O-R Athlete of the Week, Makenna Crothers, McGuffey
Name: Makenna Crothers
School: McGuffey
Grade: Senior
Sport: Softball
Crothers’ week: On consecutive days Crothers pitched a gem and got the job done in two different ways.
On Tuesday she racked up a dozen strikeouts in a 12-1 win over South Side Beaver. Wednesday, she induced weak contact to throw a complete game shutout on just 61 pitches to help McGuffey defeat Brownsville, 1-0.
Crothers had four strikeouts in the win over the Falcons and finished the two days allowing only one run on five hits and two walks in 14 innings.
“My pitches were working very well those two days, which helped me get some strikeouts, but my team defensively and offensively were good too,” Crothers said. “We adjusted well to their pitchers and were very clean in the field.”
Part of what made Crothers successful last week was command of all three of her pitches. She had a good feel for her rise ball and curveball, but was struggling a bit with her changeup.
Getting that third pitch dialed in was a confidence booster.
“I had kind of been in a slump with my changeup recently,” Crothers said. “The changeup had been too low and in the dirt and I wasn’t getting swings out of it. They were unsuccessful pitches and I just kind of got into the mindset that I know I can throw my changeup and felt confident in myself before I threw it. It worked out. The mechanics were good and that made the pitch work.”
Crothers said in the Brownsville game, a lot of the hitters were trying to bunt their way on, so she knew if she executed pitches her fielders would take care of things behind her.
The plan worked out well and the game rolled along at a rapid pace. In fact, one inning she retired the side on three pitches.
“We have played Brownsville every year of my high school career, so over time I’ve kind of learned their approach,” Crothers said. “As the game went on, I think they realized they weren’t getting many hits as they would’ve liked, so they were playing small ball to try and get on base.”
Future plans: Crothers will continue her softball career at Muskingum, a Division III school in Ohio. She fell in love with the intimate setting that Muskingum provides.
“The campus is pretty small and they graduate about 1,200 students a year, which I like, because I’d rather have a close connection with my peers and professors versus a big school where no one knows you,” Crothers said.
Crothers will pursue a bachelor’s degree in nursing at Muskingum.
“Nursing is definitely a job that will always be needed,” Crothers said. “I like nursing, because I like math and being very specific with things. That’s definitely needed in nursing. I’ve grown to learn that nursing will be a good fit for me.”
Learning mechanics: For pitchers, having good mechanics means maintaining a repeatable delivery, which Crothers enjoys working on, but she also likes to tinker with cars with her dad.
Her dad raced a z28 Camaro at local drag strips and she spent plenty of time in the garage helping tune on it.
A newer project is not a race car, but her own personal street vehicle, a BMW 328i.
“I like to work with my dad and on cars and small engines,” Crothers said. “He had a race car for a long time and he’d be working on it and I’d be there handing him tools and learning a lot. Now I’m working on my own personal car quite a bit and I’m learning a lot about it.”
Compiled by Jerin Steele.