NO FLASH IN A PAN

June 1, 2015 at 12:05a.m.

MASSILLON

Cheryl Weaver is one of the calmest high school coaches you’ll ever meet. Win or lose, she’s willing to answer questions, easily doling out praise to opponents as well as her players.

Her demeanor is consistent, rarely agitated or overexcited. It’s not that she doesn’t care; she just chooses to keep cool.

So it was a bit of a shock to see Weaver and senior Brittany Allen having some fun during a lightning delay in Saturday’s Division III regional championship game. The duo each had a bat and engaged in swordplay, much to the delight of the other Golden Flashes (28-4).

Asked how she could take time out from the seriousness of playing Elyria Catholic for a state berth in order to engage in some horseplay, Weaver smiled.

“You know what?” she replied (one of her favorite ways of answering a question). “Those weren’t real swords.

“You’ve got to keep it loose and have fun,” the 16-year head coach said. “This group knows how to do that.”

Allen wasn’t surprised.

“She believes in us and she knows we’re going to do what we have to do, rain delay or not,” said Allen, one of two seniors on the team.

A friend told Weaver that the players in the opposing dugout watched the commotion with looks of wanting to join the fun. Who wouldn’t?

Since Weaver became the head coach in 2000, Champion has tasted more success than any other program in the Mahoning Valley. The Golden Flashes qualified for state in 2004 and finished state runners-up in 2006. In 2011 and 2012, they won the Division III state title.

Those crowns give Champion five — the Golden Flashes also won in 1978, 1980 and 1994.

“She’s always there for us,” sophomore catcher Molly Williams said. “We’re never not having fun. We know when to have fun and when to be serious.”

When Saturday’s game resumed, Champion breezed to a 4-0 victory to earn its fifth trip to state in 12 seasons. The margin of victory might have been higher had freshman Megan Turner, the Flashes’ No. 3 hitter, not been picked off second base to end the third inning.

Taking the slow walk to the dugout to retrieve her glove, Turner said the only thing she heard as a reprimand was Weaver saying, “Me-gan.”

“She just said my name and I knew right then it was my mistake, so I told her that I’ve got it, it was my fault,” Turner said. “She knows it won’t happen again.”

Weaver said, “As soon as she walked by me, she said, ‘I’m so sorry, Mrs. Weaver.’ She knew it if she hadn’t have said that, I probably would have been in her face.”

That’s hard to imagine.

Weaver admitted that one of her team’s few flaws has been being lackadaisical on the basepaths.

“I’ve given them a big talk about it,” said Weaver of her team that has just four upperclassmen. “My thing is you’re facing girls that are older than you and have been playing longer as catchers and pitchers, and they are going to get you.”

Had not Turner approached her, Weaver said, “I probably would have gone up to her [and said], ‘What did we talk about?’”

Shortly after Williams said, “It’s always fun with Coach Weaver,” word leaked that there’s one thing her Flashes do that can get on her nerves: singing their unofficial song on the bus.

“There’s a song that I just do not like and they think that it is their fight song,” Weaver said. “It doesn’t even have anything to do with [softball]. I’m not real happy with it.”

Turner confessed.

“It’s called ‘Low’ [by rapper Flo Rida] and we sing it twice every time before games,” Turner said.

Williams harmonized.

“When we sing on the bus sometimes, she gets a little fired up,” she said.

Senior pitcher Haylee Gardiner, the only current player who was on the 2012 team, said, “We sing some songs that we probably shouldn’t sing.

“We just try to have fun with it.”

Gardiner said the atmosphere surrounding the team three years ago was tense.

“It’s definitely changed since the intensity of freshman year,” Gardiner said. “It’s just nice to have an enjoyable experience.

Coming off the state title in 2011, Weaver said she did not expect a repeat when the season began.

“In 2012, they had the talent to get back, but I’ll be honest, I never thought [before the season] we would have won it [again],” Weaver said.

But they did. And few were surprised.

It’s going to be a busy week for the Golden Flashes and a busier summer for Weaver in preparing for a new role. In September, her daughter Stephanie is getting married.

Hard to imagine this mother of the bride not keeping cool.