spring sports

2013A Special Supplement to the Paulding County Progress

M A R C H 2 7 , 2 0 1 3

Baseball - SoftballTrack & Field

SPRING SPORTS

2 - Paulding County Progress Spring Sports Wednesday, March 27, 2013

PAULDING VARSITY BASEBALLMEMBERS OF THE Paulding 2013 varsity baseball team are, front row from left – Javier Gonzales, Corbin Edward, Kyle Kauser, Micheal Bauer, Quinten Vance, Aaron Contreraz, Justin

Adams; back row – Coach Chad Adams, Coach Kyle Mawer, Treston Gonzales, Guy Harder, Trey Schroeder, Gerod Harder, Alelx Arellano, Demon Egnor, Coach Mike Leach. (Dennis Saam/Pauld-

ing County Progress)

Mound strength key to Panther competitivenessBy JIM LANGHAM

SportswriterPAULDING – In his five years of coach-

ing Paulding baseball, Panther head coachMike Leach believes that this is the mostdepth he has ever had in his pitching staff.

“In high school baseball, pitching is every-

thing,” said Leach. “With the number ofgames that we have, there is often a shorttime period between games. Overall, wehave a lot of experience back as a team. Lastyear, when we eliminated our errors, weplayed well.”

The Panthers will be led on the mound by

Javier Gonzales, who will also hold down theinfield at first base. Last year, as a sophomore,Gonzales was one of the squad’s top two hit-ters, with a batting average of .354. Pitching-wise, Gonzales finished with a record of 3-5,a figure that Leach says is deceptive consid-ering his effectiveness on the mound.

“As a sophomore, he had an earned runaverage of 4.62,” Leach said. “Since then, hehas picked up a lot of experience.”

Another promising young pitcher isTreston Gonzales, who will play third base

See PHS BASEBALL, page 6

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Wednesday, March 27, 2013 Paulding County Progress Spring Sports - 3

Speed is key to Paulding softball seasonBy JIM LANGHAM

SportswriterPAULDING – Paulding head softball

coach Matt Carr may not have the heaviestbats to give power to his hitting lineup thisseason, but his athletes represent speed anda prowess for running bases that he hopeswill generate the runs to win games.

“If we can put people on bases, with ourspeed, we can move the runners around,”

Carr said. “We’ve been working on buntingto help manufacture runs. If we can get peo-ple on base and get them in motion, we’ll beokay.

“Our defense is going to be strong,” addedCarr. “We have pitchers that can throwstrikes and a solid infield.”

Carr will be looking to two returning sen-iors, Breana Schmidt and Alexis Rue, to pro-vide leadership for this year’s Panther girls.

He noted that Rue should provide vocalleadership and Schmidt will lead with herwork ethic.

Schmidt, who will be playing her thirdyear on the team, is expected to hit in themiddle of the lineup and looks to be a runproducer. For her previous efforts, she wasvoted honorable mention in the NorthwestConference.

Rue, also a third-time player, will more

than likely play center field. She is expectedto bat at the top of the lineup.

In addition, senior Samantha Martinez iscoming up from the junior varsity squad tohelp fill in with the infield duty.

Carr noted that starting pitcher responsi-

See PHS SOFTBALL, page 6

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PAULDING VARSITY SOFTBALLMEMBERS OF THE Paulding 2013 varsity softball team are, front row from left – Kandee Manson, Jerika Bland, Melissa Durham, Kelsey Beck, Morgan Riley, Kristen Schilt, Brooke Combs;

back row – Coach Tyler Stork, Coach Melissa Stork, Alyssa Shelmadine, Abby Pease, Emily Farr, Samantha Martinez, Alexis Rue, Breana Schmidt, Suzanne Reinhart, Coach Matt Carr. (DennisSaam/Paulding County Progress)


Numbers up for Paulding track teamBy JIM LANGHAM

SportswriterPAULDING – Nearly twice as many ath-

letes are out for the Paulding Country trackprogram this spring, compared to a year ago.To make things even more exciting, both thisyear’s boys and girls track teams are a combi-nation of experienced and talented athletes andyoung and up and coming track competitors.

This year’s boys squad is composed of 20athletes, many of whom are hoping to fit intospots where they can contribute points to thePanther squad.

When Paulding begins its track season atOttoville and April 4, the boys team will beled by the likes of Lance Foor, a first-yearsenior who looks to jump into relay andspring competition immediately.

Other tracksters that are expected to makenoise include Andrew Lehman, who holds a10:50 3200 meter run last year, RyanSchindler, who, like Lehman, is a third-yearcompetitor who threw discuss 122 feet lastseason, and Clay Mohr, who was throwingshot put 46 feet last spring.

In addition, Dylan Carnahan was polevaulting close to 11 feet last season.

