Oak Harbor JV

Staff Reporter

Success can be measured in many different ways. For the Oak Harbor JV softball team, success means a perfect season. For the past two years the JV team has had undefeated seasons. In 2007 the team, composed of all freshmen, went 21 and 0. This year, all the freshmen returned as sophomores plus two new freshmen. They went 18 and 0 in 2008 becoming the SPC JV champions.

Though they are young in their careers, the girls have some impressive stats. The team outscored their opponents 148 to 16 this year. In eight out of 18 games, the Rockets were ahead by 10 runs in the fifth inning, therefore ending the game early. Nine of their games were shutouts, with seven of those being the last seven games of the season.

Tori Havener had the most RBI's with 26. Dayna Setzler scored the most runs with 23. Katie Perry and Jenna Diekman each hit a home run. Emily Macko, Caryn Setzler, and Taylor Biggert only struck out three times the whole season. Katie Perry had 4 triples. Tori Havener and Abby Zurvalec each had 21 hits.

Pitching is extremely important for a softball team and the Rockets pitcher, Tori Havener, filled that role well. Tori pitched every game and every inning. She struck out 134 batters and only walked 30. She ended the season with an amazing 0.471 ERA. Tori also pitched two no hitters.

The girls head coach Melissa Antry has impressive stats of her own. In her five years at Oak Harbor she has 85 wins and only 9 losses. Antry gives all the credit to the girls. "They're a special bunch," she said. Having the girls for two years, it will be bittersweet to see them move on. "We've become quite close," Antry said, "It will be hard to let them go."

Coming into the season the team had a target on their back. Knowing this, the girls motto became "No let downs." They wanted to play to their potential and ability each game. No reason to second-guess. During the season, the girls played some of the toughest teams in the area. The Genoa Invitational is the largest JV tournament in the area. The Rockets are back-to-back tournament champions defeating teams from Toledo Central Catholic and Genoa.

The girls had a lot of help from the sidelines during their season. New assistant coach Katie Greene helped out Melissa Antry. Also, Jenna Guerrero was a manager that worked the scoreboard and Russ Havner kept the scorebook.

Besides their impressive stats, mother Gina Perry says the team was even more fun to watch because they were such a close group of girls. Most of the girls had grown up together playing softball. Before each game, each player said one positive thing they were going to do for the team, and then they all prayed together.

Antry wants the girls to know how proud she is of what they have accomplished. "I can't wait to see what their future holds," and Antry, "I'm very excited."

More important than a winning record, is a winning attitude. The Oak Harbor JV softball team didn't just play to win; they played for the love of the game.