Mancuso's record-setting Edison career followed in mother's footsteps

MILAN TWP. — As Kayla Mancuso rounded first base in Oak Harbor and the ball flew over the right fielder's head, Edison coach Troy Keegan turned to one particular fan on the third base side. Keegan told Jennifer Roe King, Mancuso's mother: "Here it comes." King's nearly three-decade hold on the Chargers' single-season triples record lasted about five more seconds. As Mancuso pulled into third base with her second triple of the game and eighth of the season, wearing the same number as King at the same high school, history was officially passed from mother to daughter. "That was a surreal moment," King said recently. "I'm choking up about it now, but it was really, really cool." Mancuso set that mark on May 5 and tripled once more in her senior season to set the new Edison mark at nine after King's junior-year total of seven in 1992. It was part of a final high school campaign in which Mancuso was named the SBC Bay Division's Most Outstanding Performer while hitting leadoff and playing centerfield for a district champion Edison team that finished the season 18-7. The Chargers' season concluded May 26 in a regional semifinal loss to Cardington-Lincoln, ending Mancuso's four-year run as one of Edison's offensive catalysts. "I couldn't have thought of being at another school," Mancuso said. "I love it here at Edison. I love the program. I can give all the credit to this program for all of my accomplishments." In the fall, Mancuso will begin a college softball career at Division II West Liberty University in West Virginia. But even though she won't don the blue and orange No. 3 anymore, her Edison High School legacy is secure. Mancuso set a record and was recognized as the SBC Bay's best and won a district title. She also spent time leading by example on her high school team and for Chargers of the future within Keegan's travel program. Much of Mancuso's softball career was spent chasing after her mother. Edison's next generation will be trying to catch Mancuso. "She's always willing to help people," Keegan said. "She comes to my little 12U practices. She doesn't have to do that stuff. She's always wanting to help people. She's a good friend to a lot of these girls. She's gonna be sadly missed." Runs in the family On King's side of the family, "everybody plays baseball or softball," she said. As the youngest of four, Mancuso was no exception. "Like a fish in water," King said of how Mancuso took to softball. King had been a right-handed hitting catcher in high school, possessing both the family's speed gene but also some pop. She was named first-team SBC in 1992, the same year she set the triples record. Mancuso spent many of her early softball days pitching. She explained it felt like an easy match with her mother, the experienced catcher on the receiving end of countless practice pitches from Mancuso. It was on the basepaths where Mancuso most resembled King. "I like to think we were pretty similar on baserunning, pretty aggressive, fairly quick," King said. For years, Mancuso told King she was going to break the single-season triples mark at Edison. King suggested they should find a way to tie at seven so their names would be side by side in the record book. "She went and busted it open and ruined that plan," King said. Mancuso hit both the record-tying and record-breaking triples on the same Oak Harbor field where King hit her seventh and final triple in 1992, Keegan said. On the first, Mancuso pointed to King with both hands, and on the second, Edison's leadoff hitter broke into a huge smile as she hit the bag. As her daughter grinned, King cried. "That's what we've been wanting to happen since she was in fourth or fifth grade," King said. "Once it was still there when she was in high school, it kind of became a reality." The record gives Mancuso fresh ammunition to use against her mother — she'll ask, "Who has the triples record now?" King wanted to make one thing clear, though. "She didn't need to break the record to get sassy with me, let's just put that on the record," King said. "She actually wears my number. I was number three, also, so I told her she earned it fair and square. The triples record, she can have it, but we'll share the number three. We've still got that." Need for speed In Edison's district championship win, Mancuso hit a one-hopper back to the pitcher that deflected off the glove of Huron pitcher Eliza Maloney and rolled a few feet away. That was all it took for Mancuso to be safe. From an early age, Mancuso has been fast. She deflected that idea, saying it was just her short legs making her look quick. But Deana Blatnik played with Mancuso from elementary school all the way through this season, and she said differently. "She's always been the speedy