“We have a lot of younger athletes on theboys’ team,” said track coach Nic Alvarez.“A lot are out for the first time; I’m encour-aged by the numbers and the way our peopleare working. I’m looking for a lot of greatthings as we continue to step up more eachmeet.”

See PHS TRACK, page 5

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PAULDING VARSITY BOYS TRACKMEMBERS OF THE Paulding 2013 boys’ track team are, front row from left – Logan Stahl, Josh Boes, James Brown, Lance Foor, Evan Huebner, David Highwarden, Dylan Carnahan, Ryan

Schindler, Michael Mott; second row – Clay Mohr, Cody Jarrell, Dakota Valdez, Kyle Gardner, Zach Buchman, Sean Bentley, Austin Stafford; back row – William Mefferd, Travis Jones, AndrewLayman, Cullen Wenzlick, Brendon Lothamer, Lucas Arend, Drayson Wenzlick, Andrew Stafford. (Dennis Saam/Paulding County Progress)


PAULDING VARSITY GIRLS TRACKMEMBERS OF THE Paulding 2013 girls’ track team are, front row from left – Rachel Kesler, Alesha Simon, Kayla Simon, Ashley Johanns, Meagan Weller,

Sidney Salinas; second row – Shayla Shepherd, Claudia Foltz, Maria Martinez, Ashleigh Marable, Malayna VanCleve, Emilee Ringler, Jaycie Varner; back row– Jenise Wells, Baylee Meyers, Tori Bradford, Emily Moore. (Dennis Saam/Paulding County Progress)

In league competition, Alvarez looks forLima Central Catholic to be strong in sprints,Lincolnview to be competitive in distanceruns and Columbus Grove to be overall verystrong.

Girls’ competition includes even more ath-letes with 25 competing this spring. Theladies will build their points around Sidney

l PHS TRACKContinued from Page 4

Salinas, a third-year letter winner who polevaulted 10 feet, tops in the Northwest Con-ference. In addition, Alvarez will be lookingto the likes of Meagan Weller, who competesin the 100 and 200 meter sprints. Last sea-son, Weller had a personal best of 11.5 in the100 meter run.

In addition, Maylana VanCleve, a second-

year track member, looks to be strong in the300 hurdles.

Alvarez looks for his girls to be strong inrelay competition, especially the 4x1 and4x4 relay events.

“We have a lot of promising freshmen,”said Alvarez. “We are going to be a lot morepromising with more flexibility.”

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when he is not pitching.“He started every game as a freshman last

year,” observed Leach. “He has a goodbreaking ball and fast ball.”

Trey Schroeder, a senior who is out for theteam for the first time, is expected to impacton the mound with a quality curve ball.Aside from pitching, the tall, lankySchroeder is expected to make a significantcontribution at first base.

“He is going to give us quality on themound,” observed Leach. “He had a goodsummer last year.”

The other senior on the squad is MichaelBauer, who looks to be the leadoff hitter andsenior leader on the squad. Defensively, hewill serve as the returning second basemanfrom last year.

“He is a very good fielder and a very goodhitter,” said Leach. “As the only returningsenior, he has a lot of leadership potential.Hitting-wise, he has the potential to hit .300this season.”

Junior Quentin Vance was the team’sleading hitter last year as a sophomore. With

a batting average of .430, he led the team inevery area of offense.

“He is one of the better centerfielders thatI have had since I’ve been here,” Leach said.

Opponents of the Panthers will discoverdouble trouble in the athletic ability of juniortwins Guy and Gerod Harder. Guy, who willserve as the team’s catcher, has taken greatstrides through his involvement with ACMEbaseball last summer. Gerod is returningfrom serving as right fielder last year andalso looks to be an effective pitcher this year.

“He did pretty well last summer in pitch-ing and looks pretty good so far this spring,”said Leach.

Junior Kyle Kauser’s decision to come offof a very successful basketball season andplay baseball has the Panther coaching staffsmiling. Kauser, who decided to play base-ball last summer, will switch off betweenshortstop and pitching.

“We are expecting great things from him,”Leach said. “He is a great athlete and goodpitcher.”

One other junior looks to contribute to thePanther cause in Justin Adams, a first yearplayer who looks to play outfield.

Two freshmen round out the team forPaulding. Damon Egnor will serve as a util-ity player, who will also see a lot of time onthe mound.

“He is a promising young pitcher; he willstart a lot of games,” noted Leach.

Also, Corbin Edwards looks to bea promising outfielder who is athletic with alot of speed.

“With the pitching that we have, if we canmake the routine plays, we should be ex-tremely competitive in the Northwest Con-ference this year,” noted Leach.

Leach said that other teams competing forthe league title could be Lima CentralCatholic, Crestview and an experiencedSpencerville squad.

bilities will fall into the hands of junior Emily Farr, who did well as a junior varsity pitcherthe past two years.

