Keystone High out of LaGrange, Ohio is one of the most storied high school programs in the country.
The Wildcats have made an amazing 18-state appearances in the Final Four of the Ohio softball prep playoffs with four state titles (1999, 2006, 2012 and 2018) with the 2012 squad being tabbed as National Champions.
But it’s been almost two years since Keystone last played a game and today is the start of the 2021 season for the Buckeye State team which has a doubleheader today against Amherst and Glen Oak.
After the 2020 season was lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Head Coach Jim Piazza is excited to take the field once again as this year team will hit a big milestone.
“We are nine wins away from being the first team in Ohio to win 1,000 games and and we hope to make it to our sixth straight State Finals.”
There’s also a key group of players this Wildcat team is playing for.
“We dedicated this season to last year’s seniors,” says Coach Piazza. “It was the hardest thing I had to do as a coach was to tell our players their season was canceled after all the hard work they put in the offseason. The seniors took the biggest hit because they waited their turn to be leaders and were doing a great job.”
On this day 2020 spring sports got shutdown. We are committed to dedicate this season to our 7 seniors who lost their opportunity to finish their career. Thank you for your leadership! @emmer29 @marliemcnultyy @allissa_7 @abowen1177 @nessa_regal @maddiehetsler @AngelMinisall pic.twitter.com/z5Acp4W5pW
— Keystone Softball (@KHSCatSoftball) March 13, 2021
The 2021 team is, as usual, loaded with talent.
“We have a solid team this year,” Piazza believes. “We have seniors Madi Herrington (signed with Oakland University), Kerrigan Williams (signed with Hampton University) Jessica Chapman (signed with Lourdes University) and juniors Lily Cassell (verbal to Northern Illinois University) and Kennedy Kerr (being recruited by Div. 1 schools).”
Two years ago, the Wildcats were led by pitcher Sydney Campbell, who was named as an Extra Inning Softball 1st Team All-American for the second season in a row after she won an amazing stretch of 63 games and finished 25-1 with a 0.33. Sydney pitched in the Ohio Final Four all four years of her varsity career and is now at Oakland University.
It’s time for a new crop of players to step up and continue the impressive legacy of Keystone High, especially a nearly two-year hiatus away from the game.
Coach Piazzi concludes simply, “We’re just extremely excited to be playing again.”
Here’s a hype video the softball team produced which kicks off saying it all: “We’ve waited long enough… this is our time.”
