'It's made for a really fun year': West Holmes' sweep of Wooster adds to big season

WOOSTER — West Holmes and Wooster have a rivalry, and it's one of the best ones in the area, regardless of the sport.

So it meant a little extra to Knights seniors Keegan Uhl and Kenzie Woods after their team earned a 13-4 win over the Generals on Friday afternoon to complete the season sweep.

"It's been a battle with them, especially when we were younger," said Uhl. " Now, sweeping them, I love it. I love sweeping Woo."

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"Sweeping Wooster two years in a row, that feels pretty good," agreed Woods with a smile.

Yet in so many ways, the two programs could be mirrors of each other in different stages.

West Holmes is thriving right now, riding the experience of seven seniors. It's a group that has learned through some tough years. But they're winning now, and at a better rate than most teams in program history, or at least recent memory. In fact, with their win over Wooster, they moved to 14-3, making the five-win 2021 season (the current seniors' freshman year) seem like a distant memory.

"Our freshman (year) was a little rough," said Uhl. "This year we started really good, and it's been really exciting. Everybody has been working well together, our team is really tight knit, everything is clicking offensively and defensively.

"It's made for a really fun year so far and hopefully we can keep it going."

Uhl (.567, 30 RBIs, 2 home runs) and Woods (.617, 23 RBIs, 3 home runs) have spearheaded an attack that is sparked by the consistency up and down the lineup.

"The amount of times this year late in the game where there might be two outs and you might think the game is over, then we get a hit and follow that up with hit after hit after hit, it's contagious," said Uhl.

The Knights have been feeding off each other for confidence all season.

"It's very contagious," said Woods. "We might be down and then one person gets a hit and then suddenly we have two-out rally throughout the entire lineup. It's happened a couple times.

"We're definitely a comeback team, because there is always that one inning that we can crank it."

Another big key has been the performance of senior Addison Yoder and sophomore Briar Cline from inside the circle. Yoder has logged 64⅓ innings, has fanned 57, posted a 9-2 record and ERA of 3.48, and Cline has twirled 41 innings, struck out 25, nailed up a 5-1 mark and an ERA of 2.90.

Cline struck out 10 in West Holmes' win Friday.

"We're really proud of them," said Woods. "Addison puts in a lot of work and so does Briar and that helps a lot.""They have taken control every single game," agreed Uhl. "We are so proud of our pitchers and really happy we have them."

The combination of the bats coming to life up and down the batting order, solid pitching and strong defense, have been key. It's all come with experience and these Knights aren't looking back.

"We have chemistry, we trust each other, we definitely have better communication and our bats are more consistent," said Woods.

"We have seven seniors, girls with four years of experience," said Uhl. "And it's been big, and everything is going so well so far."

On the other side of that curve are the Generals (4-12), a young squad, that is quickly making noise with wins over Ashland and area power Norwayne. Led by seniors Promise Markley, Tori Pettorini, Maddy Bisesi and Isabelle Fortune, it's clear this Wooster team is on the uphill trajectory under first-year skipper Jimmy Williams.

"We're on a journey here," said Williams. "We're trying to build a program, we're trying to build it back and the girls are starting to buy in.

"That Norwayne win was huge, because they are a powerhouse in the county year in and year out," he added. "I think West Holmes would say we're a different team than the one that played them earlier in the season (23-6 loss). If we play clean softball, we feel that we can hang with anyone."

Right now, that process has been anchored by the four seniors as this young team learns how to stick around and fight in games. With a lot of balance throughout its grade levels, the lessons learned will only pay dividends moving forward.

"These seniors have been around this program, three of them have lettered and we've got a lot of senior leadership, which is important," said Williams. "We are also bringing our young people along and it's really helped to have that strong senior leadership out there."

More importantly, this young team is headed in the right direction for the future and would love to mirror this year's Knights' team in the next couple of years. Building on their experiences and learning how to compete, how to battle and how to win.

"We stuck around and kept fighting and that's what this team is all about," said Williams. "We're figuring each other out, we're figuring out how to battle and yes, there are times we take baby steps back, but we're headed in the right direction."

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Softball: West Holmes sweeps Wooster to keep up strong 2024 season