“She spots well and has a very good off-speed pitch,” observed Carr. “She will play somefirst base and looks to bat in the number four, five or six spot in the lineup.

“Jerika Bland, will return as the starting shortstop from last year,” continued Carr. “Shedoesn’t do anything outstanding, but she always makes the plays when they are needed. Sheis our infield leader.”

Bland is a contact hitter who averages over .300 at the plate. She will bat in either thesecond or fifth spot.

Letterwinner Alyssa Shelmadine will add speed to the outfield. Junior Abby Pease willreturn to play center field or left field after sitting out much of last season with an injury.She might also see some first base, Carr said.

“We are going to use her speed,” Carr said.Carr will also be counting on sophomore Brooke Combs to run bases. She ran bases half

of last season and was second in runs scored for last year’s squad.“Sophomore Suzanne Reinhard will start as backup catcher and compete for time in the

infield,” said Carr. “Morgan Riley, also a sophomore, will spend time contributing at secondand third base. As a sophomore, she will be one of our better hitters.

“Melissa Durham looks for time stepping up to an infield position,” Carr said. “She hasshown a lot of improvement this season.”

Kandee Manson, Carr said, is one of his best defensive outfielders and will be used as adefensive replacement. In addition, Manson bats from the left side because she makes bettercontact as a left hander.

“Kelsey Beck will be our starting catcher and the third or fourth hitter,” observed Carr.“We will be looking to her, along with Breana (Schmidt) to produce runs.”

Freshman Kristen Schilt rounds out the Panther lineup as a pitcher.“She throws a little harder than Emily (Farr). We will have a nice one-two pitching rotation

with her and Emily,” Carr said.One of the biggest challenges of the team is going to be scoring runs, said Carr. However,

if the squad can eliminate strikeouts and be more aggressive, it should be successful.“We need to be more aggressive early in the count,” noted Carr. “If we can get our hitters

to be more aggressive, we can eliminate strikeouts.”In Northwest Conference play, Carr likes Crestview with its returning players from last

year’s state championship team.

l PHS BASEBALLContinued from Page 2

l PHS SOFTBALLContinued from Page 3

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ANTWERP VARSITY BASEBALLMEMBERS OF THE Antwerp 2013 varsity baseball team are, front row from left – Tyler Messman, Jeffrey Coleman, Matt Reinhart, Brock Taylor, Collin Perry, Justice Clark, Jon Hudson; back

row – Head Coach Zac Feasby, Joe Buerkle, Derek Smalley, Andy Coleman, Colton Hamman, Cainan Carlisle, Alex Vail, Coach Matt Smalley, Coach Jim Reinhart. (Dennis Saam/Paulding County

Progress)

New coach expects Archers to competeBy JOE SHOUSE

SportswriterANTWERP – Ten letter winners return for

first-year head coach Zac Feasby, who islooking for vast improvement from lastyear’s Archer baseball team.

Antwerp is coming off a 5-18, 1-6 cam-paign in 2012, including a seventh place fin-

ish in the Green Meadows Conference. Intournament play, Antwerp bowed out in theCrestview sectional to Lincolnview, 13-2.

Feasby was an assistant last year and movesup to fill the position left by former head coachT.J. Hammer. “The transition from one coachto another should be fairly smooth as the kidswill know what to expect.”

Lost by way of graduation were two keyplayers in Shane Cline and Drew Taylor.Cline was a four-year starter who hit at a.328 clip last year, while Taylor used hisquickness to gain 14 stolen bases on 15 at-tempts.

“This year we have two seniors and a solidgroup of juniors who will need to step it up

and take the leadership role if we expect tobe successful,” said Coach Feasby.

Andy Coleman and Colton Hamman, bothseniors, will need to lead this year, accordingto Feasby. Coleman is primarily the team’scatcher, but can play most any position when

See AHS BASEBALL, page 10

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Rodenberger optimistic about upcoming seasonBy JOE SHOUSE

SportswriterANTWERP – Antwerp softball coach

Garry Rodenberger and the Lady Archers arecoming off a successful 2012 season. Look-ing ahead to the upcoming campaign thehead coach has several shoes to fill.

Graduated from a team that finished at thetop of the Green Meadows Conference at 6-1 and 17-6 overall includes First Team All-State pitcher Jayla Chamberlain, First TeamGMC A.J. Stuck, Second Team GMC TriciaSmalley, Second Team GMC Alex North,Second Team GMC Ann Reinhart, and Hon-orable Mention GMC Ashlee Smith andHarlee Hudson.

The Lady Archers ended their season atthe district finals, losing to Pettisville.

Returning lettermen for the 2013 cam-paign will be senior Avrial Sawyer, and a trioof sophomores in Cheyenne Miller-Sweet,Kelsey Titus and Olivia Temple.

