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Quite ready for her closeup
By BRIAN DZENIS
BOARDMAN
Teen-agers who like to look at photos and videos of themselves? That’s a common sight in any high school.
For Boardman softball player Miyah Mitchum, it’s one of the keys to her success on the field
“I like to know what I’m doing wrong, whether it’s fielding or with batting,” Mitchum said. “I’m a visual person and if I can see it, I can see what I need to do and I can make that adjustment,
“I know what I’m supposed to look like, but if I don’t look the way I’m supposed to, I know what kind of adjustments I need to make,” Mitchum said. “It’s the only way that I can get better.”
Mitchum’s eye for detail, natural talent to play catcher and a relentless work ethic have made her into a Division I recruit. The senior is headed to Youngstown State University after graduation.
Mitchum is batting .429 with a home run, nine RBIs, nine runs scored and three doubles.
Tuesday, the Spartans open Division I tournament play with a game at home with the winner of today’s Kenston-Aurora game.
Boardman softball coach Mike Trell said the Spartans record all of their players, but Mitchum asks about the recordings a lot more than her peers.
She not only knows what she’s supposed to look like, but she knows what the Spartans pitchers are supposed to look like. She attends their pitching lessons to learn their mechanics.
Pitcher Sydney Aey, who’s been Mitchum’s teammate since their youth softball days, calls her the best catcher in the area in her defensive ability and how she works with pitchers.
“She’s very focused on the game, but if I’m struggling, she’ll come out to the mound and start cracking jokes,” Aey said. “She has a really strong arm and she’s just very instinctual, too.”
Keeping track of where everyone is and what they’re supposed to be doing while reacting in real time to each pitch is what pulled Mitchum to her sport.
“I think that softball is not just physical. There’s also the mental aspect and that’s really challenging. It’s not as simple as people make it seem,” Mitchum said. “It’s a lot of reaction, but you have to think about not just what you’re doing, but what everyone else is going to do.
“I think the component of it being such a team sport is what attracts me.”
Mitchum brings a lot of that enthusiasm for her sport to other extra-curricular activities. She ran cross country because “she just wanted something to do.”
She’s a member of National Honor Society, Big Spartan Little Spartan and art club, And she is the vice-president of her class.
“I don’t like being bored and it keeps me active and always do something,” Mitchum said. “With the extra-curricular activities, I get to meet a whole bunch of people and I like to be social.”
The source of her energy and work ethic is her mother, Angie Mitchum. Despite working two jobs as a single mother, Mrs. Mitchum always found time to go to nearly every practice and game and take her daughter to out-of-state camps in the offseason.
“It’s really hard and just watching her, she’s always put me first. Everything that she’s done for me, I could never thank her enough,” Mitchum said of her mother. “She loses a lot of sleep coming to my games because she wants to see everything.”
Mrs. Mitchum holds two nursing jobs — an overnight shift and another as a per diem or on-call nurse. She said she gets help from the other Boardman softball parents, but as far as she’s concerned, everything she did was just a parent doing all they can for their child.
“It wasn’t easy, but I don’t regret any of it,” Mrs. Mitchum said. “Actually, it seemed normal to me. I just got so used to it that it was OK. I wasn’t doing the two jobs every day, but it was OK.
“I grew up with a strong mother, she did what she had to do to take care of us and you do what you do.”
Trell said Miyah showed signs of having serious softball talent around the time she was 10 years old when she was initially a pitcher.
“She had the power, the size and the speed, everything that you needed to your game,” Trell said. “Whether she was Division I or not, we weren’t so sure at the time, but we definitely thought softball could be a big part of her future.”
Staying in close proximity to her mother a deciding factor in her choosing to go to YSU.
For now, she’s focused on advancing the Spartans to next week’s district tournament.
“That would be incredible. I know if it were to happen, it would be a collaboration of the entire team just working together,” Mitchum said. “Not just the players, but the coaches, too, and the parents. That would be amazing.”