HEYEN: Maloney finds fuel to become Huron's best

HURON — It didn't take long to figure out what motivates Eliza Maloney. The first time I saw her pitch, the then-sophomore allowed five runs in the first inning at Edison in an eventual loss. The next day's newspaper story, of course, focused on how the Chargers had burst out of the gates in a key league win. Two weeks later, after Maloney rebounded to win the rematch, she told me she had kept my story and read it every day since. She didn't want it to happen again. That's Eliza Maloney. Since then, none of her accomplishments — two league titles, Huron's first district championship, league MVP honors, a commitment to Division I Toledo, a comeback from a torn ACL — have surprised me. Maloney's talent is almost immediately evident on a softball field. But it's that drive, that ability to find fuel where others might just see disappointment, that has made her into the greatest softball player in Huron history. This is the player who, midway through her sophomore year, started using Post-It Notes to allow herself exactly a year to land with a Division I softball program. And on the 364th day, she committed to Toledo. She wasn't always a D-I talent. That took plenty of work and determination from the days when she could only play first base for her new travel team because she wasn't skilled enough to put elsewhere. Back then, she wasn't worried about other teams as her motivation. Maloney simply wanted to move up the totem pole of her own team, and she did it with lots of extra time on the field with her dad, Chris. The first tool she always possessed was speed, something that even a serious knee injury couldn't take away. Maloney runs the bases like she's moments away from lifting off the ground and taking flight. It's a smooth, effortless glide that almost appears to be in fast forward while the players around her move in regular motion. That athleticism became the building block for everything else. If she could run like that, why couldn't she become an on-base threat? If she could move like that, why couldn't she become an effective pitcher? So, simply told, she became that and so much more. There was always some kind of fuel, a player to be better than, a slight to overcome, another checklist or countdown. Workouts in the basement, or at a field, or wherever Maloney could find the space and time, were never lacking motivation. She sees and hears all of it. Maloney noticed the joy other teams had in hitting well against her earlier in this senior season, even though she knew she wasn't back to full strength in the circle. She saw the rankings and notoriety other area softball teams garnered as Huron worked its way into peak form. And of course she's delivered more of those bounce-back victories this season — a 10-2 loss to Oak Harbor turned 11-0 win, a second-meeting defeat to Margaretta turned district title over the Polar Bears. Maloney knows she takes things personally, but it doesn't make sense to her to do anything differently. The ball or bat is in her hand. It is personal. Besides, she hasn't had time to waste. She and her classmates lost their freshman season to COVID-19. And Maloney couldn't play softball as a junior after tearing her right ACL in the last quarter of the last game of the basketball regular season. It wasn't even a sure thing Maloney could get back to that full pitching ability she showed as a sophomore. Midway through recovery, her doctor expressed doubt toward the idea of returning to the circle. Her right knee, such a crucial part of her drive leg in the pitching motion, wasn't certain to withstand it. But Maloney, with a regimented dedication to her rehab, did everything she could to get herself ready to go. She watched the Tigers last year from the sideline and knew how talented they were. She knew a pitcher could put them over the top. So Maloney returned, and pitched a high majority of the innings, and allowed one run in the district semifinal, and one run in the district final, and now here she and Huron are in a place no Tigers softball team has ever been before. There won't ever stop being new motivating factors, new reasons for Maloney to push herself to be her absolute best. But it's also become clear in recent weeks just where she slots into the pantheon of Huron softball. Just to be sure, I asked Tigers coach Jude Schmidt the question I already knew the answer to: "Eliza's the best player in Huron history, right?" A one-word response was all Schmidt needed: "Absolutely." --- Eliza Maloney senior stats Batting average: .582 (53-91) Doubles: 7 Triples: 12 Home runs: 11 RBI: 45 Runs scored: 64 Steals: 19-for-19 ERA: 0.94 Pitching strikeouts: 223 Record: 20-4