Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Twenty-five years ago, behind the right arm of Jamie Wonderly, a 25-year-old first-year head coach, and a talented roster full of multi-sport athletes, the Gibsonburg softball team brought a small town together by capturing the first of three consecutive Division IV state championships.
“It was just the coolest thing ever,” 2003 graduate Sarah Walby said. “Winning is great and everything, but when you walk on the field and see the entire stands filled with people that don't even have players, like they're not related to people on the field, but yet they drove an hour and a half to come watch you play, I just think that's so cool.”
For Wonderly, that community support is one of the first things that comes to mind when thinking of that era, including the late Bob Hiser, who she said always took wonderful care of the team’s field.
“It was just the whole town and the excitement of all of Gibsonburg for us — the firemen with the fire trucks, and all the businesses writing good luck and congratulations and things on their windows. Then it was especially all of our parents, the dinners, the spaghetti dinners, and the packed lunches that they would put together for us for games where we had to travel. We had such a close-knit group of our parents that truly seemed to love getting together and doing things for the team. It was very special.”
Krissy Lotycz, a 2002 graduate who transferred in from Fremont Ross as a junior and was a key part of the first two championships, had similar thoughts.
“I just remember how special and amazing it was, since I was a transfer in, to see the community support, the parental support from other families — everybody included you. Everyone felt like you're their own daughter. They took care of you. (Teammate) Heather Hill had a bunch of aunts and uncles that treated you as if you were their daughter or whatnot. I just loved how close everybody was. It was just great to see everybody's family come out to our games and everything and give us the support because it really means a lot.”
BUILDING A POWERHOUSE
The Gibsonburg softball program didn’t exist until 1996, when Wonderly was in fifth grade. She even began her ascendance to pitching glory in slow-pitch under the tutelage of Kevin Hoodlebrink, who started and coached her travel team.
“My very first travel softball team was the Northwest Ohio Thunder, and we were a slow-pitch softball team,” she said. “We had turquoise plaid hats. I still have it. We won a national tournament, and it was really exciting, so my love for softball started really early.
“I remember the one year they said we're changing to fast pitch. I'm like, ‘Okay, well, I guess I have to make a full circle and see if I can throw this in there a little faster.’ Then my parents found my pitching coach, Nicole Long in Toledo, and I worked with her all the way through my career.
“(Pitching) was one of those things that just came naturally to me, and I loved the feeling of it.”
With Wonderly working on her fast pitch skills, Gibsonburg’s varsity program quickly ascended under head coach Keith Diebler. After a combined 10-37 record over the first two seasons, the Golden Bears went 11-17 overall in 1998 but advanced to the district championship game before falling to Woodmore.
In 1999, the team captured a district championship and finished 20-7 after falling in a 14-inning regional semifinal heartbreaker, 2-0, when Colonel Crawford’s Lindsay Gervais struck out 26 batters. The following season, Wonderly’s freshman year, Gibsonburg won 21 games but suffered a 4-1 upset loss to Elmwood in the sectional final.
“That game was amazing,” 2001 graduate Heather Hill said. “It was unreal. It was such a great game to be a part of. It was such a heartbreaker. They had a good pitcher, Erin Hammer, and we had a good pitcher in Jamie. It was just a great ball game. Elmwood had a great program, and we knew we had a great program. The cards just didn't fall our way. That kind of gave us motivation.”
Wonderly spent every inning of every game in the circle as a rookie, finishing 21-3 overall with a 0.54 ERA and 205 strikeouts, and the Golden Bears were set to return seven of nine starters.
The 2000 season and the early postseason loss — as Hill said — provided the motivation needed for a magical season and ultimately a three-year run of dominance.
“We set out that year with the intention of winning state,” Wonderly said. “Diebler was there my freshman year, and even in middle school, when I was practicing pitching at the school, he'd come and watch. He was already putting state in my head, so I already had that as a personal goal because of him just making me believe that it was possible. (That loss to Elmwood) was pretty disappointing, so us returners having already had that experience, we came back my sophomore year with a chip on our shoulder not wanting to let that happen again.”
