SPRING 2019 SOFTBALL HITTER: Allison Smith Champion

Champion High School pitcher Allison Smith didn’t enjoy softball when she was younger. Soccer was her sport of choice prior to high school.

However as Smith grew older, her potential in softball led her to focus more on the sport. She gave up soccer to put more time into the circle.

“I loved soccer, but now I hate running so softball’s the sport for me,” Smith said.

The Ohio State commit originally wasn’t a pitcher. She spent her early years behind the plate as a catcher. She didn’t get a chance to pitch until Brent Swipas, Carli Swipas’ father, gave her an opportunity during travel ball.

“I was a catcher. I would go and have fun,” Smith said. “It was just to be social and stuff like that. But we won the national championship, and that was the first weekend I actually got to pitch.

“After that weekend of getting to pitch and seeing the adrenaline that comes in the [circle], I knew my sport had changed and I wanted to be good at pitching.”

Smith led the Golden Flashes to a 5-0 win over Cardington-Lincoln on June 1. It was Champion’s third straight Division III state title and ninth overall, the most of any high school in the Mahoning Valley.

With the senior class graduating, the younger players on the roster will need to step into more important roles next year. Smith said seniors were like her sisters, but Champion head coach Cheryl Weaver always rebuilds.

“Somehow Coach Weaver finds a way to do it,” Smith said. “Someone steps up. Look at the sophomores this year in the state game — Cassidy Shaffer. Someone always seems to come up and just do it. We’re hoping it stays that way.”

Shaffer homered twice in the championship game.

Smith plays basketball during the winter and traded soccer for golf in the fall. She said the potential for injury in soccer was too high.

During the summer, Smith will play for the Chicago Beverly Bandits. She will play with fellow Ohio State commits Hannah Bryan (Bishop Ready), Taylor Heckman (Utica), Riley Zana (Walsh Jesuit) and Tegan Cortelletti (Hilliard Darby).

She has three state titles and her college commitment already is out of the way. So what can Smith focus on next year?

“To lose for the first time [in high school] my senior year would be awful,” Smith said. “It’d be really hard to swallow.”