Sydnie Watts tosses no-hitter to put Austintown Fitch in the Division I state championship game
Photo by Jeff Harwell
AKRON, Ohio – As first baseman Abby Toth stepped on the bag for the final out of Austintown Fitch’s 3-0 win over Lebanon in the OHSAA Division I state semifinals on Friday, pitcher Sydnie Watts pumped her fists and made her way over to embrace her. And then the rest of the Falcons embraced Watts in the middle of the field at Firestone Stadium.
The sophomore hurler had just tossed her seventh no-hitter of the season and just the fourth in the state tournament since 2004.
Watts struck out 12 hitters and walked a pair. She didn’t even know she had a no-hitter going into the seventh inning because usually she would have had more strikeouts than that en route to one.
“Actually, I didn’t know I had a no-hitter,” Watts said. “I feel like I didn't know because the defense did a lot of work, especially Caitlin Mitchell during that fourth inning making every single out.”
Of those three assists by Mitchell in the fourth inning, the most impressive was the middle one by the second baseman. Aubrey Smith hit a ball in the hole between Mitchell and Toth and Mitchell dove for it, made the play and was able to get the throw to Toth in time for the out.
Watts also played a part in getting the offense on the board, as she got the first RBI of the game on a bunt in the first inning that scored Ayla Ray, who had led off with a double.
“It got us the lead and that was all I was trying to do,” Watts said. “I had to do whatever I could do to get that ball in play so Ayla could score from third base.”
It might have come as a surprise to some that Watts was bunting, seeing as how Watts has hit three homers in the postseason but that’s just how the Falcons play.
“We have a magic number that we want to get to each game and that is three runs and we feel if we get to three runs, we are going to be a difficult team to beat,” Fitch head coach Steven Ward said. “No player has an ego on this team. You have Sydnie Watts, you have McKenna Hogan, two power hitters that at a moment’s notice if I can give them the bunt sign.”
Sam Severn drove in the other two runs for the Falcons with RBI singles in the first and fourth innings.
“I came into the game feeling like I knew what I could do,” Severn said. “My teammates definitely helped me out by encouraging me. Knowing that we needed those runs to score was also a big part.”
Part of throwing a no-hitter is having a batterymate you can trust, and Watts has that in Hogan, a senior catcher. The duo has been on the same page for the last two seasons and Friday was no different. When pitching coach Becki Spaulding would call a pitch Hogan knew Watts didn’t want to throw, she would give Watts something else.
“Knowing what she wants and learning what she likes to pitch definitely helped us today,” Hogan said.
Friday’s no-hitter just adds to an already incredible postseason run by Watts. In the district semifinals, she tossed a no-hitter against Madison in an 11-0 win. In the district final, she threw a two-hitter with 20 strikeouts in a 2-0 win over Mentor. And then in a 2-0 win over Berea-Midpark in the regional semifinals, she threw another no-hitter. She won the regional final over Walsh with a four-hitter.
In five postseason games, she has pitched 33 innings and has given up just six total hits and one run, while striking out 76 with 11 walks.
But when asked to rank this no-hitter among the ones he has seen Watts throw, the head coach didn’t hesitate.
“I would put it at the top of the list right now,” Ward said. “One thing about Sydnie is she is going to get stronger as the game goes on. She is built for big moments.”
Her next moment will be her most important, as Fitch will play in the Division I state championship game against Anthony Wayne at 3 pm on Saturday.
“This upcoming game will probably be the biggest game I have ever played in,” Watts said. “And I'm so excited to just be able to play in this game for my community and for my team.”