“I actually texted Heather Hill the other day about it. We still like to reminisce about different things. Something will pop in my head or hers or whoever, and we'll just shoot a text to each other. But she made a comment. She's like, 'I'm still mad about that game.’”
Before that could happen, though, Diebler departed for another job following his fifth season and Gibsonburg tabbed Erika Foster, who only had two years of coaching experience leading the JV team at Eastwood, as his replacement.
“I thought I knew as a 25-year-old what to do and all that kind of stuff, and I realized quickly that there was a lot that I had to learn,” Foster said. “I had a lot of guidance, a lot of good people around me, and it's not just the game and knowing the game and playing the game, there's a lot of other things that go into it. That first year was kind of hard to remember at times because it was up and down and then obviously it was a success and then we just kept succeeding and then with more success, more craziness came along with it. When you took a breath that summer (following the first title) looking back, it was definitely a roller coaster.”
From a player’s perspective, the transition went smoothly according to Wonderly.
“I would say Erika came in with a, I hate to say childlike, but like a youthful energy,” Wonderly said. “She was excited, and she was willing to be goofy, but she also expected a lot of us. We all just really connected to her. I know she was learning a lot as a coach. She was young. Gosh, I don't even know — mid-20s and she was just starting her family and having babies — so she was young and figuring things out. She would even say she didn't have the coaching aspect down perfectly, but what worked really well for her was her ability to connect with us. We knew how much she cared about us individually and how she wanted each and every one of us to succeed, and that goes a long way.”
Foster said having Wonderly in the circle to help as she started her coaching career was huge.
“The thing with Jamie, too, is that people didn't have a lot of hits off of her, so our defense had to be pretty spot on and ready because you didn't have much action, so they'd be on their toes,” Foster said. “Obviously that was a huge role in our success.”
Gibsonburg finished the regular season 16-5 in 2001 and opened up tournament play with a 2-0 win over Northwood in a sectional final at Williams Park. Wonderly allowed just one hit, but Foster said a foul ball nearly derailed the win.
“We had a ball that went foul,” Foster said. “If it was fair, it was game over in the sectional final against Northwood. That one little thing can change the whole dynamic. That first year, we had several losses, and I was just getting my feet wet, trying to figure things out. Even if you had wins, you still were kind of hard on yourself as a coach. That was something I found. Your head was consumed with coaching no matter what. When you win, you're still thinking about different things.”
After the win over the Rangers, Gibsonburg advanced to the district final, where they scored three runs in the first inning on an RBI single from Sarah Taulker and a two-run double from Lexe Warren en route to a 5-0 win over Patrick Henry. Wonderly struck out 12 and allowed just two hits.
In the regional semifinal, Heather Hill’s diving over-the-shoulder catch with one out in the seventh preserved a 2-0 victory over Old Fort and a no-hitter for Wonderly, who struck out 17. Offensively, Angela Ruiz had an RBI single in the third, and she scored the team’s other run in the sixth as the Golden Bears knocked off Old Fort’s Erin Rau, a four-time All-Ohioan pitcher.
In the regional final, Gibsonburg routed Lima Perry 11-0 in large part due to an eight-run third inning. Wonderly struck out 14 and allowed only one hit as the Golden Bears earned the program’s first state semifinal appearance.
For senior Heather Hill, who had experienced three regional tournament losses in volleyball and the 1999 regional semifinal softball loss to Colonel Crawford, it meant a lot.
“We just almost made it our pact,” she said. “We'd go out before the game, and we'd relax and sing songs. We just wanted it so bad. I feel like what made us so dangerous just wasn't one or two players. What made us really dangerous was our entire lineup. We could hit one through nine. We were so dangerous on the base paths. There were no easy outs. That gave us so much confidence because we were able to put pressure on anybody that we faced.”
