Antwerp’s 2019 softball season was truly the underdog coming up from the bottom of the ranks in the tournament. They started very strong but never earned a rank in the state for the entire season. The junior girls leading the team, pitcher Carlie Hanes and catcher Karsyn Brumett were an unbeatable combination. Coach Krista Ordway was congratulated by OHSAA’s Director, Jerry Snodgrass, for training these girls that the game at end is the game that counts. You can’t worry about taking a further step until you pass the one you are at.
The entire team proved how resilient they were after coming off the devastating loss in the later half of the season against Wayne Trace and Fairview. It wasn’t until the 14th game they had their first loss. The losses themselves proved to the girls the games were not just being handed to them and they had to earn each and every one.
Over the course of the season and tournament run, the girls scored 192 runs to 13 of their opponents’ total runs.
How much do the rankings matter? Surely they do mean quite a bit as some areas are more competitive than others. Mechanicsburg was the only team ranked in the final four and they were ranked fourth. The Mechanicsburg Indians defeated the number one ranked team, Minster, and Peebles had defeated the #6 team, Portsmouth Notre Dame, while Antwerp finished 2nd ranked New Riegel’s run.
It does appear that northwest Ohio is underrated in the competition as Convoy Crestview was not state ranked either. Other than Crestview in Van Wert, who has picked up three state titles, the seven county area has had no softball State Championships until 2019.
The state title the girls won was an incredible season to watch as they took one game at a time until they reached the top! Congratulations to the Antwerp Archers 2019 softball team!
