FINDLAY (Crawford County Now) — Mallory Brickner is one of a handful of junior leaders who recall Mohawk’s trip to the OHSAA softball Final Four a year ago.

“Losing those seniors last year, we thought we had to develop more chemistry with the girls coming up,” she said.

“We’ve done that, and it’s awesome that we have hitters. And freshmen who can come in in the big moments too.”

Three freshmen started the regional title game on a team with no seniors.

The Lady Warriors have done that and more to win the Northwest region and earn a spot in Thursday’s 12:30 p.m. Division VII semifinal against Notre Dame (26-4) from the Southeast region. The Titans won 3-2 over Conotton Valley and are the defending state champions.

Tough pill to swallow

Head coach Mindy Walton and her squad wanted a second straight trip, following a narrow loss to Monroeville in the state semis last spring.

“All season one of our goals has been to get back to Akron. First it was winning the N10 and then the district and regional. We feel like we have unfinished business there,” she said.

Tough foes in both the Northern 10 Athletic Conference and bigger school non-league opponents have helped prepare the team.

“There is no down team in the N10. No matter how you played them the night before, it can be a completely different game. Our league prepares us for this.”

Always playing

Brickner said the hard work year-round has paid dividends.

“We are looking at a tough region. Just go in with our heads up high. We know what we are capable of doing. We just need to play our game and see what happens.

“Our hitting is improved with time in the (batting) cages. We don’t take weeks off, even Sundays. We play travel ball, fall ball and winter ball,” Brickner said.

They play spring ball too — and have some eye-popping hitting numbers to show for it, including a team

BA of .410.

  • Third baseman Katie Woodland, the N10’s Player of the Year, has 11 round-trippers and a league-high .663 batting average. She also has 14 triples, 15 doubles and 63 runs scored.
  • Mallory Brickner is hitting .446 with 16 doubles and is an anchor behind home plate.
  • Emily Brickner has slugged 7 home runs and scored 52 runs and played strong defensively at shortstop.
  • Right fielder Mara Haynes has 9 HRs and 7 doubles.
  • Aubrey Gottfried has driven in 46 runs and Mallory Brickner 33.
  • For her career she owns 800 strikeouts. She’s 17 Ks away from beating her own N10 season record of 326 she set as a sophomore.

The final step

A 26-3 record and outscoring four opponents 50-5 has gotten the Lady Warriors this far. But they recognize the state tourney is a steeper climb.

“We know it’s really good competition coming from the Southeast region. All of those teams (in the state tourney) are state champion-like teams. We’ll prepare for them the next few days, but enjoy this tonight,” Walton said after Mohawks’ 6-2 regional title win over Edgerton.

Gottfried has been a bellwether for the past two years. In the circle she has an ERA of 1.65. In the regional finals win she struck out 16 batters.

“It’s really hard to get back to state. For us, being so young it’s great. It’s one game at a time, one pitch at a time,” she said.

“We obviously don’t have the returning seniors that we had. We have a lot of new faces, freshmen and sophomores. We’ve taken them under our wing and shown them how we play ball. They’ve done a great job of adapting to everything.”

Regarding the power of this year’s club and the support from her teammates, she said:

“Katie is so good. She’s one of my closest friends. She knows how to calm me down in tight situations. And Mallory, my catcher, has my back too.”

Regarding her pitching repertoire, which includes a feared rise ball, it’s simple.

“I’m good with anything. We need to warm up and see what’s working. You don’t want to throw what’s not working or that leads to home runs and extra base hits,” Gottfried said.

“I talk to the coaches, look at the scouting reports and see what we think works.”

Youngster shines

An unsung hero emerged in the win last Friday night.

Freshman Megan Johnson, who hit a 3-run HR in the regional championship. She came in to hit after being the flex for the post-season.

“Hard work and motivation throughout the season that I got from parents, friends and teammates. Don’t ever give up,” she said.

“I normally play second; that’s like my home. I tried to work hard and prove myself. Getting that (home run) … It was just amazement.”

NOTES:

  • Division VII semifinal #1 (10 a.m.) Thursday: Cortland Maplewood vs. No. 6 South Charleston Southeastern.
  • Division VII semifinal #2 (12:30 p.m.) Thursday: No. 2 Sycamore Mohawk vs. No. 3 Portsmouth Notre Dame.
  • Division VII championship (8 p.m.) Friday.
  • State tournament tickets are $10 for students and $16 for adults.
  • WBCO will air the Mohawk-ND game live.
  • All games will be broadcast live on the OHSAA Radio Network.