In the state semifinals, Gibsonburg faced an incredible uphill battle against Convoy Crestview’s ace Keri Perkins, who was 21-0 and hadn’t allowed a run of any kind all year.
“I don’t want to say we were scared necessarily, but it was a little intimidating knowing how good she was, but we also had confidence that we'd figure it out, and we did,” Wonderly said.
Wonderly walked three batters in the first inning but escaped unscathed after a fly out to Taulker in center. Convoy Crestview, however, scored the game’s first run in the third on three straight errors. Despite that, Gibsonburg’s Angela Ruiz captured momentum back, spearing a line drive at third off the bat of Perkins before finishing a double play.
Down a run against a pitcher who hadn’t given up a run all year, Hill sent a changeup into deep left all the way to the fence before diving headfirst into third for a triple to start a rally in the home half of the third. The next two batters, Walby and Taulker, laid down bunts. Crestview attempted to fake a throw to first each time in an attempt to get Hill to bite, but she didn’t, and it loaded the bases.
Warren ended the scoreless season for Perkins with a two-run single. Taulker then scored on an error as Gibsonburg took a 3-1 lead.
“Honestly, it was just amazing,” Hill said. “We had a special kind of chemistry that year. Looking back, no matter what happened, good or bad, we were just always able to pick each other up. We had a lot of trust on that team. When we stepped on that field in the tournament run, we knew we weren’t going to lose. We wanted to go out with that win. Going into that semifinal game, we weren’t intimidated by 31-0 (Convoy Crestview’s record). That win was just so amazing, so going into that final game, it was I don't want to say less pressure, but almost less pressure. It was just so exciting.”
After the high of the semifinal win over the state’s No. 2 ranked team, Gibsonburg managed to re-focus, overcame a five-hour rain delay, and produced a 4-0 victory over two-time state champion Loudonville in the title game as the fans of the Golden Bears packed the first-base stands at Ashland’s Brookside Park before also spilling out beyond the makeshift outfield fence.
“The community support was incredible,” Hill said. “Our families were such a huge part of it. It was just amazing the stuff that they would do for us. We had that huge rain delay at the championship game, and it just felt like the whole town of Gibsonburg was there with us. We were so appreciative of how many people were there supporting us and seeing the whole stands packed and cheering for us. It meant so much to us as players having so many people there watching.”
Walby, who was described as primarily a sacrifice bunter in her No. 2 spot in the lineup, started a four-run first inning for Gibsonburg with a line drive single down the right field line. She scored during the next at bat on a throwing error following a grounder from Taulker, who then scored on an RBI single on a two-strike changeup from Warren. Wonderly and Lotycz followed with back-to-back RBI singles through the right side.
Wonderly delivered a shutout, but not without stress. She struck out just one batter and stranded nine runners, including the bases loaded in the seventh inning when rightfielder Beth Gruner caught the final out.
One of the things that Walby remembers about that game, and she said others on that team will as well, was how the seniors made the team change outfits at least 20 times during the rain delay.
“It rained, and then it got really hot, and then it rained,” she said. “The seniors made us change our outfits at least 20 times. It was like every two seconds. They're like, 'No, this combination of jerseys, those pants, shorts, pants, shorts.' It was funny, and now we look back and we just laugh about it.”
Despite struggling — by her standards — Wonderly didn’t allow an earned run the entire tournament. She once again pitched every inning of every game, finishing the season 23-5 with a 0.54 ERA and 283 strikeouts.
“I just remember walking more batters than I would have liked, and that put us in some sticky situations,” Wonderly said. “For whatever reason, I lacked a little bit of command, and for me that created some nerves through that, where I had to really force myself to just put it out of my mind and keep going that next batter or that next pitch and just stay in the moment. I just remember it feeling very overwhelming.
“But then the next two years felt different. There was a confidence and a command going into those. It wasn't the same the first year.”
RIDING THE HIGH
After winning the first title, Gibsonburg produced one of the most dominant seasons in state history, punctuating a 30-0 season with an 8-0 win over Strasburg-Franklin in the state championship game.