Sawyer, a two-year letter winner, had abatting average of .286 while playing thecatcher position last season. Miller-Sweetsported a .273 batting average while Titus hitat a .295 average.

Rodenberger is expecting good thingsfrom Titus, who will lead off and play thirdbase for the Archers.

“I expect her to be a spark on this team.We have other key players returning from asuccessful program in Sawyer, Miller-Sweetand Temple, who will be important in pro-viding leadership to our younger kids,” saidCoach Rodenberger.

The remaining roster includes juniorKaiya Jemison, sophomore Nikki Hughes,along with five freshmen. The ninth graderslooking to contribute will be Avery Braaten,Sidney Barnhouse, Emily Derck, SierraCline and Beth Hawley.

Other players on the 2013 roster include

freshman Nikki Mills, sophomores Mariv-elle Flint and Darian Bauer, and two seniorsin Alyson Crawford and Octaven (Taven)Eaton.

“It’s important that we get our young play-ers acclimated early. We may take our bumpsearly but I believe as the season progresseswe will develop into a much better team,”

commented Rodenberger.With the loss of several key players, the

head coach feels pitching will be a majorfactor. Jemison received valuable experiencepitching on the junior varsity level and Ro-denberger believes she has the potential todevelop into a consistent pitcher this year.

“If we can develop an adequate pitching

staff, it will certainly help us in our effort toexcel this season.”

Young or old, the expectations remain thesame, according to Rodenberger. Teams witha larger base of returning upper-class letterwinners should experience the most successin the GMC this year.

“Edgerton has a solid core of players re-

ANTWERP VARSITY SOFTBALLMEMBERS OF THE Antwerp 2013 varsity softball team are, front from left – Emily Derck, Olivia Temple, Alyson Crawford, Avrial Sawyer,

Cheyenne Miller-Sweet, Octaven Eaton, Kelsey Titus, manager Callie Perry; second row – Kaiya Jemison, Sidney Barnhouse, Beth Hawley,Marivelle Flint, Sierra Cline, Nikki Hughes, Avery Braaten, Nikki Mills, Darian Bauer; back row – Head Coach Garry Rodenberger, Assistant

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Archer track team young and talentedBy JOE SHOUSE

SportswriterANTWERP – The Antwerp boys and girls

track and field team have been practicingoutside as much as possible during the earlyspring. Weather and cold conditions havehindered the Archers slightly, but early onit’s been about conditioning and getting inbetter shape for the upcoming season. Headcoach Cord Ehrhart is entering his seventhyear as head coach. The veteran has alsocoached the cross country team for 12 years.

On the girl’s side, Coach Ehrhart will havewhat he describes as a very young teamdominated by freshmen and sophomores.

“We only have 20 girls this year, but weseem to always struggle with numbers. Thisyear our numbers are down but we have agood group of talented girls,” said Ehrhart.

Returning this year to lead the LadyArchers is sophomore Bailee Sigman. “Shewas a regional qualifier last year in the 800and we are looking for her to do well in ourdistance races,” said Ehrhart.

The head coach is also excited about acouple of freshmen who he feels have thepotential to be solid in their events. “Annie

Miesle will be one of our hurdlers and Au-drie Longardner has the ability to do well inour sprints,” commented the head coach.

There are 20 girls participating on thetrack team for 2013 and they include seniorsChay Jackson and Lydia Yenser; juniorLizzy Rister; sophomores Julia Balser, Lau-ren Barrand, Rachel Becker, Maria Bradbury,Kayla Burns, Lydia Carr, Logan Emerson,Becky Major, Sam Provines, Maggie Reinhartand Bailee Sigman; and freshmen Audrie Lon-gardner, Annie Miesle, Paige Rebber, KianaRecker, Sammi Schneider and Brittany Smith.

Both the boys and girls teams should do wellon the track, but the area of concern for thehead coach will be in the field events. TheArchers lost Zach Dunlap and Brandon Dun-derman via graduation with both placing wellin a couple of field events. Dunlap was a statequalifier in the discus while Dunderman par-ticipated in the regional in the shot put.Cameron Huss, another graduated senior, wasa regional qualifier in the 200 and 400.

“Those three guys are a couple of big losesfor us and they will be hard to replace.”

Returning for the Archers is Colin Krick, a2012 regional qualifier in the mile. He will be

one of the distance runners that Ehrhart willlook to, not only for his ability on the track, butfor team leadership.

A freshman the head coach sees as a prom-ising addition to the track program is SamWilliamson. “Williamson won the district crosscountry meet at Liberty Center in the fall andwe plan for him to run the two mile event forus.”

This year there are approximately 24 boysrunning track and Ehrhart feels he will have awell balanced squad with his group of distancerunners being strong.

