With many key players returning after a spectacular 30-1 season a year ago, the Anthony Wayne softball team was expecting good things this year.
But even the Generals of 10th-year coach Ron Myers probably weren't expecting to start the 2023 season with such dominance as they have.
After Monday's 16-0 Northern Lakes League victory at Southview, Anthony Wayne is a perfect 7-0 overall (2-0 NLL) and has outscored its opposition 96-0 heading into Friday's next league test at Northview.
The Generals, who were Ohio's top-ranked Division I team is last year's final state coaches poll, are ranked No. 19 in the most recent (April 6) USA Today national prep softball poll. Ohio's first state poll is set to be released on May 7.
In what has been a lethal confluence of potent offense and near perfect pitching, the Generals have ended all seven of their games by mercy rule after five innings.
They have pounded out 96 hits in 183 at-bats (.524 team batting average) and belted 12 home runs.
Meanwhile, the pitching staff has combined to allow just 14 hits in seven games in blanking foes for 35 innings, recording 76 strikeouts versus just seven walks.
“We've been very blessed so far,” Myers said of the perfect start. “Our bats have come alive and, defensively, we have some pretty talented pitching and catching.”
“The girls are just having fun. We try not to put pressure on ourselves. We try to create a family environment here. Part of our team culture is that we win and we lose the same. We expect everybody to go out and try their best and keep working to get better every day, and work on the little things to get better.”
Leading the hit parade have been juniors Abby Kennelly (shortstop) and Essence Dobbelaere-Buchman (outfield), freshman Megan Sumner (third base), junior Trinity Nowicki (catcher), and senior pitcher-outfielder Brooklyn Patchen.
Lead-off hitter Kennelly, a Kent State commit, is batting .720 (18-for-25) with 17 runs scored. She was named first team All-NLL in 2022.
Dobbelaere-Buchman, better known as “D-B,” is batting .700 (14-for-20) out of the No. 2 spot. She has seven extra-base hits, 18 runs batted in, and 18 runs scored. She was also first team All-NLL last year.
“We put a lot of work in behind the scenes and having a good team energy really helps us,” Dobbelaere-Buchman said. “I've been playing with some of these girls since I was 9, so it's great to still see us all here working hard.”
Sumner, who hits fifth, is at .619 (13-for-21) with five doubles and 10 RBIs.
Nowicki, who has committed to Kennesaw (Ga.) State, is hitting .591 (13-for-22) out of the cleanup spot, with five doubles, three home runs, and 13 RBIs.
“Honestly, it's just our energy so far, and the overall team bond that we have,” Nowicki said. “We're just building off that, and I'm really excited for the season.
“We're just coming back with all that force from last year, and bringing that into this year. All that energy, and all that hype. Everyone is on the same page hitting, and getting good hits. We're facing pretty good competition, and we've just been doing amazing.”
Patchen, who will play at Creighton University in Omaha, was first team All-Ohio and All-NLL pitcher in 2022. She is hitting .542 (13-for-24) with nine extra-base hits, including five homers, with a team-best 24 RBIs. In the circle, Patchen is 4-0 with 10 hits allowed and 31 strikeouts in 14 innings.
“We're all just focused on having fun this year, and the runs just come with having a good team bond and trusting each other,” Patchen said. “Coming off a good year last year, everyone's just having fun.”
All of this has been accomplished without the services of one of AW's most talented senior players, speedy center fielder Emily Liskai, who is out for the season with a knee injury sustained during her winter gymnastics season. Liskai, who was first team All-NLL and second team All-Ohio in 2022, batted .513 last year with nine homers and 46 RBIs. She will play at West Texas A&M University.
Patchen is half of AW's dynamic mound duo along with junior Kat Meyers, a University of Michigan commit whose fastball has been clocked at 71 mph. Meyers, who fired a five-inning no-hitter Monday at Southview, struck out 14 among 15 outs. Meyers is 3-0 with 31 strikeouts and two hits allowed in 14 innings.
“We have so much energy in the dugout, and we know we can count on each one of our pitchers, and on the offense to pick us up,” Meyers said. “We know whoever goes out on the mound can shut 'em down.”
Adding to AW's pitching depth are Meyers' twin sister Ally and sophomore Molly Conner. Ally Meyers, who has committed to Ohio University, has worked four scoreless innings, allowing one hit. Conner, who is batting .429 (6-for-14) and is also a D-I pitching recruit, has worked three scoreless innings and allowed one hit.
“There's not enough innings to go around, which I guess is a good problem to have,” Kat Meyers said. “We could have two pitchers not feeling good and we still have two [other] Division I pitchers that would be ready to go.”
On most other area teams, Ally Meyer and Conner would be solid No. 1 starters.
“We have four pitchers right now who are going to pitch at the collegiate level,” Myers said. “That's something that's just unheard of, and something we're playing off of right now. We literally have a college pitching staff here.”
Things are about to begin heating up for the Generals schedule-wise.
On Saturday, they travel to Mason, Ohio, for games against the Comets, who have reached the D-I state semifinals four times, and local foe Whitmer. On Monday, AW plays host to expected NLL contender Perrysburg, and next Wednesday comes the first league showdown with 2022 D-I state runner-up Springfield on the road.
Last year, after losing to the Generals twice in NLL play, the Blue Devils rallied to a 5-4 walk-off win over AW in the regional semifinals, the Generals' lone loss after starting 30-0.
On April 21, Anthony Wayne opens against defending Division II state champion Wooster Triway in the opening round of the eight-team Wendy's Invitational in Ashland.
The weekend of April 28-29, AW travels to the prestigious Prebis Invitational at LaGrange (Ohio) Keystone High School, where it will face eight-time state champion North Canton Hoover, three-time state champion Cuyahoga Falls Walsh Jesuit, and Wooster Triway for a second time.
The challenging nonleague slate, combined with the usually strong NLL schedule, should serve to prepare Anthony Wayne in a quest to reach the state final four for the fourth time in school history.
The Generals lost in the D-I semifinals in 2001 and won the 2003 state championship under former head coach Carolyn Vogtsberger, who this season has been keeping the scorebook for AW, which returned to the D-I final four under Myers in 2021.
“I think that's driving us a little bit,” Patchen said of last year's regional loss, “but I don't think we're too focused on that. That was last year and we're a different team this year. We just try to go 1-0 each day.
“I'm just hoping to have a good senior year and to take in all these moments that I have with these girls. Team-wise, we want to go as far as we can. If that's states, then that's great. But if it's not, I'll know we had a good year.”
First Published April 13, 2023, 10:28 p.m.