Wonderly said the first state title served as a confidence boost.
“Seeing how we pushed through that and how we beat a team with a pitcher that hadn't had a run scored off of her, that was motivating even in other areas for me such as doing extra stuff like running and rollerblading,” she said. “Krissy (Lotycz) and I had so much fun together. After practices that year, we would just go off and go jog around town, and I remember running through the park. We'd run through the carryout and say hi. We'd run through Kirwen’s Supermarket and say hi. We enjoyed being together, and then we'd go in the weight room. We'd do some legs. We'd do some abs, and we just did stuff on top of practice that kept our focus.”
Wonderly, Lotycz, and the rest of the 2002 team ultimately capped off the 11th perfect season in the then 25-year history of the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA). It was the most lopsided state title game since 1988.
“I think we were riding off of the success from the year before and knew how good that felt and knew that there was no one that was going to stop us but us,” Lotycz said. “We would be our own worst enemy, and we knew that we could do the exact same thing, change a few things because we had a few losses from the season before that we shouldn't have had, and just redeem ourselves — go out and finish and make another run for it. We really enjoyed that overall experience, and we wanted the same thing. No one was going to stop us besides ourselves. We just wanted to make another run in a title and make history.”
Wonderly tossed a one-hitter with 12 strikeouts in the state championship game. Before that, in the 4-0 state semifinal win over Covington, she struck out 15 in another one-hitter. Her 393 strikeouts that season were the fifth-most in a single-season at the time and still ranks 10th. She went 27-0 overall with a 0.25 ERA.
Hill, who also finished her career at Gibsonburg as the SLL Player of the Year in basketball and its all-time leading scorer with 1,463 points, said she’s never seen anyone work as hard as Wonderly.
“She worked so hard on her pitching,” Hill said. “I remember being so thankful and so proud of her, the time she put in. Her focus, her determination — she earned everything that she accomplished, and it pushed us all to be better, too.”
In fact, while Hill was the league’s top player in basketball, Walby was named the top player in volleyball, and Wonderly in softball. The multi-sport talent ran deep.
“Overall we just had a bunch of athletes two, three grades above me and in a couple grades below me,” Wonderly said. “There was just a good group of athletes. We had girls that had success in other sports and that just rolled over into softball. Being a multi-sport athlete always helps.”
The Golden Bears opened that 2002 postseason run with a 15-0 win over Toledo Christian at Williams Park in a Division IV sectional championship. Warren went 4-for-4 with a double, a home run, three runs, and three RBIs as the Golden Bears produced the five-inning win. Wonderly struck out 14 in a one-hitter.
In the district semifinal, Gibsonburg edged Northwood 1-0 behind Wonderly’s 16 strikeouts. The junior righty allowed four hits and struck out every Ranger at least one time.
The lone run came in the third. Walby worked a one-out walk on a 3-2 pitch. Wonderly followed with a single to right to set up Taulker, who delivered an RBI single to left. The Rangers nearly won it with a seventh-inning rally, but Wonderly picked up her 16th strikeout to strand a pair of runners in scoring position.
In the district championship, Wonderly struck out 19 batters en route to a no-hitter to help Gibsonburg to a 10-0 win over Miller City. She also added three hits, including a pair of RBI doubles. Warren also went 3-for-3, while Lotycz drove in four runs.
That set up a pitching duel in the regional semifinal as Pettisville’s Aimee Genter was 21-2 with a 0.28 ERA and 225 strikeouts, including seven no-hitters and a perfect game.
Wonderly, however, delivered her 10th career no-hitter, striking out 17, and walking just one. Battling through a rain-soaked contest, the Golden Bears broke through for the game’s only three runs in the sixth.
Walby led off with a single to right, and Wonderly followed by faking a bunt and slapping a single through the left side. Taulker then loaded the bases with a bunt single. After a 4-3 force out at home, Genter walked Lotycz and added two wild pitches, which provided all three runs.
