This has been a big turnaround year for the North Royalton Girls Softball team. In 2017, the Lady Bears were closer to the bottom of the Suburban League’s National Conference standings than the top.
This year, North Royalton has flipped the switch, softball wise.
In 2018, North Royalton finished play in the National Conference with a record of nine wins and five losses. Exactly where the Lady Bears will finish in the Suburban League is dependent upon other teams, it will definitely be in the top half of the National Conference Standings.
In the recent past, North Royalton Girls Softball was regarded as a strong program in the area. After a few down years, the team is starting to regain its luster.
The final regular season game saw the Bears in a pressure-filled game against Wadsworth. At stake, a chance to share the National Conference Championship with Stow and/or Wadsworth.
Wadsworth defeated North Royalton 4-3 on Saturday May 12. The Lady Bears trailed 4-0 heading into the top of the 7th. North Royalton scored three runs in the final inning. But, the Lady Bears came up a run short.
North Royalton Softball Coach Anna Hubert-Koncius is proud of the improvements made by this year’s team.
“It would have been great to control our own destiny with a win and to walk out of here (Wadsworth’s Home Field) with a 10-4 record. But, to keep it in perspective, to go from second-last to contending for second or third place in the conference standings is improvement. We can’t take away from that.”
North Royalton played its three seniors in that final regular season game against Wadsworth. But, seven players on that line-up card were underclassmen. Coach Hubert-Koncius thinks the team learned some valuable lessons playing against the Lady Grizzlies.
“What we gained from this game is that we can play in pressure-filed games. We can contend in big games. Now, it’s just a matter of getting that maturity in those situations. I have to be patient with them because a lot of them haven’t been there before. My goal before the season was to bring back the winning reputation that this program had. When I look at it that way, our goal has been met. This game was not a situation we wanted to be in, but it’s a situation our players need to learn from.”
When you consider the Lady Bears were practicing outside in February, couldn’t practice outside in March because of the weather and started the National Conference season without playing any non-league games, you’d agree that 2018 was a successful season.
The State High School Softball Tournament will give North Royalton a chance to work on those ‘little things’ that are so important to winning game, especially pressure games. The Lady Bears were seeded third in the Division One Parma sectional/district.

By JOE JASTRZEMSKI
Contributing Writer