“It’s kind of bittersweet,” the senior third baseman said of her prep career coming to an end. “But I’m ready to play, and I’m ready to win.”
Gibson and the top-ranked Warriors will go after the first state championship in program history at Firestone Stadium in Akron, starting with a 12:30 p.m. semifinal against North Canton Hoover (21-9) on Thursday.
Lebanon (29-3) couldn’t secure hardware in previous trips to the Final Four in 2012, 2014 and 2015.
Multiple Warriors have experienced state heartbreak, but senior pitcher Taylor Lewis isn’t among them. She’s only been at Lebanon for two seasons, having transferred from Mason.
“My dad graduated from Lebanon. I just kind of wanted to go to school here and graduate from Lebanon,” Lewis said. “I’m very excited about going to state. I’m glad I get to go with this team. It’s a good group of girls. It should be interesting.”
Experience abounds in this Lebanon lineup, though the Warriors only have four seniors: Lewis, Gibson, pitcher/first baseman Alexis Strother and left fielder Chloe Allen.
All four will play at the next level. Lewis is going to St. Peter’s (N.J.), Gibson to Wittenberg, Strother to Tennessee Martin and Allen to Lake Erie.
“It’ll be very emotional having to turn these uniforms back in,” Lewis said. “Win or lose, I’ve had a great time playing with these girls. I just hope we can win it.”
Lewis is part of a Lebanon pitching staff that has become interchangeable at pretty much any point in a game.
Strother is 10-1 with a 1.39 earned run average in 75.1 innings. Lewis is 12-2 with a 1.73 ERA in 77 innings. Sophomore Kat Frank is 7-0 with a 1.99 ERA in 45.2 innings.
Who’s going to pitch against Hoover?
“Don’t know,” Warriors coach Brian Kindell said. “It could be one kid, two kids, three kids, whatever it takes to get it done. We kind of go by feel.”
Lewis said it’s not a difficult situation to handle. All the pitchers are told they could come in at the snap of a finger, so it’s a matter of staying focused.
“We’re all here to support each other,” Lewis said. “Whoever is starting, everyone else warms up every single game to be ready to go in. Sometimes I guess it’s a little bit of pressure, but there’s always someone there to pick you up.”
Strother started both regional games in the circle and leads the staff with 93 strikeouts. Lewis pitched in relief twice in the 14-13 regional semifinal against Lakota West and ended up with the win, while Frank also threw in that contest.
“I think all the pitchers have been throwing well,” said Lewis, whose go-to pitch is a screwball. “I think we’re really starting to hit spots, and that’s really key to getting outs. We set very high goals for ourselves, and I’m confident with every person on the roster. I feel like we’re going to get the job done.”
Kindell said he isn’t seeing much truly overpowering pitching in Ohio these days. Offense has become much more prevalent since the rubber was moved from 40 to 43 feet in 2011.
“You’ve been able to talk about girls like (Lebanon graduate) Tara Trainer in the past, but you’re seeing less and less of them,” Kindell said. “It does seem like every year the game gravitates toward being a little more offensive.
“There’s a lot of time and work that has to be put in to become of those real dynamic, shutdown pitchers like a Tara Trainer. I don’t know if too many kids are willing to put in the effort to become that. You don’t just wake up and become as good as Tara was.
“As kids grow up, I think they see the game becoming more and more offensive and they gear themselves toward becoming a center fielder or a shortstop or a catcher. I just see less and less kids pitching.”
Among the Warriors who don’t pitch, Gibson is a three-year starter. She was listed with no at-bats and an RBI as a freshman (yes, it was a sacrifice fly).
Gibson had a dugout seat for Lebanon's last meeting with Hoover in 2014. The Vikings won 5-3 that day in the state semifinals, and the ninth-grader was a bit wide-eyed.
“It was very high intensity and exciting and kind of scary,” Gibson said. “It was the first time I’d ever seen a glimpse of how competitive it could be and what the state tournament was like.”
She also clearly remembers the last game of her sophomore year. Teays Valley's Alyssa Rothwell launched a walkoff home run in the eighth inning to sink Lebanon 1-0 in the state title game.
“Unfortunately, I can sit here right now and imagine it going right over the fence,” Gibson said.
She is hitting .398 with eight doubles, three homers and 25 RBIs this spring, but considers her job as a co-captain (with Strother) to be even more important.
“I was voted captain, and I wasn’t really expecting that,” Gibson said. “I’m not very outspoken. I just wanted to be the best I could be on the field and try to lead others to do the same.”
She feels strongly this is the year for Lebanon to tear down the state championship wall.
“I think a lot of it has to do with our four seniors,” Gibson said. “We’re all very close. We all made it our goal at the beginning of the year to make sure everyone felt included and that we all became a family. I think it shows on and off the field that we have done that.”
Wittenberg will be her next stop, and as much as she’ll miss playing for the Warriors, she’s expecting great things in Springfield.
“Coach (Laura) Matthews was one of the first coaches that reached out to me last summer,” Gibson said. “I had gone to multiple camps there and been on visits there. I just loved her as a coach, I really liked the campus and all the girls, and they have a great softball program.”
Lewis has more traveling to do. St. Peter’s is in Jersey City, which may seem like an obscure location for a Southwest Ohio athlete, but the softball program already has three local players — Brianna Hutchinson of Lebanon, Harley Connors of Mason and Sydney Ramsey of Kings.
“I love going over there. It’s awesome,” Lewis said. “It’s a few minutes away from New York City, so it should be a lot of fun.”
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