Gibsonburg followed by earning a 9-0 win over Old Fort in the regional final that featured nine extra base hits, as well as Wonderly’s third-consecutive no-hitter. She also struck out 13.
Interestingly, Lotycz was so confident that Gibsonburg would return to the state tournament in 2002 that she told her sister to reschedule an early June wedding date. Her sister didn’t listen, and her family attended the wedding that happened on the day of the regional final.
“To this day, my sister is still bitter,” Lotycz said.
In the state semifinal, Gibsonburg led 1-0 in the fifth when Walby and Wonderly stood on third and second, respectively. Taulker, who went 4-for-6 in the two state tournament games, knocked both in with a single and then also scored on the same play via an error.
Wonderly’s 21 shutouts that season still ranks tied for 12th-most in OHSAA history. Gibsonburg finished the 2002 season riding a 36-game winning streak. In postseason play, they had outscored opponents 85-1, including 50-0 in 2002.
“That team was special,” Wonderly said. “We were riding the high from the state championship the year before, and that really set the tone for our confidence in what we can do. For myself as a pitcher, that first year was hard. It wasn't like we flew through it. We had to really buckle down, and we made some errors. My defense made a ton of plays that very first year. It's not like I was just mowing everyone down. It was a total team effort.”
After graduating Hill and Morgan Osborne after the 2001 season, Gibsonburg graduated Lotycz, Taulker, Warren, Gruner, Kelly Krotzer, and Sheena Smith following the second title.
“We treated each other like sisters, and it was just like family,” Lotycz said. “It was another family we had besides at home. Everybody just got along. There were no cliques. There was no pettiness. Everybody wanted to play for each other. That's rare these days. No one really had egos or any of that, and it was just very unique. That made it very special. We wanted everybody to succeed. We wanted everyone to be successful and to just enjoy the moment. We knew that all good things come to an end at one point, whether it's two years or four years to play with each other, and things change as time goes on, so we just wanted to make the best of it in the time that we had together.”
"LEFT IT ALL ON THE FIELD"
While replacing so much offensive firepower from those first two seasons, Gibsonburg had to really fight for the third title. After seeing the program’s 36-game winning streak snapped in a season-opening loss to Clyde and hitting just .093 as a team in the postseason, the Golden Bears clawed their way to a 28-3 record.
In fact, 15 of the team’s wins were by two runs or less, including a 1-0 win over Crestline in the state semifinal and a 2-0 victory over St. Henry in the state championship. In total, six of those 15 were 1-0 wins, including another 1-0 victory in the regional final.
“Our defense had to be pretty exceptional,” Walby said. “You knew those were going to be tight games. The whole season was a tight game. We worked a lot at practice on defense. Focus and not having errors in the field were our main goals.”
The 2003 tournament run opened with a 15-0 win over Ottawa Hills in a sectional championship. Wonderly allowed just one hit and struck out 12, which set up a district semifinal against Northwood. Wonderly added 16 more strikeouts and allowed only one hit again in an 11-0 victory.
Walby went 2-for-3 in the 2-0 victory over Van Buren in the district championship. Gibsonburg capitalized on four errors in the 2-0 win, which saw Wonderly strike out 13 batters while allowing four hits.
Julie Beaschler, who transferred in from Fremont St. Joseph prior to the 2003 season and took over at catcher for the graduated Lotycz, delivered a two-run home run in the top of the fifth inning of a 3-1 regional semifinal victory over St. Wendelin. The blast broke a 1-1 tie, and while Wonderly finally allowed an earned run, she also struck out 10.
Angela Ruiz took her turn at heroics in the 1-0 regional final win over Ayersville. The senior initially broke up Jenny Froelich’s no-hitter in the fifth inning. Then, in the bottom of the seventh inning, after Beaschler beat out a chopper to third for a single, Ruiz sent a 1-1 pitch to the centerfield fence for a walk-off RBI double. Wonderly allowed just three hits and struck out 12.
