The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Losses don’t shake focus for Elyria softball team
Elyria softball is so used to winning that anything less than success hits harder for them than for most.
Elyria softball is a program so used to winning that anything less than success hits a lot harder than it does for most other teams. The Pioneers have posted 20-plus wins every year since 1999 and have not had fewer than 17 wins since Ken Fenik took over as head coach in 1995. Though losses are few and far between, the team always finds a way to become better and more focused than it was before. Take the 2017 season, for example: Elyria started the year 9-0 before traveling to Ashland for the annual Wendy’s Spring Classic where it not only went 0-3 for the first time since 1996, but was runruled by North Union, 14-1 — a troubling situation considering the Pioneers are usually the ones winning by run rule. After the final game of the weekend, Fenik was disappointed in his team’s performance to say the least, but simply said his players and coaching staff would continue to work on what needed to be fixed and maintain a positive outlook despite a mid-season wake-up call. Fewer than two months later, Elyria was hoisting the Division I state championship trophy after defeating Lebanon, 4-3, for the third title in program history, having grown immensely from its difficult losses at the midway point of the season. This year’s roster features new faces, but the objective is the same. Elyria (12-2, 6-1 GCC) began the season with an eight-game winning streak before being downed by Greater Cleveland Conference foe Solon, 12-10, on April 10 in extra innings for its first loss of the year, and while the Pioneers turned around two days later to beat Elyria Catholic, 6-2, in the annual Elyria Softball Classic, it still didn’t feel like the team was playing to its full potential.
“We feel good after every game we win but I think we know we could’ve done better and I think we need to take that into the next game,” junior Izzy St. Peter said after defeating the Panthers. Sure enough, Elyria lost for the second time in three games after falling to visiting Bristol, 9-8, in Game 2 of the Elyria Softball Classic, and the Pioneers knew it had to turn it around quickly with first-place Medina looming on the schedule and half a season still to play. The Pioneers beat D-IV Columbia, 9-0, to finish the showcase 2-1, but Medina presented a whole new set of challenges. But as it did in 2017 and seemingly every season before and since, Elyria came out the other side a re-energized and refocused team, and played arguably its best game of the season in a 9-0 win over the Bees to take over the top spot in the GCC standings. “We had a rough few practices,” sophomore Kerrigan Williams said after the win. “(Fenik) made us work 10 times harder than we usually do after that loss so we were just prepared.” “I think we’re learning from our losses and bouncing back to get better,” St. Peter added. At the very least, it seems the Pioneers have a more positive, winning attitude than they did even a week ago. There’s no telling what will happen weeks from now when the state tournament approaches as Elyria plays in an incredibly tough district with the likes of Amherst, a state semifinalist in 2016, Midview and Avon, among others, but there’s no doubt the Pioneers will have grown from their defeat — a mark of a true championship team.