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VINCENT --It took time for Warren's Olivia Congleton to find her perfect fit, but now, Warren's premier backstop will call Ohio Dominican University her home. She still has one more year of Warrior softball left, of course.
That's a great occurrence for head coach Katie Dickson's squad, as Congleton's leadership and raw ability are things you can't teach.
When Congleton arrives in Columbus at ODU, she says she's comforted by the fact the school has the Early Childhood Education program she was looking for.
"(Ohio Dominican) has a really, really good softball program, but I'm also looking to go into Early Childhood Education. Man, that's a double-win for me," Congleton said. "To go to school doing what I want to do and to also get to play softball, there's nothing better than that.
However, it was never that straightforward for the senior. The effects of COVID-19 extended to the period of time she had to sign, and she detailed all the challenges faced over these past months.
"The problem with COVID and getting recruited was you never knew if an offer from a school was going to stay," she said. "With one of the schools I was really interested in, I went to commit, and they ended up not being able to give me the money. A fifth-year senior wanted to come back, and that happended anywhere from Division III to Division I. I had some Division I schools I wanted to talk to and wanted to go to, but they didn't have the money because of COVID and fifth-year seniors who didn't know it was going to happen."
If Congleton's numbers and accolades are anything to go by, it's no wonder she kept all options open. In her three years donning the Warrior blue, she excelled. Her junior year was the most productive for her, and it paid dividends when award season came around. In 2021, she earned first-team All-ECOL and Southeast District honors alongside a second-team All-OVAC selection. The list of achievements didn't stop there, as she became a three-year letter winner in the process. In 50 games of summer ball, her numbers jumped off the page. Batting .397 with an on-base percentage of .445, she slashed her way to 51 runs batted in in those 50 contests. That production is something coach Dickson is happy to have back for one more season in Vincent.
"Even when not everyone is firing on all cylinders, she is usually on her A-game," Dickson said.
"When she's struggling, you can count on her to come back at the next at-bat and bring that A-game. She's a leader by example, so seeing this whole process, it's exciting to have her as a senior. She's one of the smartest softball players. She understands so many postions, that she's not only able to do her job…she's all the time noticing ways to improve the flow of our team as far as saying, 'Hey, somebody's arm might be weaker here. We might have to compensate there.' She understands the different coverages from one play to the next, and she's really good at recognizing other teams' strengths and weaknesses. Behind the plate, that makes it a lot of fun when we have a pitcher that is working well."
In expanding her options, Congleton made it work with Ohio Dominican.
While her December 3 signing was full of friends and family who were there to see her succeed, Congleton says she'll have plenty of memories to take with her from her time at Warren.
"Most of my best friends are on the softball team with me. I have LeDea (Waderker), which she's committed and signed to Mount Union. I have my best friend, Aiyana (Hancock), and she's our star pitcher. Ella McFarland, she's our third basemen. Karlee Lynch, our shortstop. One of our pitchers from freshman year decided to come back, that's Kenzie Nelson. I'm excited to play with her again. We've created a lot of memories, and it's made our friendships a lot stronger," she said. "One of the main memories I think I'll remember is this past season when we were at Unioto, and we won the sectional title. Nobody expected that from us, and we weren't really that team. We were falling apart at the beginning of the season, and there towards the middle, we started to fall apart again. We got it back together, and we became a team again, and we fought through pretty well. It was a pretty tough loss in the district semis against Sheridan. We only lost by 1, but we fought through it and played as a team. There's nothing better I could ask for than this team.
Contact Josh Hughes at jhughes@newsandsentinel.com