Early in the season Coach Ehrhart has a daywhen he takes his younger athletes and runsthem in a heptathlon, which is seven events inorder to determine the individual strength ofhis squad.

“It’s a little bit like a talent search to see whatthey can do best and then we put them in thoseparticular events to see how they compete.”

Team members include seniors Dakota Hart,Ryan Hatlevig, Cameron Huss, Colin Krick,Ed Reinhart, Isaac Reinhart, Kip Salas andVictor Williams; juniors Mason Gerken andErik Miesle; sophomores Colton Bennett,Jasper Godeke, Jerett Godeke, John Huss,

Jacob O’Donnell, Jacob Patterson and ParkerSwenson; and freshmen Erik Buchan, JusticeClark, Chase Gerken, Josh Longardner, AaronO’Donnell and Sam Williamson.

When looking at the GMC, Ehrhart feelsTinora will be the team to beat.

“They are the biggest school in our confer-ence and therefore they have more kids to drawfrom. They are usually at the top each year.”

The Archers will be in action on Tuesday,April 2 when they travel to Hilltop for a tri-meet along with Edgerton. On Thursday, April4, the Archers will be on the road at Tinora withanother tri-meet along with Wayne Trace.

ANTWERP VARSITY TRACKMEMBERS OF THE Antwerp 2013 varsity track team include, front row from left – Mason Gerken, Parker Swenson, Colton Bennett, Aaron O’Donnell, Isaac Reinhart, Rachel Becker, Jerett

Godeke, Ed Reinhart; second row – Paige Rebber, Becky Major, Maria Bradbury, Kiana Recker, Audrie Longardner, Bailee Sigman, Kayla Burns, Julia Balser, Annie Miesle, Samantha Provines,Logan Emerson; third row – Colton Hall, Lauren Barrand, Maggie Reinhart, Lydia Carr, Brittany Smith, Asia Flinn, Colin Krick, Noah Ganger, Justice Clark, Jacob O’Donnell, Jon Huss; backrow – Assistant Coach Pat Miesle, Jacob Patterson, Jack Godeke, Chase Gerken, Erik Miesle, Erik Buchan, Josh Longardner, Cameron Huss, Victor Williams, Ryan Hatlevig, Dakota Hart, HeadCoach Cord Ehrhart. (Dennis Saam/Paulding County Progress)


called on. Coleman, an All-GMC performerlast year, was impressive at the plate, hitting.410 with 16 RBI’s. As a pitcher, he finishedwith a 2.95 ERA while striking out 38 in pick-ing up two wins and two saves while droppingfive contests.

Hamman split his time at first base and onthe pitching mound while collecting a battingaverage of .250.

The group of juniors that Feasby is lookingto help turn the program around are DerekSmalley, Kaden Brumett, Tyler Messman, JoeBuerkle and Matt Reinhart.

“This group played last year and got a lot ofexperience. If we want to be more competitivethis year we need positive production fromthis group,” commented the first-year coach.

Smalley is coming off a season where hewas a threat at the plate hitting at .311 and 13-of-16 in stolen bases. Both Smalley andBrumett were also used in the pitching rotationwith each picking up a win on the season. Thisyear Mussman, Buerkle and Reinhart will becalled on to play solid defense at their positionwhile providing some quality at bats in thelower portion of the order.

“Our first four to five hitters should be solid,but we’re looking for the bottom of the line-up to step up more than last year.”

Also returning for the Archers who letteredlast season are sophomores Trenton Copsey

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and Collin Perry. Copsey will hold down thefirst base position while Perry will fill one ofthe outfield spots.

Coach Feasby is excited about his four un-derclassmen who will see action this year.Freshmen Jeff Coleman, Justin Clark andCainan Carlisle, along with sophomore JonHudson, lead the list of promising newcom-ers.

Looking over the upcoming season. thecoach is looking to improve and be more com-petitive.

“Last year’s 5-18 season was not what weanticipated; however, it was an improvementfrom the previous year. The team will strive toimprove on last season even further and lookto be more competitive in league play,” hesaid.

The Coach concluded, “I am hopeful andconfident that the upcoming season will be agreat start in the right direction.”

Feasby is a 2004 Antwerp graduate who re-ceived his bachelor’s degree at Bowling GreenState University and his masters at the Uni-versity of Toledo.

l AHS SOFTBALLContinued from Page 8turning and Tinora should be much improved. No team in the league has lost as much as wehave.”

Rodenberger is starting his sixth year as head coach of the Lady Archers. Overall, in the11 years as a head coach, Rodenberger has carved out a career record of 184-74.

The Lady Archers open up their 2013 season at home against Edon on April 1 followedby a home date with Hicksville the following night.




