Correspondent file photo / Robert Hayes Boardman shortstop Jenna Olexa tags out a Hoover runner on May 17th, 2021 at Austintown Fitch High School. The All-AAC First Team selection, along with fellow senior and Maddie Lester look to make a splash this Spring.

BOARDMAN — When there are ten seniors all together on one team, there’s bound to be a special bond amongst them.

After all, the Boardman seniors are the last Spartans that played prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and have trekked through the challenges that the past two years have brought as a unit.

Boardman coach Frank Mootz jokingly called them “babies” when they were thrown into the fray three years ago, but now, with their final season on the horizon, the Spartans and their senior class have big goals heading into the spring.

“I’ve put them (the seniors) in some tough spots, but they’ve answered the bell a lot of times,” Mootz said. “I think the adversity of COVID, losing a year, especially with a group of seniors, makes them really feel good. They could always make the ultimate run as a group.

“They’re very tight knit for the most part, so the adversity was there, but they handled it like the adversity they did on the field as freshman, even in the offseason, they really put the work in.”

Posting a mark of 18-10 last spring, the Spartans bats fell quiet at the wrong time as their season ended with a 7-1 loss to eventual district champions North Canton Hoover in the semifinal.

A big part of Boardman’s success this season is going to hang on the shoulders of starting pitcher and Cal U commit Maddie Lester, who went 1-3 with a 3.21 ERA while striking out 124 hitters and hitting for a .441 average with 38 runs batted in. She was one of two All-AAC First Team selections and was a Northeast Ohio Honorable Mention along with fellow senior Jenna Olexa, a shortstop who hit .480, while also driving in 38 runs — both her and Lester’s RBI totals broke the previous school record.

“Last year she started, was a little bit up and down, toward the end of the year she was lights out, you send her out there, she’s your number one in every important game. When Maddie is on, I can argue that she’s one of the pitchers in the Tri-County area, easily,” Mootz said. “When her pitches are moving and she’s doing her thing, she’s tough to hit.”

As a team the Spartans ended their year with a batting average of .358, along with a staff ERA of 3.31 with 226 Ks, but lost key contributor and starting pitcher Kat O’Horo.

Lead-off hitter Dana Haus (.353 average) and Nadia Rawhneh (.353 average) both bring back plenty of experience as three year starters for Mootz, but someone that should bring attention will be freshman Tori Strines, a pitcher that has the potential to make a big splash this campaign.

“This is a kid who threw a one-hitter against Brookfield (in a scrimmage), and told me that she had to go home and hit because she didn’t have success at the plate, that’s just who (Strines) is,” Mootz explained. “She’s from a family of softball, her aunt is a coach out at Fitch, her mom played at YSU, this kid will just work.

“She’s quiet, but she leads by example, but I could ask her to play anywhere and she’ll do it. She’s the type of girl you wish you have five or six more of because she’s willing to put the work in. I mean this is a girl who’ll get up at 5 o’clock in the morning sometimes and goes and does workouts with her mom before school.”

Something that definitely hasn’t been possible the past few years was the ability to leave Ohio for a weekend and square off against what the rest of the nation has to offer, an experience that could be beneficial in many different aspects for athletes.

Toward the end of April, Boardman will make a weekend trip down to Florida, playing the likes of Tampa Catholic, a former state-runner up, who’ll be preparing for their own playoff run just the week after the Spartans come to town.

Is it late in the season for Boardman? Sure, but do the benefits of playing good, out-of-state competition provide a substantial learning experience for the team?

Absolutely, especially given the numbers of seniors. Trips like that one generate a lifetime of memories.

“We know that every team we’re playing down there every day is absolutely a very good team,” Mootz commented. “We’ll take our lumps with some of these teams, but we’re okay with that, because we also want to schedule up down in Florida. That’ll benefit us going into the tournament, playing really good teams like that.”