one," Blatnik said. "She's always been out there stealing bases, running bases, our leadoff, getting on base for us and she's getting around those bases quick." As a small, left-handed hitter, much of Mancuso's early softball career involved slap-hitting. It forced Mancuso to hone her hand-eye coordination enough to hit the ball while already moving forward and toward first base. Slapping also made Mancuso want to be as fast as possible. There's no home-run glory in slap-hitting, so what's the fun unless you're safe at first? "She's always been quick, but she kept getting faster and faster and faster over the years," King said. "Just kind of a natural progression." By the time her senior year at Edison rolled around, Mancuso was no longer called on to slap. She had gap power, the kind that resulted in nine triples. Keegan wanted her to swing away and do damage while still putting pressure on defenses with her speed. When Edison worked on defensive situations in practice with Mancuso at the plate, "there's no room for error," pitcher Kira Appeman said. "You have to be like, chop chop," Appeman added. "You have to get going and know what's going on." Mancuso's favorite part of the game is baserunning, she said. She enjoys sliding into bases, getting her uniform dirty, before hopping up to point at the Edison dugout and hype up her teammates. The accomplished centerfielder wouldn't put chasing down fly balls too far behind, though, on a list of her favorite softball actions. No matter where the ball is hit, Mancuso feels she can get to it, and she usually does. There was a sliding catch coming in to end the sectional final against Clear Fork in 2019. Mancuso made a similar play at full extension to preserve a 1-0 win over Oak Harbor earlier this season. She ran back on a ball near the fence for a catch deep in the alley in the regional semifinal. Really, Mancuso flashed her speed in the outfield in nearly every game, and even beforehand. As part of Edison's warm-up sequence, Keegan hits three consecutive fly balls to each outfielder. With Mancuso, he started by pulling a deep fly to the left-center gap, then immediately launched one to right-center before pulling the final hit back toward left for Mancuso to run down. Edison's centerfield grass was usually safe from being touched by a softball. "It might just be that I love softball so much, but every time there's a ball in the air, even if it's way across the field, I'm like, I can get that," Mancuso said. "I want to go catch that. I don't know. I can't get enough of playing softball. I think that's all that really comes from it." Leaving a legacy Mancuso's Edison career ended in the on-deck circle. She quickly embraced freshman Audrey Linder, who'd made the final out. Then Mancuso turned to hug fellow senior Mallory Perkins. Only minutes after her high school career ended, Mancuso gathered her thoughts to think about how her four years had flown by. "I'm gonna remember most going through freshman year scared with Deana Blatnik," Mancuso said. "We were scared so bad by everyone, we were so intimidated. I just love that I went four years with her and got to experience every single win, every single loss and just everyone. The coaches, the parents, they were absolutely amazing and wanted nothing but the best for us." Mancuso and Keegan weren't quite done with each other yet, though. She'd spend time playing for his travel team over the summer, where Keegan planned on working her in at second base to increase her versatility before college. Edison's graduation was June 6, but Mancuso will keep showing up because that's what she's done since Keegan has known her. She arrived to practice early to help set up. She put in individual time over the summer working on her swing and speed. Mancuso spent plenty of time passing that work ethic on to younger players coming up through the Edison system, too — Keegan joked recently, "I think they like her because they're the same size as her and she blends right in." The West Liberty coaches noticed Mancuso's speed first, she said. She spent time at a practice with the team and made a diving catch in centerfield. Maybe Mancuso's WLU career will resemble her time at Edison. Maybe there's another triples record to chase. But regardless of what happens in the next four years, the mark made by Mancuso's last four years won't be going anywhere. "I don't really care about the records or anything like that," Mancuso said. "I just want people to know that I was here to be with the team and to really help the younger girls grow and help build the program as much as I can. I've been trying to help with the 10U teams and the 12U teams. "I just want them to remember that Edison softball is a great place to be, and this program is something amazing to be a part of."