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South Range grad Billy Goodall earns All-America honors at Mount Union
By Tom Williams
In high school, Billy Goodall was a standout football and baseball player for South Range High School.
So it’s a little surprising that by the spring of his first year at Mount Union, the 2014 graduate was idle in sports.
“My freshman year, I just needed time to gather myself for college and realized I’ve got to manage my time a lot better than I did in high school,” Goodall said.
Two weeks into the 2015 baseball season, Goodall left the Mount Union team. The break seems to have paid off.
This spring, Goodall was named the Ohio Athletic Conference Player of the Year and received All-America honors from both the American Baseball Coaches Association and D3baseball.com.
“I kind of figured out school my freshman year,” said Goodall, a civil engineering major. “Sophomore year, I talked to my coach [Paul Hesse} and he let me back on the team.”
In his second full season, Goodall led the Purple Raiders (31-11, OAC champions) with a .451 batting average. He drove in 34 runs and connected for three homers, 14 doubles and two triples.
His on-base percentage was .525 and his slugging percentage was .627.
In high school, Goodall was a featured running back for several seasons for the Raiders. When he was named The Vindicator’s Baseball Player of the Year in 2014, Goodall said he was going to Mount Union to play baseball.
Asked about playing football, Goodall replied that he wanted to be able to walk when he was 30.
“Yes, I remember saying that,” Goodall said recently with a laugh. “I’m always going to miss [football], but I think I made the right choice sticking with baseball.”
His numbers this season agree.
“To be in football, you’ve got to really want to be in football — those two-a-days, those five-hour practices,” Goodall said. “To be a football player, you’ve got to really want it.
“Honestly, I think I’m more of a baseball player, I have more fun playing baseball.”
Still, going to a Division III football powerhouse wasn’t the easiest way to give up something he loved.
“Mount Union being a football school and all, obviously it tempted me a little more,” Goodall said. “I go watch Mount Union play. Obviously I [feel] a little bit of regret.
“Honestly, at one point, it might have been sophomore year, I thought about playing both.
“But then I thought, ‘Nah, that’s going to be too much.’”
“Playing a sport, it’s like a full-time job with school,” Goodall said. “We go year-round. In the fall, there’s less on us. In the winter, it’s going to pick up. In the spring, you’re at full go.
“You definitely have got to manage your time in the spring,” Goodall said. “Two sports would have been too ... if you want to excel in one, you’ve got to put the time in.’
As far as long-term injuries, Goodall is one of the fortunate ones who didn’t sustain any while playing football.
“I never missed a game of football in my life,” he said, which is somewhat surprising because he once suffered a partially collapsed lung which required an overnight hospital stay.
In addition to the expected bumps and bruise, Goodall said he might have suffered a concussion in the final game of his junior year against Crestview when he suffered a helmet-to-helmet hit.
“I don’t know if it really was a concussion,” Goodall said. “Got hit hard, never really got checked out.”
His multitasking urge lingered briefly when he moved on to college baseball. In high school, Goodall was an outfielder and relief pitcher. He thought about trying to do both for the Purple Raiders, but admitted arm issues can creep up when he does both.
“Hitting is my favorite part of the game,” Goodall said.
Walking away from baseball stung.
“I missed it a ton and knew I was wasting my ability,” Goodall said. “Some kids don’t get the luxury to play college baseball and I knew I could.
“I still worked, I still hit,” he said of his time off. “I think I always knew that I would come back to it.”
Coming back wasn’t easy, but he almost immediately became the starter in left field.
“I had to show that I was dedicated,” he said.
He shifted to center field this season and says he has no preference.
“People always ask me that and I like to call myself an ‘outfielder’ because I like to think I can play all three,” he said. “It makes me more versatile if I can play any spot in the outfield. That’s why I don’t prefer one.”
Goodall began the season batting in the third slot, then was moved up to lead-off for four games before moving back down to third.
When his spring semester ended, Goodall played a few games for Creekside in the Youngstown league for collegiate players. But his wrist has been aching, so he’s stopped playing.
“My wrist just wasn’t getting better,” Goodall said. “Still have pain so I’m taking the summer off.
“Bob Mingo was my coach, I played for him the past two years,” Goodall said. “He’s a great guy and I felt bad walking away but I had to do it for my own health. I just want to heal my wrist for next year. “Swinging with a hurting wrist isn’t the best feeling and it doesn’t get better when you keep swinging,” he said.
As for school, Goodall is working an internship this summer with the Ohio Department of Transportation following around an engineering project manager for several road construction projects.
Goodall is looking forward to another season with the Purple Raiders.
“I don’ think I’ve reached my full potential,” he said.