Big Red made great strides

By AARON PETCHAL, sports writer
STEUBENVILLE — The Steubenville Big Red softball team made great strides throughout the season under the guidance of head coach Donnie Reeves.

Big Red’s season season came to a close with a 2-0 loss to Indian Creek in an Ohio Division II Eastern District sectional quarterfinal on Saturday.

Freshman pitcher Terri Lynn Wolfe pitched well in the loss, giving up one earned run in the game.

“Terri Lynn pitched an excellent ballgame,” Reeves remarked. “She gave up one big hit for the first run of the game. She is a battler. She battled herself out of a lot of jams. She is growing she is learning.

“All of these girls, from the beginning of the year until right now, we as a coaching staff have seen tremendous improvement in these girls. Their attitude, their fundamentals even the mental aspect of the game has totally improved, and we made a nice turnaround. That is great for the future.”

Early in the season, Big Red (6-14) struggled a little bit defensively, but the team really turned things around in the last few weeks.

“I think the last week-and-a-half of the season we did a little bit better defensively,” Reeves said. “It is a crazy game, and every pitch means another situation. It is a game where you have got to be on your toes every pitch and be ready and expect the ball to be hit to you every time.

“I think the girls started to realize that, to get their heads in the game for seven innings, 21 outs and it really showed the last week-and-a-half of the season. They really came prepared and stayed focused.

“Sometimes you end up on the short end, but overall we are very proud of them and we are looking for good things from them in the future. It’s a great bunch of girls.”

Big Red does not have a senior on the roster.

“You can’t try to build a mansion in one day,” Reeves stated. “We wanted to start small with them, and we knew this year would be a learning experience for these girls. There were times we got really frustrated and shouted at them, but that all comes down to us testing their mental strength.

“Are you going to fold under pressure when a coach gets on you and hide, or are you going to brush it off and step up and make the next big play?

“All 12 of these girls as the year went on, if we got on them individually for little things here and there, you could see it in their eyes and the way they carried themselves on the field or at the plate that they didn’t let little things like that bother them.

“They really came together as a team and stepped it up and gave us 110 percent. That is all we can ask for.

“We tell them every year at the end of every season, you can’t put your glove and bat down and expect to pick it up next February. You have got to get out there and play.

“You have to become dedicated, and that is the only way you can go up to the next level is by playing this game as much as you can and working on all of the little parts of the game.

“I think this is a great bunch of girls They are good hard workers, and I think they will do just that and hopefully next year will be a very good season.”



(Petchal can be contacted at apetchal@heraldstaronline.com)