TIFFIN – A slow start out of the gates proved too great a deficit for the Ross softball team in its season-opener Monday.
Gabby Zuniga
The Lady Giants struggled to find their offense in their first trip through the batting order. By the time Ross found some pop, it was too little, too late, as the Lady Giants fell to Tiffin Columbian, 8-3.
“Offensively, we struggled until the third inning, we were swinging at the first pitch lots of times, making weak contact,” said Ross coach Tony Hill.
“First time through the lineup, there were definitely nerves,” he added. “Mya (Lenke) was making her first career start, Kaylee (Dodson) made her first start on Opening Day, Claire (Ochs) was making her first start, so we had some girls without a lot of experience and they were a little over-excited and it showed in the first three innings.”
Ross had reason to get excited thanks to senior Gabby Zuniga who went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs thanks to a double and a home run.
“She’s been working her butt off in the offseason,” Hill said. “She was in pretty average shape last year but she really busted her butt in the weight room and it’s paying off.”
Ross’ offense wasn’t the only area that began the day slowly. Early errors put the Lady Giants into a hole as two fielding miscues lead to four Columbian runs.
“From the fourth inning on, it was 4-3,” Hill said. “We had some mistakes early and once we got the jitters out of the way early we kind of buckled down. We didn’t play bad but we’re still capable of more.”
Morgan Englund
Pitcher Morgan Englund threw all six innings, giving up eight hits and four walks and struck out four.
“Morgan didn’t do bad. She wasn’t helped out by her defense early on, either,” Hill said. Columbian has a lot of speed at the top of the lineup their first tow batters killed us. …The big thing we can’t do is we walked the No. 9 hitter three times and all three times she scored. That was a killer for us.”
The Lady Giants (0-1) are scheduled for their home-opener Tuesday as they host Clyde at 4:30. Hill said his team needs to ignore the name on its opponent’s jersey and focus on itself.
“We tend to fear the traditions of teams instead of just playing our actual opponent,” Hill said. “When we’ve run into Clyde and Findlay and Clay and these teams on our schedule with a really good history, we have a difficulty of showing up believing we can win. We played Clyde last year real tough and they were surprised by it. That’s something we’re trying to get into their heads, they’re capable of beating these teams.”
2023 Girls Soccer Team
| Number | Player Name | Position | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Malise Lee-Garrett | Midfielder | 10 |
| 2 | Victoria Kaczmarek | Midfielder | 09 |
| 3 | Ashtyn Marsee | Defender | 10 |
| 4 | Ayden Channing | Midfielder | 09 |
| 5 | Malaya Hughes | Forward | 09 |
| 6 | Brooklyn Reau | Midfielder | 11 |
| 8 | Camille Gonzalez | Forward | 12 |
| 9 | Briallen Reau | Defender | 10 |
| 10 | Destinae Scott | Defender | 10 |
| 11 | Zoe Kaczmarek | Midfielder | 11 |
| 12 | Danika Denmen | Midfielder | 11 |
| 13 | Ella Smith | Midfielder | 12 |
| 14 | Alexia Gibson | Defender | 09 |
| 15 | Esmeralda Gonzalez | Midfielder | 10 |
| 16 | Cammie Gibson | Defender | 09 |
| 17 | Makaylah Wozniak | Defender | 11 |
| 18 | Kenzie Schwochow | Defender | 09 |
| 19 | Ava Thomas | Defender | 12 |
| 24 | Brooklyn Koebel | Defender | 09 |
| 27 | Allison Gazdecki | Goal Keeper | 12 |
| 28 | Lilyana Reyes-Rodriguez | Defender | 09 |