Homer happy

FORT LORAMIE and AYERSVILLE, Ohio — No. 12 against Fort Laramie was for the record books.

Nos. 13 and 14 against Ayersville and Edon were just for fun and love of the game.

Maddie Guggenbiller set the Fort Recovery High School record for career home runs Friday night in the Indians’ 8-7 win over Fort Loramie. She padded her record in the Softball Super 6 tournament hosted by Ayersville as the Indians took two out of three games.

Guggenbiller had struggled in her first two at bats against Fort Loramie. She struck out swinging twice on a total of seven pitches in her first two at bats. In the fifth inning, she walked. She was still lacking confidence when she came to the plate in the seventh inning, leading to a pep talk from coach Carrie Schoen.

“I said, ‘You’ve got a lot of pressure on yourself right now and there is no reason for it,’” Schoen said. “‘You know you’re a good ball player. I know you’re a good ball player. All you’ve got to do is go up there, put a smile on your face, take a big deep breath, relax and you’ve got this.

“‘If it happens tonight, it happens tonight. If it doesn’t, it’ll happen sometime this season. Take that pressure off of yourself, get up there and have fun. Go have fun and swing. Swing like you’ve been playing this game since you were six years old like you have.’”

The speech worked, as Guggenbiller hit her 12th career home run, a blast to right field, to break the school’s record.

“It feels kind of surreal,” Guggenbiller said. “I had a goal in mind. I went out and I did it. It’s just crazy to me.”

The previous record was held by Lydia Wenning, who played from 2017-2020 and is currently an assistant coach to the team.

“We joked around at the beginning of the season that records are always meant to be broken and hopefully Lydia would be a part of that and she is,” Schoen said.

Guggenbiller’s home run ended up being the winning run for the Indians (5-5). Emma Will also contributed a home run in the victory, adding two RBIs. Brittney Tebbe picked up the win, giving up three runs in six innings pitched.

Guggenbiller said she was dealing with some self-inflicted pressure to break the record and once she accomplished that she would be able to play more freely. That was apparent Saturday, when she was able to add two more home runs in the Softball Super 6 tournament.

Home run No. 13 came in a 7-6 loss to the Ayersville Pilots. Guggenbiller drove in three of the team’s six runs while Ava Grisez added two more with a home run of her own.

Tebbe suffered the loss giving up seven runs — three earned — in six innings.

In the second game of the tournament, Will continued her hot streak of her own with a double and a triple to tally two runs and two RBIs.

The Indians defeated the Continental Pirates 8-3, with Jenna Homan going the distance in the circle. She struck out seven batters while only giving up one earned run.

The weekend rounded out with a 5-3, 11-inning victory over the Edon Bombers, in which Guggenbiller supplied her 14th career home run.

Both teams scored in the 10th inning — the Indians on Guggenbiller’s blast and the Bombers on a double from Addison Warner.

The Indians added four runs in the top of the eleventh on a sacrifice fly from Cali Wendel, a single from Grisez and a ball hit by Ava Schoen that Edon’s MacKenzie Spangler mishandled.

Tebbe once again earned the win, pitching 10 innings and striking out 10 batters. After a little bit of trouble in the bottom of the 11th inning, Homan came in to close the game, earning her the save.