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WAYNE TRACE VARSITY BASEBALLMEMBERS OF THE Wayne Trace 2013 varsity baseball teams include, front row from left – Jacob Dingus, Andy Hicks, Jared Sherry, Cade Harvey, Grant Gillett, Cassidy Hilkey, Sean Durre;

back row – Coach Mike Speice, Caleb Mead, Broc Forrer, Colby Speice, T.J. Blackmore, Zach Mansfield, Aaron Stoller, Marcus McVay, Coach Larry Pressler. (Dennis Saam/Paulding County

See WT BASEBALL, page 16

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Raiders excited about upcoming seasonBy KEVIN WANNEMACHER

SportswriterHAVILAND – Coming off of a disappoint-

ing 4-21 season, the Wayne Trace baseballteam enters the 2013 campaign with excite-ment of what it can accomplish in the upcom-ing year.

The Raiders return eight letter winners from

last year’s squad with two others who saw lim-ited varsity playing time.

That combination, in conjunction with somefreshman who have shown potential, hasWayne Trace head coach Larry Pressler veryoptimistic about 2013.

“I have been really happy with how thingshave progressed so far,” noted Pressler, who

is in his second stint and 23rd season at thehelm of the Raider program. “The kids haveworked extremely hard and they are just agood bunch of kids.”

Leading the way for the red, white and blueare a trio of seniors, all of which have showntremendous leadership, according to Pressler.

“The seniors have provided really good lead

leadership,” Pressler added. “And they havedone it by example, showing a lot of positiveenergy.”

Seniors on the squad includeinfielder/pitcher Cade Harvey, outfielder


Baumle looking for great things from WTBy KEVIN WANNEMACHER

SportswriterHAVILAND – There is no doubt that

Wayne Trace’s softball team enters the 2013season with great pitching, bringing back allthree hurlers from a year ago.

However, the red, white and blue strug-gled both at the plate and in the field last sea-son and those areas both need to show

drastic improvement for Wayne Trace to besuccessful.

Raider head coach Jack Baumle, who be-gins his second stint and second season as ahead coach at Wayne Trace, feels like thesquad will be much improved in both.

“I think offensively we will be a much im-proved team,” noted Baumle. “The girlshave really put in a lot of time over the off-

season and have been hitting the ball insidevery, very well.”

Wayne Trace did average just under sixruns a game in 2012, but the red, white andblue struggled in its final 10 games as theyplated only 25 runs in that stretch, winningonly one of them.

“One thing that I hope to see improvementin is coming up with clutch hit in a key situ-

ation,” continued the Raider mentor. “I thinkin that area, with another year’s experience,that we will be much better.”

The Raiders bring back nine letter winnersfrom a year ago, led by a pair of seniors inKaleigh Young and Chelsea Critchfield.

Young is the team’s top pitcher, postingsix wins last season while striking out 90batters in 77 plus innings. The senior also hit.264 at the plate, scoring seven runs whiledriving in a dozen.

Critchfield added six runs scored, compil-ing a .278 on base percentage last season.

Juniors Brenda Feasby, Emilie Linder,Libby Stabler and Maddie McClure alsocome back for Wayne Trace.

Feasby hit .262 last season with 10 runsscored and nine runs batted in while Linderbatted .329, scoring 23 times and driving in11. Stabler scored seven runs and added sixRBI’s for Wayne Trace.

A trio of sophomores also return, includ-ing a pair of pitchers.

Molly Crosby was 3-4 on the season lastyear with a 2.81 earned run average, fanning58 in 37 plus innings of work. AddisonBaumle recorded a 1-4 record, striking out41 in 43 innings. Baumle also hit .356 at theplate and scored 22 runs while adding eightdoubles a year ago. Crosby batted .339 with10 runs scored.

“Our pitching is set with the three girlsback,” continued Baumle. “We should beable to make adjustments as needed on themound with the depth we have.”

Mackenzie Swary moves into the catchingposition after playing in the outfield a yearago. Swary hit .225 with 19 runs and 10RBI’s last season.The infield is settled at the corners with Sta-

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WAYNE TRACE VARSITY SOFTBALLMEMBERS OF THE Wayne Trace 2013 varsity softball team include, front row from left – Brenda Feasby, Maddie McClure, Chelsea Critchfield,

Kaleigh Young, Emilie Linder, Libby Stabler; back row – Coach Jack Baumle, Sydney Critten, Addison Baumle, Mackenzie Swary, Molly Crosby,Brooke Wilcox, Carley Wright, Coach Amber Showalter. (Dennis Saam/Paulding County Progress) See WT SOFTBALL, page 16


Branch feels Raiders are improved, competitive

WAYNE TRACE VARSITY BOYS TRACKMEMBERS OF THE Wayne Trace 2013 boys’ track team include, front row from left – Nick Durre, Tyler Showalter, Logan Fast, Arlen Stoller, Clint Sinn, Gabe Wobler, Austin Kuhn, Devin

