Triway completes the mission, wins OHSAA Division 2 softball state championship

AKRON, Ohio – One year after falling short in the state championship game, Triway came back to Firestone Stadium hungrier than ever. 

That hunger was fed on Saturday morning as the Titans beat Jonathan Alder 2-1 to win the OHSAA Division II state title.

“This is what we have worked for,” Triway pitcher Carter Wachtel said. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. I think all of us working together and coming back better and stronger — I think that’s the best part.”

And it wasn’t easy.

With Triway leading 1-0 through four innings and Wachtel yet to give up a hit, the Alder offense started to make some noise and got runners on second and third with nobody out. After Wachtel struck out Shanna Higgins, Lizzie Lombardi hit a pop-up over shortstop Hailey Massaro.

Massaro made the catch as she was falling, which allowed Jaden Phelps to score on the play and tie the game. But catcher Madison Fatzinger threw back to third base to get the runner trying to advance from second to end the inning.

The Titans bounced back with the heart of a champion, as Hanna Massaro led off the fifth with a single and then stole second base.

“I was just thinking get a hard base hit so I could get on and go around and score for my team,” Massaro said.

Massaro moved to third on a groundout and Alder intentionally walked Wachtel to face Emily Yacapraro.

Yacapraro, who plays travel ball with a number of the players on the Alder team, nervously stepped to the plate. But the nerves gave way, and she lined a single past third to score Massaro and give Triway the 2-1 lead.

“I was just looking for my pitch,” Yacapraro said. “I was just thinking hit a low line drive.”

Wachtel and the defense took care of the rest.

“(I had the) same mentality (after the run)," Wachtel said. “Just working through it one at a time and trusting my defense and my offense.”

Wachtel threw a complete game and allowed just the one run on two hits, while striking out 10. It might have been three hits if it wasn’t for Hailey Massaro and Emma Hudson behind her to start the seventh inning.

Marlee Jacobs hit a bloop between short and third that took a bounce to the right of Massaro at shortstop. She grabbed the ball and fired to Hudson at first, who stretched as far as she could to catch the ball and record the out.

“Hailey always throws hard, that’s for sure,” Hudson said. “I literally laid my entire body out and prayed that I caught it. I looked in my glove and was like, ‘Oh wait, there it is.’”

When all was said and done, Triway was lifting the trophy for the first time in program history, and the players said it was better than Christmas morning.

“This is the happiest day of my entire life,” Hailey Massaro said. “This is what we worked so hard for.”

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