The Golden Bears continued to excel in close games in the state semifinal against Crestline. After producing just one baserunner prior to the sixth inning, Katie Samson drew a walk, and pinch-runner Alexis Donnell entered. No. 9 hitter, Ali Warren, laid down a sacrifice bunt and the throw sailed over the first baseman, allowing Donnell to reach third. She then scored on a sacrifice bunt from Walby.
Fittingly, Gibsonburg capped off a heart-stopping tournament run with a state championship win over St. Henry that featured the game’s only two runs crossing the plate in the seventh. Beaschler’s game-winning RBI triple was her team’s first hit, which scored Walby after she had reached an error. Melissa Bailey followed with an RBI single to score Beaschler as an insurance run.
“Julie came in and really stepped into some very big shoes,” Wonderly said. “She was a godsend to our team because I don’t know that (the 2003) season ends the same way it did without her coming and stepping into that role.”
It was just the fifth time in the 26-year history of the OHSAA that a team had won three consecutive state titles in all divisions, joining Strasburg-Franklin (1988-90), Tallmadge (1987-89), and Akron Springfield (1988-1990 and 1992-95).
“I think we just all thought, 'I can't believe we did it again,'” Walby said. “I knew we could do it again, but to do it three times and actually get there and win, we all were just kind of like amazed that we did it again.
“In the moment, we didn't really know how big it was, but now it's 25 years later, and I have a daughter that's on the team now and just seeing how hard it is to get there and to win, now I feel like it's even a bigger accomplishment looking back.”
For Wonderly, she concluded an incredible postseason with 13 strikeouts and just one hit allowed in the title game. Gibsonburg outscored its opponents 35-1 over seven games, including 9-1 over the final five games.
“For me personally, it felt like I left it all on the field,” Wonderly said. “It was like I could have laid all of my softball gear and equipment right there on that field and felt complete.”
Overall, Wonderly finished 26-3 on the season with 375 strikeouts. She concluded her career with a 96-11 record, which was the second-most pitching victories in OHSAA history at the time, as was her 1,237 career strikeouts. Her career win total still ranks sixth, coincidentally one spot behind Eastwood’s Ashley Hitchcock (2016-19), who had 102.
Joe Wyant, who coached Hitchcock at Eastwood and still leads the Eagles, was the head coach at Lakota during Gibsonburg’s three-year run of state championships. His teams actually finished 4-0 against eventual state champions in 2003, defeating Gibsonburg twice by 1-0 scores and Division II champ Lima Bath 4-0 and 8-7.
Wyant’s team’s season ended with a 21-inning loss to Elmwood in the district championship, and his star pitcher Ashley Lockmiller pitched batting practice to Gibsonburg in the week leading up to the state title game that year.
“(Wonderly) was a workhorse,” Wyant said. “She got ahead the first pitch, strike at the knees, worked up the waist, and then got the rise ball. She worked from down to up all the time on us.
“We did have some success. We won the league one year when they won the state title, but it was (always a) 2-1 game or 1-0 ball game. It was like that. I also had a nice pitcher with (Lockmiller), who was tough to hit, but Wonderly was a great player, a great pitcher. She does a great job teaching softball pitching to kids now. They had a good team, and they had good coaching over there.”
BUTLER ERA
After her storied high school career ended, Wonderly played at Butler University, an NCAA Division I program in Indianapolis, Ind. In four seasons there, she won 27 games and registered 176 strikeouts, but that experience had its ups and downs.
“After that final state championship, I felt complete,” Wonderly said. “I feel like I left my entire heart on that field in Ashland. I wanted to keep playing, but in a way, I kind of left my heart for softball in Ashland. I put my whole self into being the best pitcher I could during that time.
“I was excited to go on and play DI ball, but it was more like a job. Being away from that small town community and that support, the whole feel was different. We had three head coaches in my four years, so there was a lot of transition. Every year the expectations were different.
