for the second-straight game to a TRAC power, this time Notre Dame Academy, and by a 14-4 final score, not too dissimilar to Friday’s 15-0 defeat to Whitmer.
After both contests, however, Hill and the coaches noticed something on the bus ride home that hasn’t been there before: Quiet anger.
“Last year, we had a really rough season and we’d get run-ruled and we get embarrassed in a game and get on the bus and the kids are loud and joking around and kind of lackadaisical,” Hill said. “This year, we got run-ruled twice in a row… and the bus is silent. They’re buying in, they’re taking everything more seriously, they’re invested.
“It’s a slow process, this turnaround, but it’s taking root. It’s encouraging for the coaches to see that, small things like that. We’re getting through to them and they’re buying in.”
The source of the Lady Giants’ discontent was a performance that had moments of strong play as well as opportunities missed. On two occasions Ross struck out looking with a runner in scoring position. In the fifth inning, two runners were caught stealing. While the Lady Giants scored three runs in the inning, the outs on the basepaths cost them an opportunity for more.
“We can’t afford things like that against teams like Notre Dame,” Hill said. “We had some opportunities, maybe it could have been a little closer game if we could have come through. There were probably four or five times I thought there was either a lack of focus or a lack of aggression that came back to bite us.”
Braelyn Horn showed aggression in the first innings. The senior No. 2 hitter blooped a base hit over the shortstop’s head into shallow left field. Horn put her head down and legged out a double on the play and later came around to score the game’s first run. Horn’s was the Lady Giants’ only extra-base hit of the game.
Horn and Gabby Zuniga both went 2-for-3 at the plate while Malayah Horn and Kaylee Dodson each had an RBI.
The loss drops the Lady Giants to 2-3 overall, and 0-2 in the TRAC. Ross is scheduled to finally begin play at home Wednesday as the Lady Giants play their third-straight league game against one of the conference’s three main championship contenders: Oregon Clay.
Hill believes his team is capable of picking off one of the league’s top dogs.
“I don’t see any reason we can’t beat Clay,” Hill said. “We know what they got, we’ve seen their kids and we have a lot of experience going against them. I don’t think they’re better than us, necessarily. They’re more experienced and they’ve had more success, but I don’t think they’re better than us. That’s a game we have circled that, if we win this game, we can run off seven, eight wins in a row because we’ll be flying high with confidence.”
2023 Varsity Volleyball Team
| Number | Name | Position | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sydney Weickert | Setter | 11 |
| 2 | Mia Durnwald | Defensive Specialist | 11 |
| 3 | Abigail Cahill | Outside Hitter | 12 |
| 6 | Joceyln Hines | Defensive Specialist | 12 |
| 7 | Brook Baacke | Defensive Specialist | 10 |
| 10 | Reese Smith | Outside Hitter | 11 |
| 11 | Rylann Fox | Outside Hitter | 11 |
| 12 | Kilee Kidd | Outside Hitter | 10 |
| 14 | Tierra Parker | Middle Block | 9 |
| 16 | Lyndi Wolf | Middle Block | 11 |
| 17 | Brey Biller | Outside Hitter | 10 |
| 21 | Rahnia Ruiz | Defensive Specialist | 09 |