Wenzlick; second row – Jake Arend, Scott Wenninger, David Sinn, Ryan Kortokrax, Jared Eklund, Edwin Van den Hengel, Hank Sinn, Brock Worden, Alec Kuhn, Bryce Eutzler; third row –Austin Conlon, Josh Reel, Liam Marihugh, Wes Goings, Jake Gerber, Jake Baksa, Justin Pierce, Nate Roop; back row – Kenny Ganter, Conner Arend, Korbin Showalter, Tom Lantow, BrandonZartman, Izaih Greathouse, Cole Shepherd, Daron Showalter, Garrett Stollings; coaches: John Dawson, Chad Critten left, and Troy Branch and Brian Yenser on right. (Dennis Saam/Paulding

By KEVIN WANNEMACHERSportswriter

HAVILAND – Veteran Wayne Trace trackcoach Troy Branch is looking forward to the2013 season as the red, white and blue rosterincludes 39 boys and 25 girls entering thecampaign.

On the boys side, the Raiders enter the yearwith more depth but will have to overcomesome inexperience according to Branch.

“The boys team comes into the year withgood depth and we feel like we can be verycompetitive this year,” noted Branch. “We aregoing to have some youth mixed in so youdon’t know how those kids will adapt to thevarsity level but we feel like we have good po-tential.”

One of the strengths of the Raider boys willbe a solid group of sprinters to go along withquality distance runners as well.

“We should be able to be very solid in thesprints,” continued the Raider mentor. “We’vegot a couple of good kids back in Jared (Ek-lund) and Wes (Goings) and we think Jake(Arend) will also be very versatile for us. Withthe numbers we have, we should be able tohave a chance to score points in each event.

“In the distance events, we have some ex-perience back and some quality newcomers aswell so that is a good mix for us,” added

Branch.The Raider roster includes only two seniors

in Jared Eklund and Ryan Kortokrax.“Field event wise, it is another area where

we have kids capable of scoring in each eventthis year,” Branch stated. “Ryan is back in theshot put after advancing to the state meet andwe have a solid mix of experienced kids and

See WT TRACK, page 15




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WAYNE TRACE VARSITY GIRLS TRACKMEMBERS OF THE Wayne Trace 2013 girls’ track team include, front row from left – Gina Sinn, Alexis Sutton, Rylee Zartman, Shayna Temple, Taylor Grant, Erin Jewell, Becca Hamrick;

second row – Abbie Shepherd, Carrigan Critten, Stacy Flint, Haley Saylor, Brianna Sinn, Aestraea Martinez, Darian Edwards, Madi Poling; back row – Alexis Flores, Krystal Wannemacher,Dani Kortokrax, Estie Sinn, Emily Mohr, Jodi Willitzer, Erin Mohr; coaches – Chad Critten, John Dawson, Troy Branch, Brian Yenser and Annette Sinn. (Dennis Saam/Paulding County Progress)

newcomers who will battle in the otherevents.”

Juniors on the Raider roster include AustinConlon, Logan Fast, Kenny Ganter, Jake Ger-ber, Wes Goings, Alec Kuhn, Arlen Stoller,Garrett Stollings, Devin Wenzlick, BrockWorden and Brandon Zartman.

Wayne Trace sophomores participating areJake Arend, Rylen Asher, Jacob Dingus, BryceEutsler, Iziah Greathouse, Justin Pierce, JoshReel, Robert Seffernick, Daron Showalter,

Tyler Showalter, David Sinn, Hank Sinn andJames Weaver.

“With youth, you just don’t know how theyare going to adapt to the level difference fromjunior high to high school,” commentedBranch. “That is always a concern.”

A dozen freshman dot the Raider roster.Connor Arend, Jake Baksa, Nick Durre,Austin Kuhn, Tom Lantow, Liam Marihugh,Nate Roop, Cole Shepherd, Clint Sinn, EdwinVan Den Hengel, Scott Wenninger and Gabe

Wobler all will take part in track at the highschool level for the first time.

“The guys have shown a great work ethicand have worked very hard so far,” concludedBranch on the boys squad. “We feel like if wecontinue to improve the way we have to thispoint, this team can be a challenger. But wehave to keep getting better and working hard.”

On the girls side, the numbers are more of aconcern but Branch also knows the Raiders dohave talent as well.

Wayne Trace’s roster includes only threeseniors in Taylor Grant, Krystal Wannemacherand Rylee Zartman, but the Raider mentor iscounting on the trio to lead the rest of thesquad.

“The seniors will be asked to do a great jobof leading the team both on the track and offthe track,” Branch noted. “Those three girlshave a lot of track experience combined andwe will need them to be good role models forthe younger girls. We will be counting on themin a lot of ways this year.”

