I jumped on a bandwagon last weekend. It was a short ride, but a fun one. The bandwagon was for the Mohawk Warriors softball team as they made their successful trip to the state championship.
One of my wife’s nieces, Danelle Kirian, was one of the four seniors on the team that defeated Convoy Crestview 6-1 in the Division III State Championship game. How often do you get to watch a relative play for a state championship? So we headed out for Brookside Park in Ashland Saturday morning.
We’re really glad we did. It was a great game. Both teams were a bit shaky for the first couple of innings. Finally, Danelle’s second at bat, two outs, two on and she lofts the ball into the outfield, racing to second base and driving in the first two runs of the game.
Four more Warrior runs came in the fourth inning. Kristyn Tooley drove in Amanda Karcher. Jodi Calmes drove in Hana Mohrman and Calli Coppus drove in two more.
The suspense did not end, though. Several times, the Knights threatened but pitcher Aubrey Walton and the Warrior’s defense held them in check.
State Champs. Mohawk’s first state titled team. Nothing more you can do. Nothing more you can accomplish in softball.
To Coach Jenny Weinandy, her staff and her team … Congratulations.
Their school, the fans who followed them all season, and their whole community should be proud.
Congratulations also are in order for Old Fort senior Bryan Ryman. All he did was win both the 100 and 200 meter dashes with personal record times at the state track meet in Dayton.
He helped lead his teammates to the state runner up trophy in Division III.
New Riegel’s Jason Bumb took second in the 3200.
Honors also to Carime Reinhart of Hopewell-Loudon, who finished second in the mile and fourth in the two mile … and to New Riegel senior Alana Margraf, who came in fourth in the 800.
Some say that too much is made of high school sports. Sometimes that’s true. But when kids make the sacrifices they make, work as hard as they can, and get rewarded for it, even if those rewards don’t include 90 million dollar shoe contracts, it can’t be all bad.