Lady Zs taking it serious but also having fun on their way to sectional title

Class 2A regional: Rochester at Rossville, 6 p.m. tonight

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Rochester senior Darah Strasser cracks a two-run double down the right field line in the Lady Zs’ 16-1 win over Manchester in the Class 2A, Sectional 38 final at Oak Hill Thursday. Rochester will travel to Rossville at 6 p.m. today for a regional. (photo provided by Paula Beehler)

The Rochester softball team’s season narrative can be described simply.

They were 4-3. They had a two-hour practice after an error-plagued 9-5 home loss to North Miami April 17. Then they went 17-1 after that, and their most recent win was a 16-1 rout of Manchester in five innings in the Class 2A, Sectional 38 final at Oak Hill Thursday for their first back-to-back sectional titles since 2004-05.

Now the No. 15 Lady Zs will travel to Rossville to take on the No. 10 Lady Hornets in a regional at 6 p.m. today.

While the one practice might have been a turning point, there might have been a more gradual change: A team full of dead-serious perfectionists learned to have fun and like each other.

And by the time the sectional final rolled around, they were unified.

“We came out really focused,” Rochester coach Jim Coleman said after the Manchester game, in which they led 3-0 after one inning. “Our girls put the stick on the ball really well and really set the tone.”

First baseman Mia Howdeshell, the only senior that is a lineup regular besides Strasser, repeated a mantra about the team: “The sky’s the limit.”

And she noted the key to the first inning against Manchester.

“We scored in the first couple of innings for the first time in awhile,” Howdeshell said. “I think that’s a big thing that we struggle with is scoring in the first couple innings. A lot of times that gives teams hope, and when we just keep our foot on the gas from the very start, I think it helps us and kind of discourages the other team.”

The 4-3 start, which included a loss by 10-run rule at home to Pioneer, seems like a long time ago. In a way, five weeks is a long time ago.

“Right now we’re pretty high. … It really goes back to the North Miami game,” Coleman said. “Since then, they started to buy in and believe and really get back to the way they were playing at the end of last season. For them to understand that situation, learn from it, grow from it and just keep pushing and never settle at any portion of the season. Credit to our entire team. They really fought. If you look six games in, where we were and how they were able to turn that around and then build off that each and every game, I’m very proud of them. A great group of kids – kids that hate to lose.”

Senior center fielder Darah Strasser is hitting .415 on the season and went 3 for 6 with three RBIs in two sectional games.

“It feels great,” Strasser said. “Back to back, super proud of this team.”

Strasser was then asked about the practice after the North Miami game.

“That definitely was a turning point,” Strasser said. “I think it lit a fire under us. We struggled at the beginning of the season, and that was definitely what got us out of that. … And we had a close game (against Culver the following day), and again we still struggled a little bit, but I feel like after the Culver game, we’ve really been playing our best.

“I think our team is super competitive and serious. So at times, we don’t always have fun because we take it too serious. But we’ve gotten good at the combination of taking it serious and having fun at the same time. And it’s fun to win. … We’ve bonded a lot as a team, and I’d say we all get along super great, and it just keeps it fun.”

Coleman was asked if the team is “too serious.”

Rochester sophomore pitcher Bria Rensberger (12) strikes out Oak Hill’s Ryleigh Myers as catcher Jadyn Field reaches up to grab the pitch in the Lady Zs’ 7-3 win in a Class 2A, Sectional 38 semifinal at Oak Hill Wednesday. (photo provided by Paula Beehler)

“Absolutely I agree with that,” Coleman said. “Last night (against Oak Hill), they came in, and they were dead set. That first inning was a little rocky for us just because I think they were so geared up and so focused that we had to bring them back down a little bit. And then tonight, they came in loose, but as soon as we started warming up, the focus was there, and from a coaching standpoint, I was concerned about them taking Manchester for granted due to our earlier success (a 10-0 win at Manchester April 30), but they were laser focused and came out and really hit the ball hard tonight.”

Sophomore catcher Jadyn Field spoke of “energy in the dugout” in the sectional final against Manchester one night after a come-from-behind 7-3 win over Oak Hill in the semifinals.

She also spoke of how the team needed to not be jumpy at Manchester’s Molly Schannep.

“Really we just talked about how we needed to stay back because we are always so early on slower pitchers,” Field said. “So just practicing front toss slower pitching helped.”

Field then was asked about the practice right after the North Miami game.

“Yes, that was definitely the turning point,” Field said. “After that practice, I feel like that gave us all a kick in our butts, and we definitely felt like we needed to turn it around.”

Field was also asked how the team has come together.

“Definitely the energy in the dugout, I feel like it’s become much more fun,” Field said.

Sophomore pitcher Bria Rensberger praised Field for her improvement and mentioned that Field provides a “beautiful frame” for her pitches. In a way, the rest of the team feeds off Rensberger, who is 18-1 with a 1.48 ERA. She has 218 strikeouts in 118 innings.

“The way she bears down and the way she carries the weight inside that circle, we struggled early when Bria wasn’t in the circle, and I think it’s that leadership and that focus that she brings to the table that just gets everybody else focused. She is so hard-nosed, and just a walk is something that she doesn’t take lightly. Knowing that and the other seven players behind her, they know that if they’re not ready, she’s going to let them know. And credit Jadyn Field. Again tonight, caught a great game. … She has grown so much as a player and as a leader behind home plate.”

Second baseman Mylee Heinzmann, who has raised her batting average from .273 last year to .309 this year, is one of those players behind Rensberger, and she turned the pivot on a nifty 6-4-3 double play in the seventh inning of the Oak Hill game.

“It feels really good,” Heinzmann said after the sectional final win. “I feel like we’ve accomplished a lot since last year. It’s kind of a relief now since all the work we’ve put into this outcome. It just feels really good.”

Heinzmann said winning the sectional last year did not add pressure to this year’s team. She said that the team has become more of a “sisterhood” as the season has progressed.

“We all knew we could,” Heinzmann said. “So it wasn’t anything that we really worried about. It’s just our confidence that we were more kinda worried about and not getting too far into our heads. That was only going to be the only problem. … We were kinda down, but the North Miami game, I think we gained a lot of confidence and got comfortable in the box. … Now we’re team bonding now way more because our season’s coming to an end. If we lose a game, we’re done, so I think we’re all just, like, bonding and working as a team now.”

Howdeshell said the practice after the North Miami game also created a bond between the coaches and the players.

“I think it just really showed us that our coaches know how much potential we have,” Howdeshell said. “So I think it kind of made all of us realize what our coaches see.”