Clyde's Marshall joins rarified air with 600 softball wins

BELLEVUE — Marc Marshall never thought he'd coach softball this long. But with each passing year, Marshall has ascended the ranks of coaching wins in Ohio. Clyde finished off an 18-3 win over Norwalk on Thursday to pick up the 600th win of Marshall's storied career. The OHSAA lists eight coaches with more than 600 wins. A ninth, Greenville's Jerrod Newland, entered the season with 588 wins and Greenville is 18-1 this season. "You put your head down and try to do the best you can," Marshall said. "You try to put the girls in the best possible position to be successful. Those numbers come around when they do. It's a representation of the players we've had that have bought into what we're trying to do. "We're trying to make them play sound softball, be a good teammate and enjoy the sport and enjoy each other." In his 37th season as Clyde's head coach, Marshall sits with a record of 600-278. Marshall wanted to give a big thank you to his family, especially his wife, Heather. Marshall said his kids, in-laws and others have let him sacrifice the time needed over the last 37 years to get to this point. "It's also a compliment to all the assistant coaches I've had," Marshall said. "I feel like I have best coaching staff in northwest Ohio or even the state. My two coaches do a tremendous job to help the program. I'm just fortunate." Marshall got win No. 500 in 2019. The 1982 Ridgedale graduate is a member of the Ohio High School Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame. "The nice thing is my name is at the top of the list, but it's not me," Marshall said. "It's my assistant coaches I've had and all the players that have bought in and do what we want them to do. It's the players that do all the things we ask them to do in the offseason. That's who it's really for." Marshall battled against Bellevue coach Walt Snyder for many years. Snyder is one of the few names ahead of Marshall on the OHSAA wins list with 651 victories. "Walt did a very good job," said Marshall of the 36-year coach who retired in 2021. "You look at how many (Northern Ohio League titles) they won and (Sandusky Bay Conference titles) they won. You knew when you played them, you had to be ready to play because they weren't going to lose. You had to beat them." Marshall got a shot at win No. 601 on Snyder's home field in Bellevue on Friday. The game was tied at 1 at the beginning of the fifth inning when weather stopped play for a second time. With even worse weather on the way, the game was suspended and will be finished at a later date. "Every game is a battle this year and the league is wide open," Marshall said. "I didn't think we were ready today to play. We gave away too many at-bats early. (Clyde pitcher) Madison (Myers) did an outstanding job with starting, stopping and coming back. She's doing a great job for us." Logan Hurst, who comparatively just turned 26 last month, has a great deal of respect for his Route 20 rival. "Just watching him, you have to tip your cap to him," Hurst said. "I'm beating myself up because we could have had a run score from third. They're so lights out on defense and he's so detail-orientated. They know the ins and outs of what is going on. It's nothing but respect for the legacy he's built and what they've done over there." Clyde (7-6, 4-0 SBC Lake) scored in the first inning when Ember Andres tripled and Mya Stiefel singled her in. Myers was solid early for the Fliers, plowing through the Bellevue (5-7, 2-2) lineup in just 32 pitches the first three innings. In the fourth, Ryleigh Knutti and Addison Rich each doubled, getting the Lady Red on the scoreboard. Ava Meyer followed with a single, but Myers induced a groundout back to herself and flyout to leave the game tied after four innings. Myers allowed just five hits in a 6-0 shutout of Bellevue on April 8 in Clyde. "We became students of what they were giving us," Hurst said. "The last outing against them was not a good one. Myers only needed 60-some pitches to beat us. We were not seeing the ball well. We had to make her throw to us. We couldn't go up there hacking whatever she was putting up there." After giving up the run in the first inning, Mallory Hay shut down the Clyde offense. The Fliers were able to scatter some hits and get baserunners on, but the tough Bellevue sophomore made some big pitches when needed. After losing three straight games by a combined score of 41-2 in an eight-day stretch, Bellevue beat Perkins on Tuesday, led Norwalk on the road when weather suspended the game Wednesday and is even with league-leading Clyde when the game resumes. "Mallory was battling a little bit of a nagging injury in her leg," Hurst said. "We were grasping at straws to get through and have our defense back her up. I think now it's showing that she's come back to where she was." Clyde was the beneficiary of a Norwalk win over Sandusky on Friday to go two up in the loss column on the rest of the league. The Fliers are scheduled to hit the road to Ontario (16-4) on Saturday before hosting Hopewell-Loudon (7-7) on Tuesday. "We have to make sure every pitch and every at-bat matter," Marshall said. "We have to concentrate on that. Every ball that's hit, we have to concentrate on making the plays that need to be made. It's not rocket science. "You have to throw strikes and you have to make the plays. If we do that consistently, we'll give ourselves a chance."