GREENVILLE – The Greenville Lady Wave Softball (LWSB) program presented the 2023 team awards Monday night at Greenville High School. The team compiled 29-5 season mark that included a Miami Valley League Title, District Championship, a Regional Championship and a trip to the Final Four in Akron.
Coach Jerrod Newland welcomed all in attendance and thanked the community for its support of Lady Wave Softball as well as showing his appreciation for the Greenville Girls Softball Association (GGSA), Greenville Citizens Baseball League (GCBL) and the Softball Academy, all non-profit entities located in Greenville while serving the youth of Greenville and Darke County.
LWSB assistant coach, Denny Ruble is retiring from coaching after 20 years of assisting Coach Newland dating back to day one when Newland rode into town from Springfield, OH to take over the Greenville softball program. In recognition of Ruble which were many at the event, Coach Newland asked Coach Ruble to handle the comments for the night’s award presentations.
The Lady Wave Softball program has put together a string of 19 straight 25 or more season wins and 20 straight seasons of 20 or more wins starting in year one.
“It has been an awesome 20 years,” said Ruble. “When Coach Newland come in here the first year in ’03 the team before him had only had like four or five wins and we get 20 wins. You could see the energy that he brings, the passion that he brings and his family. It has just been an amazing run how we’ve built Lady Wave Softball and I am going to use a quote that was used about Lady Wave Softball; “The machine that he has built” and the machine is going to keep on rolling.”
LWSB 2023 Roster
Freshmen: Kendall Cromwell, Taylar Fletcher, Elleigh Downey, Kiera Lecklider, Amya Mills, Alexa Robinson, Lily Brubaker and Jaclyn Christman
Sophomore: Kylar Arnett, Marissa Hicks, Ella Stebbins, Morgan Thompson, Zoey Burns and Maddie Hutchens
Junior: Ella McLear, Haleigh McDermitt, Addie Burke and Mahayla Cook
Senior: Ashlyn Zimmer, Skylar Fletcher, Alayna Baughn, Kylie Hamm and Caydance Davidson
“We started out this season with six kids playing in different positions that they didn’t play before so we had a couple bumps in the road at the beginning but we worked our way through that and made kids better,” said Ruble. “It ended up being a very good year, probably a little bit better than what we anticipated.”
The Lady Wave returned to the Final Four for the first time in the past 11 years for their fourth trip to Akron.
“We’ve been there in the years past knocking on the door that maybe the ball didn’t bounce our way or the call didn’t go our way but I have to give them credit,” Ruble stated. “We kept pounding on the door and we finally busted through. There are definitely high expectations from here on out.”
Coach Newland is known for scheduling some of the state’s best programs each season to round out a schedule including a very good Miami Valley League (MVL), a conference made up of DI schools with the Lady Wave consistently taking the conference title year after year.
“Coach Newland schedules these tough teams and when you get that target on your back it just makes you stronger and better,” said Ruble. “That is what helped us get to the state final four, putting pressure on and playing a lot of those games throughout the year. That’s a credit to coach, he does that and gets us all set up for it.”
Every year every senior can go on and play at the next level of softball,” Ruble continued. “As a parent when you see kids going to high dollar schools that costs a lot of money and the next thing you know they are only paying a few thousand a year or a little less, that certainly helps the parents as well as the student.”
Coach Ruble will be following the Lady Wave and will be seen at Lady Wave Stadium and The Academy Indoor Sports Complex but said it is time to spend more time with grandchildren and family.
“The academy is amazing,” Ruble said of Greenville’s Softball Academy. “It is great for Greenville softball but it also does a lot more than just that. Having the Academy there, the Sheriff’s Department has used it, we’ve had the state pole vaulter years ago in ’09 train there so it’s more than just softball, but definitely softball and baseball gets a lot of use out of it. It’s a great thing for the community and it’s going to be here for a long time.”
Coach Denny Ruble was presented the prestigious ‘The Arnie’ award for ‘Extra Miles with Class’.
LWSB 2023 award winners:
Addie Burke – Co-Best Defensive Player
Ashlyn Zimmer – Co-Best Defensive Player
Skylar Fletcher – Co-Best Offensive Player and Highest Batting Average
Zoey Burns – Co-Best Offensive Player, Best Pitcher and Most Runs Batted
Coach Denny Ruble – Extra Miles with Class “The Arnie”