“There were some really good moments. I made really good friends, some of them I still speak to. One of my teammates, Maria Marchesano, just took the head basketball coaching position at Butler, which is really cool. It was demanding, I would say, on top of school — a lot of lessons learned, that's for sure.
“There was some really fun and great moments, but it wasn't the same. I wasn’t the same person in college that I was in high school as far as my love for it.”
Wonderly said her parents supported her decision and nobody put any expectations on her. Playing DI was just something she had put in her own mind, and her experience is valuable when the young women she coaches today seek advice on college choices.
“I tell girls now having been through that experience to know what to expect going in,” she said. “If you go high level and you go DI, it can be fun. It has great perks to it, but you really have to treat it like your job. You're a full-time student, you're a full-time athlete, and you just have to be ready for the grind. If you're not ready for that kind of grind, there is no shame in going smaller. You can play more for fun. You can work hard in school and play softball for fun versus it being more than that.”
THE RUN CONCLUDES
In the 2004 season, with Wonderly at Butler, Ali Warren took over in the circle as Gibsonburg nearly won a fourth-consecutive state championship before falling 2-1 in the title game to Crestline. That team even featured a young freshman named Sarah Gruner, who now coaches the Golden Bears.
One year later, Convoy Crestview denied the Golden Bears a fifth-straight trip to the state tournament with a 2-1 regional final win in eight innings. Gibsonburg nearly won it in the seventh as Beaschler scored the game-tying run on a single from Alexis Donnell, but a strikeout stranded Donnell at third, and the Golden Bears lost in extras.
“That first year, we won state and that next year coming back was totally different,” Foster said. “We had a different mindset. Obviously, that's a goal for every head coach is to win state, so after that first year, we had athletes, we had the pitching, we had it all that second year. It was just incredible.
“The third year was just awesome as well because we lost a lot of our hitters. We played a lot of small ball, and to make it to the championship that year was pretty awesome. And then my fourth year, to make it back, we made it to the championship, but I had a new pitcher, Ali Warren. And to make it back with her was incredible.”
Despite that, Gibsonburg’s baseball team made a magical run to a 2005 state championship despite having a losing record, which helped soften the blow.
“We talk about it still all the time,” Foster said. “We still keep in touch. I can't believe it's been 25 years. It seems like just yesterday, but then it seems like a while. Sometimes it seems like a dream. It’s a little bit of all of it. It was just such an amazing time. I don't know why I was put there to be a part of it and lead it. It was an awesome time for Gibsonburg. So many families, so many people came together during those years. It was just a crazy five years for Gibsonburg. It was just amazing.”
Foster decided to finish her five-year run as head coach following the regional final loss to spend more time with her family.
“My whole life, all I wanted to do was teach and coach,” she said. “I'd been married for a few years. I wasn't going to have kids right then. And then there's a little surprise (with my first child), and that's okay, but it was right at the same time I got the head coaching job. I wouldn't change anything that happened, but that next year managing a head coaching job plus, having a child was just a different world.
“That was when I started to realize that, maybe there's more. If it was just coaching ... that's the easy part. It’s all the stuff that goes behind it and how much you beat yourself up or you put into it or your time or your effort. It wasn't just teaching. I was a teacher. I was a coach. I was a wife, a mother. The coaching superseded all that. Even if I was there, it still was on my mind, so I just realized it was just too much. Some people can do it, and they do a great job with it, but I wanted to give my family more time than what I was giving them.”
HISTORY MADE
Wonderly said she gets occasional reminders of what was accomplished nearly 25 years ago.
“There's still the sign coming into Helena that I glance at coming across the tracks — Division IV state champs with the three years listed on it. I just get a quick flashback when I read that, like that was really cool. That's really special. I don't think too deeply about it. Maybe the parents and the adults in the town having had experienced that in a different way, they definitely have a different perspective than us, than the girls who were actually doing it. Looking back, it was a really unique and special thing that we were able to accomplish.”
Walby said each title brought something different.
