Triway softball, baseball both aim for big seasons
Carter Wachtel, a Georgia Tech commit, will try to pitch the Triway softball team back to state this season. Wachtel is one of a dozen letterwinners back for the Titans.
Both Carter Wachtel and Hanna Massaro played key roles on Triway’s 2022 state championship team.
This spring the talented tandem will look to lead the next generation of Titans on a postseason journey to remember.
Losing just two players from a season ago and returning 12 players, this season’s edition of Triway’s softball team is eager to build upon a 21-win campaign and regional appearance and make a run at a third state trip in four years.
In the middle of all of that, literally, is the right-handed Wachtel, who has been a mainstay in the circle in each of the past two springs. The Georgia Tech recruit is ranked in the top 20 nationally and is poised to lead the Titans once again.
“Having Carter Wachtel on the mound, pitching will be our main strength, followed by experience on the defensive side at all positions,” Triway coach Ron Rock said. “It’s early, but she looks the best I’ve seen her throw in four years.”
Another Division I college recruit, Bowling Green signee Massaro also is back to hold down the Titans lineup. Along with her bat and ability to run the bases, it’s the veteran’s ability to play lockdown defense at shortstop that has helped Triway to an 80-8 record over the last three seasons.
That middle of the diamond is one of the best in the area as Massaro is joined by Kenzie Gatti — an Akron commit who only played half of the season after transferring to Triway but proved to be one of the team’s top hitters.
If that wasn’t enough, third baseman Myah Lester started every game as a freshman this past spring and is joined by other returnees in seniors Michaelle Lyons (C), Callie Robson (OF), Emma Yoder (OF), Samantha Schumacher (OF) and Livia Grabowski (UTIL), along with juniors Ashley Braunscheidel (1B), Alyssa Hochstetler (LF) and Kaydince Moran (P).
“We had two seniors and a lot of new, inexperienced positional players last season, so returning 12 experienced letterwinners this season should prove beneficial to our success,” said Rock, whose program has won each of the last three Principals Athletic Conference titles with a combined 37-1 mark.
Baseball
On the heels of a season where they won an outright PAC championship and were district runner-up, the Titans are poised for another strong spring.
Despite losing a handful of multiyear starters to graduation, the team returns three of its top four pitchers from 2023 and will bring back a defensive mindset that allows them to compete every time out.
The pitching staff of seniors Simon Kitchen, Logan Wyatt and Ron Bricker combined for 65% of the innings pitched last year, which gives Triway fans a lot to be optimistic about. Kitchen, a first-team All-PAC and second-team all-district pick, was 6-1 with a 0.90 earned-run average.
“That experience and talent should keep us in games while our younger/newer players get varsity experience,” said Titans coach Justin McDowell, who enters his fourth season at the helm. “Defensively, we should be solid, especially up the middle and in the infield. If our pitchers are able to throw strikes, we should be able to play solid defense behind them, which allows us to stay in every game.”
Junior Grant Schag is one of the top shortstops in the area after earning All-Ohio honors last season. Schag, who has started since his freshman campaign, didn’t commit a single error at the position in 84 chances a year ago, along with getting the job done at the plate with a .460 batting average and .570 on-base percentage.
Like Schag, fellow junior Wyatt Posten is a two-year starter and batted .350 last spring, joined by three-year letterwinners in seniors Owen Walter (INF/C) and Tyler Snyder (OF/P), along with a two-year letterwinner in Wyatt.
Juniors Brody Snyder (C/OF/P) and Bricker (1B/P) also are back from a team that went 22-5 last season while a host of newcomers in juniors DJ Corbett (3B/P), Alex Shearer (OF), Austin Patterson (OF) and sophomore Luke Starr (1B/P/OF) all will look to make an impact.
And after dropping a 1-0 heartbreaker to Independence in the Div. III district title game last spring, the Titans are ready to get back to work.
“Looking forward to another year after all of the hard work our players put in during the offseason,” McDowell said. “We fell short of our goals last year losing in the district final, so all of our players are motivated to take the next step as a team and program.
“Our coaching staff has done a great job getting our guys ready, and we are looking forward to all of that work paying off when we get the chance to take the field.”