ONTARIO — The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent cancellation of the 2020 season set every softball program in the state behind, but Ontario coach Sean Snow knows it could have been worse.
The Warriors are off to a 7-3 start through the first two-plus weeks of the season and should be a factor in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference championship race.
Ontario was 2-1 in MOAC action going into Wednesday’s game against River Valley, trailing Pleasant (4-0) and Clear Fork (3-0).
While the youthful Warriors — 10 players on the roster are freshmen or sophomores — certainly would have benefitted from playing a high school season last spring, the erosion to the program was negligible. Most of Snow’s players still played a summer travel schedule.
“We’re fortunate here because we have a lot of girls who play travel ball,” Snow said. “Of the top 18 girls — I carry 12 everyday varsity players and six swing players — 15 are travel ball players.
“We would have loved to play the high school season last year. It would have been helpful in terms of development. But the bottom line is most of these girls still got a lot of reps with their travel teams.”
All the extra work last summer is paying off this spring. Ontario is hitting .374 as a team.
Sophomore Joselyn Frazier is among the leaders in the MOAC, hitting a robust .559 with a conference-leading five home runs to go with 14 runs batted in. Sophomore Taylor Mullins is batting .441, while sophomore Kylie Snow is hitting .433. Senior Halle Ciroli is batting .429 and ranks second in the MOAC with 21 RBIs and three homers. Senior Natalie Link is batting .414 with six doubles.
Senior Corinne Fanello has gotten a majority of the work in the pitcher’s circle this spring. She has a 3.32 earned run average and 38 strikeouts in 38 innings pitched.
“The MOAC is a good league, but I think we’re definitely going to challenge,” Snow said.
In addition to a solid MOAC schedule, Ontario has beefed up the non-conference slate. The Warriors lost to small-school power Hillsdale and Division I Ashland last week and will play in the ultra-competitive Wendy’s Spring Classic this weekend.
Ontario opens the tournament at 6:30 p.m. Thursday against Strasburg-Franklin, another small-school powerhouse, at Brookside Park. The Warriors will also play Milford and Gahanna-Lincoln on Saturday.
“Ontario is a solid group. They have a good mix of seniors and younger girls,” Ashland coach Mindy Baker said after the Arrows’ 4-1 victory. “They have great coaching and a talented group of girls.”
