SBC BAY: Polar Bears will contend with healthy Tigers, Rockets

This season's SBC Bay Division softball champion will have earned it. The league features a defending regional champion, Oak Harbor. There's Huron, which won the division in 2021 and has its best player from that team, Eliza Maloney, back from injury. And neither of those teams is the one that won it in 2022 — that's Margaretta, a defending district champion itself that has five returning starters, including in the circle. "The Bay Division seems like it's always the toughest division in the SBC top to bottom," said Port Clinton coach Ryan Wiechman. The Polar Bears will again count on the right arm of Mariah Fields, now a senior. She had an ERA below 2.50 as a junior while striking out about 1.3 batters per inning. "You wouldn't know that she had a good year last year," Margaretta coach Dale Dawson said. "She's back to, 'Hey, I gotta get better.' " Fields will have plenty of backup. Margaretta picked up a transfer from Clyde, 6-foot right-hander Skylar Colvin. "She kind of just jumped right in," Dawson said. "There's a sisterhood in softball. We talk the same language." The Polar Bears' pitching staff is legitimately three deep when you include freshman Cassidy Lane, who will play second base next to Colvin at first when they aren't in the circle. "A lot of teams don't believe in us this year because we did lose a lot," Fields said. "But I feel like a lot of teams are gonna be shocked by what we do have. We gained a lot of good players that people don't think we gained." Margaretta is replacing an uber-talented senior class. Senior Jamie Opfer and freshman Ellianna Young will combine to take over the catching duties from the graduated Phoebe Dreschel. "It's gonna be a platoon system," Dawson said. "We've got five games in Myrtle Beach, and Elliana can't go. Jamie's gotta take the reps now. On paper, we're planning on handing that baton, Jamie back to third, Elianna slide into catcher." Colvin takes over for Jayla Caponi at first, with Lane slotting in for Alayna Pemberton at second. Mia Kane, who played left field a season ago, will slide over to center with Addie Kromer now playing at Wilmington College. "People are like, 'Hey, you lost a lot of hitters,' " Dawson said. "Our lineup has more power this year than we had last year." Fields and Opfer, the team captains, both have a bitter taste in their mouth about how their junior season ended. The Polar Bears were right with Van Buren in a regional semifinal until a late grand slam broke it open. They're hoping to get to that stage and beyond in 2023. "We want to go further than we did last year," Opfer said. "How we lost really sucked. We're using it as motivation to go further this year." Oak Harbor, the only local team to make it further in a tourney bracket than Margaretta last spring, has to replace Reagan Schultz in the circle now that she's at Kent State. Alyse Sorg, a junior, is expected to move in from center field and get the bulk of the innings, with Ava Geyer chipping in. "She has really taken on that challenge," Oak Harbor coach Cami Haas said. "She knew when last season ended that this is my time now. She has been throwing consistently. She's a strong swimmer, but she still found time to get some time to get some throwing in during the winter." The Rockets graduated a talented trio in Schultz, Sydney Overmyer and Remi Gregory, who is back as an assistant this year. But Oak Harbor's order is still sturdy with Sorg, Porter Gregory, Emily Sommers, Hannah Schimmoeller, Reese Adkins and Allie Gieze having all contributed to the program's first final four run. The Rockets will try to make noise in their last year in the SBC under Haas, the new head coach who worked with the JV team the past four seasons. Her daughter, Karder, should get the first crack at third base as a freshman, with another freshman, Tate Baumgartner, figuring into the outfield picture. "They have had an instant buy-in," Haas said. "We have a lot of familiar faces still around with everyone in different roles… They've had fantastic attitudes." A healthy Huron will have its say in the race. Both the Toledo-bound Maloney and junior Emmah Shaw tore their ACLs late in the 2021-22 basketball season, forcing them out of action last spring as the Tigers had a learning season. They're both back, Maloney to pitch and play shortstop with Shaw slotted for center field and the heart of the batting order. "I'm excited for Eliza and Emmah and these girls," Huron coach Jude Schmidt said. "I've had this junior and senior class since they were at 10U, a large handful of them. It's good to see them at the varsity level." Huron gained plenty of experience in Maloney's absence last year. Jess Holsapple and Jayci Schmidt both got tons of time in the circle, making them solid options for the Tigers this spring. "Jayci and Jess have improved a lot pitching," Maloney said. "I think we have a strong team." Juniors Lauren Wainwright, Lanee Orzech and Annabelle Herzog also are well-established varsity players for Huron, with senior Kendyll Williams showing more confidence back for her final go-round, Schmidt said. Port Clinton could play a role in the title picture, too, although the Redskins took a hit when sophomore pitcher Ashton Sanchez suffered a season-ending knee injury in the offseason. She had set the school's single-season strikeout record as a freshman. Mackenzie Martinez, Marissa Frohne and Jandi Torres could all work in the circle for PC. "It's gonna be by committee," Port Clinton coach Ryan Wiechman said. "Definitely gonna be more girls who throw strikes, and our defense is gonna have to play behind them." Port Clinton has its established senior core of Martinez, Alliyah Wharton and Addi Siefke, who all reached the varsity level in Wiechman's first season as coach. "They've been the leaders of the team since their sophomore year, more or less," Wiechman said. "When you look at a team and have three positions you can depend on and three girls that have played a lot of softball, it makes it a lot easier to build around them again." PC made a surprise run to the district semifinal last season, upsetting Perkins and Clyde to get there, and hopes that'll provide a boost to this year's group. "Those girls being able to go to Genoa (for district) last year, and come up a little short in that heartbreaking game, just showing that we can do it, that's what we expect this year is to be back in Genoa," Wiechman said. Edison will look quite different this season, having graduated four-year pitcher Kira Appeman and replaced head coach Troy Keegan with Jason Caponi. "We're just trying to figure each other out really well," Caponi said. "It's getting better every day." The Chargers do have plenty of bats back. Audrey Linder, Kalli Quillen, Isabella Wilson, Sophia Guerra and Ivy Kluding all hit better than .300 last season. "This is probably the fastest team I've ever been a part of," Caponi said. "We have a lot of speed. So putting the ball down and making contact is gonna be huge for us to get some of the speed on the bases." Guerra is the most experienced pitcher on the roster, having thrown 27 varsity innings a season ago. "Sophia has had some varsity experience, but I'm relying on her to toe the rubber for the majority of the pitches," Caponi said. Willard, which was young a season ago, rounds out the six-team Bay Division group. The league title race won't take long to ramp up. The first game of the season for both Margaretta and Oak Harbor is Monday in Castalia. "Right in the meat grinder opening day," Dawson said.