Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes Boardman junior Madison Lester fires a pitch during a 2-1 win against Hubbard on Thursday. Lester only allowed three hits.

BOARDMAN — Home sweet home.

It’s been quite a long time since Boardman has been able to say they won on their home turf — 698 days in fact.

The Spartans defeated Hubbard 2-1 on Thursday.

The last home win on record came at the tune of a 6-0 win over Bristol back on May 11, 2019, as the Spartans dropped their first two contests at Boardman High School to Walsh Jesuit and Louisville, while going 3-0 on the road to start the 2021 slate.

It would take until the very last pitch for Boardman to remove the zero on the scoreboard in left field, but it was also be the only scoring play the Spartans needed.

Junior shortstop Jenna Olexa drove a pitch during the bottom of the seventh inning with two outs to left-center field, scoring fellow junior Sofia Hoffman and senior Kat O’Horo to officially mark her team’s first home win since she was a freshman.

O’Horo’s face lit up with jubilation as she ran across home plate standing, jumping into the waiting arms of Hoffman.

Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes
Boardman senior Kat O’Horo is all smiles after scoring the winning run on a double by junior Jenna Olexa.

Despite having a few opportunities earlier in the contest, it was about not giving up.

“It’s the last chance (in the seventh inning), there’s someone on first and second, you know there’s someone in scoring position,” Olexa said following the walk-off. “You just have to go up there and just do your job.

“You know kinda how the pitcher throws and when she’s going to a changeup, or a riseball, so you kinda get in the count and you know what she’s going to throw.”

It was an off-season like none other, for Olexa and the rest of the spring sports athletes around the state.

Players like Olexa and starting pitcher Madison Lester last stepped onto the dirt as freshmen, but lost their sophomore campaigns due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Travel ball and scrimmages last year helped kept them sharp, but donning the maroon and silver varsity uniform is a different experience.

“I feel like I’ve developed and I know that if you make one error, you just gotta pick yourself up,” said Olexa. “When I was a freshman I was more nervous, because it’s the first time playing varsity. Now I know that my teammates are going to be there for me and I shouldn’t have to worry that much.”

Lester allowed three hits, while also fanning nine Eagles during her complete game performance, improving her record to 3-1 on the year.

“As a pitcher, I feel like I get more comfortable and I personally feel like I get better as the innings go on,” Lester said. “So, later in the game, it’s just that I get more comfortable throwing more pitches and seeing all the batters again.

“Once you see them again, you start to get an idea of what happens and who does what.”

Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes Hubbard junior Haley Croyle puts the ball in play on a groundout at Boardman. As a pitcher, she recorded 9Ks, but allowed two runs on five hits, including a walk-off double.

Hubbard (4-2) scored the first run of the evening following a single off the bat of senior Emily Filicky, also moving to second on an error. She was then advanced and scored off consecutive bunts by junior Grace Narkum and freshman Isabella O’Brien.

Junior pitcher Haley Croyle, an Akron commit, did an effective job of working out of trouble with bases loaded in the top of the first inning, only allowing five Spartan hits, while punching out eight hitters.

For Boardman (4-2) coach Fred Mootz and his team, it’s just about having to wait for that right opportunity.

“I knew it would be tough, I knew that if I threw Madison (Lester) against (Croyle), it was going to be that ‘mano a mano’ matchup and I was hoping we’d get on the good side of it, and fortunately we did,” Mootz said. “I tell them to stay the course the whole game, I mean we pride ourselves on pitching and defense, hands down.

“Once (Lester) settles in, she keeps hitters off balance, our defense, they got her back.”

Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes Hubbard freshman Phoebe Rusnak rounds second base for the Eagles at Boardman.

Sometimes things don’t quite go your way in softball, as Hubbard coach Joe Zagorec explained following the loss.

“It’s just one of those things, that’s what I told the girls,” he said. “At the beginning of the game, you don’t know who’s going to win, that’s the nice thing about softball, you don’t know who the winner is going to be until the end.”

With a home victory finally under their felts, and good vibes surrounding the Spartans with four of their last five games being wins, Lester credits the girls surrounding her.

“When you’re both really even playing fields, a big part of the game is defense and you really have to have a strong defense behind you,” Lester said. “My team really came today, they had my back, they did offensively too, and I’m really thankful for that to have them behind me, they did really good.”