The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Return to basics makes Panthers a winner
J.B. Firestone Invitational was turning point for Elyria Catholic
One and done. A learning year. Building for the future. These are the terms that were running through Elyria Catholic coach Megan Bashak’s mind on April 22. It’s not hard to see why. The Panthers had just come off a 4-3 loss to Chippewa at the J.B. Firestone Invitational,
marking their fifth straight loss and dropping Elyria Catholic’s record to 2-8.
“I don’t like admitting it, but there were some times that I was wondering if we would even get to 10 wins early in the season,” Bashak said. “We just weren’t playing good. If the pitching was good, the defense and hitting wasn’t there. If we were playing good defense, the hitting and pitching was bad. It was rough.”
And, to be fair, she was not the only one who had those thoughts.
“Not to speak for everyone,
but I don’t think we had a ton of expectations coming into this year,” Elyria Catholic senior Sam Filiaggi said. “I mean, we had a new coach and lost some good players last year. I just wanted to have a strong year that everyone could build on, but this season has been a bit of a surprise.”
But something happened after those thoughts.
Through the depths of frustration, the Panthers decided to get back to the fundamentals, focusing on their hitting and defense constantly in practices. And they started to win. In fact, all they have done since the loss to Chippewa is win, snapping off 11 straight victories to become an unlikely regional semifinalist with a 13-8 record.
The Panthers will face off with Massillon Tuslaw, the No. 9 team in Division III in the final Ohio High School Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association state poll, on May 24 at 11 a.m. in a regional semifinal at Massillon Washington High School. The game had originally been scheduled for 2 p.m., but a bad weather forecast pushed the game forward.
“It was around the Firestone Invitational that we sat down and talked it through,” Bashak said. “It was as simple as we realized it was time to get back to the basics. Focus on being solid during all three phases of the game — hitting, pitching and defense — and see if we couldn’t turn the season around.
“I’ll admit, I was hoping we could get something going, but I didn’t see this (a regional berth) coming. It’s awesome.”
Filiaggi agreed that the J.B. Firestone Invitational
was the start of the change.
“It was an eye-opener,” she said. “You could see things working well in the tournament even though the games were all losses. We just need to figure out how to put it all together.
“I know it sounds cliche, but we needed to take the games one at a time. If we didn’t hit well, we had to put it behind us and refocus. I think that type of a mindset, going back to a simple concept, is what brought it together.”
The return to basics did the trick. Elyria Catholic averaged 11 runs during the seven games leading to the postseason, allowing an average of four. It was a massive turnaround from the 4.0 runs for and 6.2 runs against average during the Panthers’ first 10 games.
Even with the improvements, the Panthers could only net the No. 5 seed in the 11-team Avon Lake District.
“It was another motivating
thing,” Bashak said. “We were excited to be the underdog. We knew we were a deceiving No. 5 seed and that we might fly under the radar a bit.”
And it’s a motivation that Filiaggi said the team plans to use as it enters regional play.
“We need to keep that mentality,” Filiaggi said. “We are underdogs and we’re going to keep playing like that.”
The part that the Panthers can’t forget, though, is that they also belong in regional play, Filiaggi said.
“We want to keep the underdog mentality, but we also need to know that we earned our spot here and belong here,” she said. “I’ve been telling the younger players not simply get excited that we’re here. We need to keep striving and not settle, pushing as hard as we can. We’ve earned this spot and belong here, and I know we’ll play like we do.”