Strasburg softball is 'still chasing history' after 10th state title
STRASBURG — Question: What do you do when you’ve reached the mountaintop of Ohio high school softball while recording the most state titles in OHSAA history?
Answer: For the tradition-steeped Strasburg High School softball program, there are many more chapters to be written in their story as “Ohio’s Softball Town USA.”
Just ask Strasburg softball coach Tom Spidell, whose team won a third straight Division IV state title and 10th overall crown last spring to set an all-time OHSAA record.
“At the end of the day, we’re still chasing history,” said Spidell, who sports his traditional floppy hat during practice and games, a hat that may likely adorn the Tigers’ trophy case someday next to their 10 glistening state title trophies. “We want to be the first team to win 11 (state titles).”
"And since they’ve expanded to seven divisions, we’d like to be the first team to win Division VII, and that’s where we’re at, so there’s some different things (goals) to look at this year.”
Tigers return a veteran team
Strasburg’s 10-0 win over Monroeville in last year’s Division IV state championship game was accomplished with a team filled with seven underclass starters. The team finished with an impressive 31-3 record against a loaded schedule. The Tigers also went 12-0 in the Inter Valley Conference North Division to repeat as league champions. Now, a year later, those seven starters, as well as some talented newcomers, have returned and the optimism is through the roof.
A talented and powerful starting lineup
According to Spidell, the Tigers’ probable lineup will include sophomore catcher Rayelle Watkins (who started in right field last year), sophomore third baseman Addy Sibila, junior shortstop Olivia Spidell (who started at catcher last season), senior pitcher-first baseman Lauren Harvey, junior pitcher-first baseman Miley Reifenschneider, freshman pitcher-infielder Ande Jones, junior second baseman Ella Gilkerson (who started at shortstop last year), junior left fielder Sofia Secrest, senior center fielder Rylee Becker and junior right fielder Keagyn Kramer.
Others being counted upon include junior utility/designated player AJ Sundheimer, sophomore outfielder-pinch runner Millie Richards and junior outfielder Caradi Hartline.
Tigers’ offense is loaded
The Tigers can hit the long ball, and they can also hit for average. They return their top three power hitters in Reifenschneider (eight home runs), Gilkerson (seven home runs) and Olivia Spidell (two home runs).
“I think offense is going to be the strength of our team,” Tom Spidell said. “We’ve had some really good offensive teams the last three or four years. I’ll say it this way, because you never know what’s going to happen in the season, but this one has the potential to be the best offensive team I’ve had.”
Olivia Spidell is one of the Tigers’ vocal leaders
Standout Olivia Spidell, the daughter of Tom Spidell, moves back to shortstop where she played as a freshman before moving to catcher last season. She says the Tigers aren’t shy in terms of talking about their goal of winning a fourth straight state title.
“We absolutely talk about it,” said Spidell, one of the inspirational leaders on the team who batted .469 last season with 24 extra base hits and 42 RBIs. “But at the same time, we don’t let that take our work ethic, because we don’t want to be focusing on (the past) and that we’re just automatically going to win the next year. We definitely talk about it, but not every day in practice.”
Olivia Spidell takes pride in the fact that she’s one of the leaders on such a talented yet youthful team.
“We’re mostly led by juniors and sophomores,” she said. “For me, I think I’m definitely more of a vocal leader on the team. Our two seniors are our captains and they’re very well respected, but they aren’t as much of the vocal type as I am. They lead more by example, but for me, my job is to be the loudest one out there and make sure everybody knows what they’re doing, so we’re all on the same page.”
Tom Spidell welcomes “the hunted” banter
“We’ve talked about how we are definitely the hunted — everybody wants to beat us, and it would make their season to do that, so we’ve got to be prepared for every game,” he said.
But he's stressing to his two seniors to put aside the pressure.
“You’ve already won three (state championships) and most people haven’t even won one, so this is icing on the cake — this is extra," he said. "We still want to win, we still want to do all those things, but don’t take the pressure so much that you don’t play up to your capability.”
Tigers’ all-time winningest pitcher now at Ohio Dominican
One significant loss from last year’s Strasburg title team was the graduation of standout pitcher Amelia Spidell, who set the all-time Tigers’ record with 74 career pitching wins. She was also the winning hurler in all three of the Tigers’ most recent state championships. She is now pitching at Ohio Dominican University.
Olivia Spidell said her sister Amelia was tremendous and added the 2025 Tigers have extra motivation to prove the doubters wrong, now that her multi-year All-Ohio pitching sister has departed for the collegiate ranks.
“I’m really excited for the team,” said Olivia Spidell. “Last year, it was always, 'well, Amelia is carrying your team and that'. I’m not taking anything away from my sister, but just this year we have a chance to show them it wasn’t just all Amelia, because there was a lot of talk, well, once your sister graduates, you might not be as good, so we’re definitely all excited to see what we can do.”
The “sea of orange” makes it all worthwhile
Tom and Olivia Spidell say the overwhelming support of the Strasburg community is an underlying factor to their success.
"We get good crowds for home games and stuff — a lot of people that don’t have kids or grandkids, they just come back to watch because they love our softball program and it’s a lot of fun being out there and performing in front of them," Tom Spidell said.
Expect the “sea of orange” to turn out en masse when the Tigers open the season March 24 — a campaign they hope will culminate with another state championship at Akron Firestone Stadium in June.
The Tigers host rival Conotton Valley in their opener March 24.
This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: Strasburg softball chasing another historic state title
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