Faith Porter of Archbishop Hoban has been winning on and off the field her entire life

AKRON, Ohio – Archbishop Hoban pitcher Faith Porter has been battle-tested, and she showed once again on Thursday that she is ready for the biggest moments when she went out and shut down Brecksville-Broadview Heights in a 3-1 win.

The senior tossed a complete game three-hitter to help lead the Knights past the Bees.

“That was definitely one of my better performances (of late),” Porter said. “I knew they were all good hitters, so I knew I had to hit my spots and just trust my defense behind me.”

The senior struck out just five hitters, but she commanded her pitches and threw to contact, allowing her defenders to make plays.

“She threw well and only gave up three hits,” Hoban head coach Kevin Yun said. “The defense played well behind her. (Five strikeouts is) a little low for her but that’s a good hitting team. That’s a good outing.”

Porter compared Thursday’s performance to one of her favorite moments as a Knight – winning the 2022 OHSAA Division II district title with an 11-0 win over Tallmadge. Ironically, Porter allowed just three hits in that game as well while striking out five hitters.

Those were two games that Porter admits to being a little more excited and ready for, seeing how big the games were.

“I get amped up for the games we know are supposed to be good and when it might be a close game,” Porter said. “(The district championship) was so exciting. Our coach told us going in it was going to be a hard game and blowing them out was just amazing.”

But winning the biggest battles is nothing new for Porter, on or off the softball field.

At birth, she had a pre-cancerous congenital melanocytic nevus on her head which required her to go through multiple surgeries before she even turned a year old. 

They did a procedure called tissue expansion, which is where they make a small incision – hers was on the hairline on her left side - and insert an expander, which is a little balloon attached to a tube and port.

Once that procedure is done, the patient returns weekly to have saline added through the port, which will eventually stretch the skin. The expander is then taken out and the new skin can be pulled over to replace the damaged skin.

Faith’s Mom – Liz Porter – was right by her daughter’s side through it all and says her daughter took it in stride like she does everything else in life.

“I would take her every week and they would inject into the port with a big needle,” Liz Porter said. “I just remember the doctors and nurses saying, ‘she is going to hate us by the end, don’t worry, she will be crying when you bring her in here.’ But through the whole thing, every time we would go in she would be smiling.

“She is just so happy. She cried when it happened for sure, but she had such a short memory that when we went back the next week, she was always so laid back.”

While Faith doesn’t remember all of the procedures and visits to the doctor – after all, she was just a baby – she does think that going through it has prepared her for for whatever she might face in life.

“I think it just shows how strong I am and that I can overcome anything,” Faith Porter said. “I was really young when it happened so I don’t really remember it, but I know that I got through it, and I can overcome anything.”

It wasn’t long after her procedures that Faith was introduced to softball. Liz was an assistant coach under Amy Densevich at Hudson when the Explorers went to the state tournament and brought two-year-old Faith the to the games, but never pushed her daughter to play.

“I never forced her to do anything, I wanted it to be hers,” Liz Porter said. “I will schedule the lessons, I will do whatever, but it is your choice to pick it up because to me, when she has the success, it is hers and I want her to be proud of herself. I am happy for her, and I am just the cheerleader.”

Liz Porter also believes that letting Faith make her own decisions about what she wants to do helps her in the bad times and has helped make Faith into the person she is today.

“When she fails, they are her failures, and she is the one who picks herself up,” Liz Porter said. “I think that makes a young woman stronger, more confident. It was always important to me to not inject my pride into what she has accomplished."

Softball is still a bonding experience for the mother and daughter, and they watch softball together on a regular basis.

“We sit downstairs and watch softball every night,” Liz Porter said. “We just know that after the game, she is going to come home, take a shower and she comes down and we turn on softball and hang out and have ice cream.”

That’s also when Liz works on Faith’s hair if the Knights have a game the following day. The pitcher has to have the same hairstyle for each game in which she pitches, and it consists of having two braids in her blond hair that lead into a ponytail.

"(It's the same) every game," Faith Porter said. "The night before a game, my mom does it for me."

When she isn’t on the softball field or hanging out with her mom, Faith likes to just hang out at home with the family’s three dogs – Sophie, Beau and Bruce – and watch TV. Sophie was at the game on Thursday and before the game, Faith came over and got a good luck kiss from the pup.

Faith will be enrolling at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio next year to study early childhood education. She takes her studies seriously and was recently selected as an Academic Knight for the 4th quarter. Students are selected as an Academic Knights by excelling in scholarship and demonstrating leadership, service to the Hoban family, service to the community, Christian values and good character.

That leadership was also recognized when Porter was selected as a team captain for this season, which will be her final one as she is not planning on continuing her softball career past high school.

“(Being voted as a captain) was really important,” Faith Porter said. “It makes me feel like everyone believes in me.”

People have been believing in Faith Porter since she was just a baby. And Porter keeps delivering.