The Wadsworth Varsity Softball team has used a crushing early season defeat to help solidify their goals for the remainder of this season.
It was a cruel April Fool’s Joke on Wadsworth. That defeat was a 4-3 loss at home to Highland on April 1. The Hornets scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning to ‘steal’ the victory in a Suburban League game.
Instead of letting that loss linger, Wadsworth head coach Michelle DeAngelis used that game as a teaching moment. “We talked to the girls about playing all seven innings. I think that loss was the turnaround moment in our season.”
Before the season began, DeAngelis talked to her players about what she calls the ‘Five Pillars of a Championship Team.” One of those pillars is determination and mental toughness. “There are things we can and cannot control. We can’t control the weather. It’s spring and we’re in Ohio.”
When the team is forced inside because of the weather, DeAngelis has told her team to make the best of it. “Since that Highland loss, we spend a lot
of time in the batting cages getting better and working on our weaknesses.”
Since that April Fool’s Day loss, Wadsworth has run off four straight wins on the softball diamond, including a 9-2 win Monday afternoon against Suburban League foe Copley. The game was called after six innings because of rain.
One of the goals of this year’s Wadsworth Softball team, to win the Suburban League title. And that’s no foolin’.