“That’s one of the biggest things, even today, just having that close team bond, doing things on and off the field with each other,” Walby said. “It just goes a long way in getting to where the goals that you want to meet. There was none of that drama and nobody cared whose stats were what as long as the end of the stat was the 'W' at the end. We didn't care.
“We still have that bond today. We might not see each other all the time, but we saw each other yesterday, and it was like we didn't miss a beat. You need that on a team. It just makes a good team a great team. We had athletic girls, but we also had that connection, and it was on all the teams we had that connection.”
For Hill, she was only there for the first one, but she continued to support the team during their ensuing run, and she still follows the team.
“I’m so proud, and it’s an honor,” she said. “I’m so proud of what they accomplished. I continued to go and watch them afterwards. I’m proud of what the softball program is and how they’ve continued to be successful. It’s just really awesome to have such an awesome program at Gibsonburg.
“You look back and you think of key moments and things and memories, like tackling Jamie at the mound, wanting my mom right away to hug her, and seeing my uncle cry tears of joy. To be able to finish as a state champion with all of my high school best friends is just something I’ll remember forever.
“We had a great group. We just had a great group of athletes for sure, and it was a lot of fun to be a part of.”
FULL CIRCLE
In present day Gibsonburg, Wonderly is in her first year as an assistant coach on Gruner’s staff. She works with the team’s pitchers, such as Ava Amor, Alivia Wauford, and Katie Hall.
“I try to just respect them and not overstep, but they know I'm there if they need me,” Wonderly said. “The biggest way, as far as pitching, that I'm contributing is maybe just situational things with them. We let whichever pitcher is pitching that game call their own game. I always did that with my catchers growing up, and I loved that, especially Krissy Lotycz as my catcher.
“I don't know how her brain worked this way, but she knew every batter and where they hit last time. She looks at where they're standing. She knows how they're swinging, and we had such a good connection that way, too. I fully trusted her. Then if I had a gut instinct and needed to go a different route, I'd shake her off, and she usually knew exactly what pitch to go to next.
“I want that for these girls. I don't love the way things have shifted to coach always calling pitches with the pitchers acting more as just almost more like a machine or a robot out there just doing what her coach says. Especially some coaches who won't let their pitcher shake them off. That really takes a big part of the game out of the pitcher's hands, in my opinion.”
Lotycz said her and Wonderly were really alike in personalities when it came to their competitive nature.
“What she was thinking, I was feeling or saying, either or,” she said. “I could finish her sentences. She could finish mine. We were able to read each other and understand, and we knew when a batter would come into a box right away by their stance, by their swing, how they approached the box, what we were calling, what we could get them on, and things like that.
“It’s very rare these days that coaches just let the players call their pitches. I know, as a coach, I wouldn't probably do that. But (the coaches) were very confident in us and what we're doing, and we didn't get upset if somebody didn't like something. We’d shake it off and move on to the next play. We didn't get hurt about feelings and stuff like that if somebody didn't like a pitch. We just were on the same wavelength when it came to that mentality.”
Wonderly credits Gruner for being open to new ideas.
“Sarah has been amazing supporting that,” she said. “She's like, 'Hey, if they can do it, I'm all for that. I think that's a great idea.' She's been really open. I completely respect her and don't want to overstep, but she's very open to hearing ideas that I have. We just really communicate well back and forth together.”
This year’s version of the Gibsonburg softball program, with Wonderly in tow, will begin its postseason slate on May 20 with a district semifinal against the winner of Sandusky Central Catholic and Fremont SJCC. The Golden Bears have made the state semifinals in two of the past three seasons.
“It’s really cool,” Wonderly said. “I coach Emma Jividen (Walby’s daughter) and Camryn Donnell (Osborne’s daughter). It's neat when I get to chat with them, with their moms, see them, and reminisce a little bit. It's cool to see. I can see their moms in the girls as they play and as they talk and as they just are themselves. It's a special thing that I get to be a part of this team.”