The Raider head coach thinks the relaysquads will be able to compete and that WayneTrace should be very solid in the sprints.

“Sprint-wise, we have a number of girlswho can be solid in those events,” added thered, white and blue head coach. “Middle dis-

tance is solid with returnees and we have somelong distance kids that should be very compet-itive. Our biggest concern is the field eventsin the fact that we have to develop some moreconsistency and show improvement.”

Six juniors dot the roster in Alexis Flores,Danielle Kortokrax, Emily Mohr, Abbie Shep-herd and Jodi Willitzer.

Sophomores expected to contribute includeCarrigan Critten, Darian Edwards, RebeccaHamrick, Erin Jewell, Katrina Lusk, HaleySaylor, Gina Sinn and Alexis Sutton.

Eight freshmen also will participate at thehigh school level for the first time. Stacy Flint,Brooke Ludwig, Courtney Mead, Erin Mohr,Brianna Sinn, Estie Sinn, Shayna Temple andHollie Wannemacher all will start their highschool careers this year.

“I give the girls a lot of credit,” continuedBranch. “They have worked extremely hardthis year and have had superb attitudes andwork ethics. We have a challenge in the factwe just have to keep getting better and wewant to show improvement each week of theseason. If we do that, we feel like we can bevery competitive.”

Wayne Trace will open the season in aGreen Meadows Conference tri-meet on April4 as the Raiders and Antwerp travel to Tinora.

l WT TRACKContinued from Page 14


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Caleb Mead and infielder Zach Mansfield.Harvey led the team in runs scored with

11 a year ago while hitting .250 and compil-ing a .353 on base percentage. Mead hit .255last year and Mansfield posted a .316 aver-age and .421 slugging percentage.

Wayne Trace also brings back five juniorsto the squad, led by pitchers Colby Speiceand Broc Forrer along with catcher AaronStoller. Junior outfielder Jared Sherry and in-fielder/pitcher Marcus McVay also comeback for the Raiders.

Speice hit .263 a year ago with ten runsscored while Forrer batted .246, scored ninetimes and drove in eight runs.

“We feel pretty good about our pitchingstaff,” commented Pressler. “We’ve got sev-eral kids that we feel like we can put outthere and be competitive. One of the thingswe have worked on extremely hard is topound the strike zone more so than we didlast year. We need to limit our walks and thatis going to be a key for us. We think ourpitching staff will be solid this year.”

Juniors T.J. Blackmore and Jacob Dingusalso are expected to contribute at the varsitylevel, both on the mound and in the field.

l WT BASEBALLContinued from Page 12

l WT SOFTBALLContinued from Page 12

bler taking first and Linder playing third.The middle infield is more of a revolvingdoor, with Young, Baumle and Crosby allpotentially playing any of the three positionsdepending on the opponents.

Feasby and McClure are most likely twoof the outfielders with the third spot still upfor grabs.

Junior Brooke Wilcox may see some var-sity action in the outfield and the freshmenduo of Sydney Critten and Carley Wrightalso are battling for playing time at the var-sity level.

Sophomores Kierstan Baldwin, ElizabethBrown, Kayla Dilling, Samantha Hinchcliff,Courtney Laney, Leah Sinn, Katie Stricklerand Kayla Zuber along with freshman Carrie

Thrasher are also battling for playing time.“We have to do a better job defensively

and I think we will,” added the Raider headcoach. “I feel like our infield is pretty solidand should be able to make plays for us. Westill have question marks in the outfield de-pending on the rest of our lineup. Overall,the girls have worked very hard and we areexcited for the season to get started.”

Wayne Trace will open the season on April2 as the Lady Raiders visit Ottoville. WayneTrace also will travel to Paulding on April 4before visiting Lima Central Catholic for adoubleheader on April 6. The red, white andblue opens Green Meadows Conference playon April 11 when they visit Edgerton.

Freshman Andy Hicks also has surprised theRaider mentor.

“If we limit the walks and do a better jobof making teams earn things, we feel like wecan be very competitive,” added the Raiderhead coach. “Another area we have put a lotof time is our hitting. This team has workedvery, very hard on improving on the littlethings and we feel like that should be a bighelp to us.

“Our biggest concern is scoring runs,”Pressler continued. “We have to be able togenerate offense and come up with the bighits in key at-bats. Aaron (Stoller) has reallyimproved as a catcher and Andy (Hicks) hasvery quick hands and has shown potential.

“Overall, all of the kids have been verypositive and are excited about the opportu-nity to compete,” concluded the Raider men-tor. “We are looking forward to getting theseason started.”

The Raiders open the season with a roadtrip to Continental on April 1 before hostingStryker on April 2. Wayne Trace also hashome games in the opening week againstLima Bath on April 4 and a doubleheaderwith Edon on April 6.

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