Correction appended.
After a successful 2022 season in which Ohio qualified for the Mid-American Conference Tournament after going 17-10 in conference play and finishing second in the conference, it enters the 2023 season with a number of significant questions.
The most important one is about its coaching staff. Former head coach Kenzie Roark retired from coaching in July following four seasons with Ohio and both of last year’s assistant coaches — Ashley Taylor and Andrew Stover — are gone as well.
Replacing Roark is former Ohio assistant coach Jenna Hall, who spent four years in Athens as an assistant to Jodi Hermanek before leaving to become an assistant at Ohio State. After Hermanek left Ohio to become the head coach at Pitt in 2018, she hired Hall as an assistant in 2019. This is Hall’s first head coaching job.
In addition to a new head coach, Ohio also has plenty of questions about a roster that has lost some of its most important players from last season.
The Bobcats had four players make All-MAC teams in 2022, and three of them are gone. All-MAC First Team center fielder Allie Englant represents the biggest loss of the three, but catcher Brooke Rice and shortstop Megan McMenemy, who both made the second team, are key losses as well.
There are two other significant departures, however, in Mackensie Kohl and Caroline Spacek. Kohl was Ohio’s primary starting pitcher in 2022, finishing second in the MAC in innings pitched and seventh in strikeouts.
Spacek was a key part of Ohio’s offense, finishing second on the team in RBIs and doubles, fourth in home runs and third in batting average, runs and hits. She also was one of four players to appear in all 48 games for Ohio.
The Bobcats may be losing a lot of production from last year, both in the circle and in the batter’s box, but their best hitter is returning.
Annalia Paoli, who led Ohio in batting average, OPS, slugging percentage, hits, home runs and RBIs en route to an All-MAC First Team selection, is back. She also finished in the top ten in the MAC in all of those categories last year.
Paoli was the driving force behind Ohio’s strong finish to the season in 2022, and in 2023 she will be tasked with elevating a lineup filled with veteran utility players stepping into starting roles and young players trying to force their way into the team.
Whatever Ohio’s starting lineup looks like in 2023, rest assured that it will be built around Paoli, who will no doubt enter the season as MAC Player of the Year contender.
The Bobcats only used two pitchers during the 2022 season, and with one of them graduating, the pitching staff is going to be quite different this year. Kylie Coffelt, the other starter from last season, is back, but the other three pitchers on Ohio’s roster are all freshmen or sophomores.
Two of them, Ellie Greene and Keegan Moore, are new to the team this year, but Skipp Miller is in her second year with Ohio after missing the 2022 season with injury.
With the season starting this Friday, Ohio will soon be able to get a better look at a roster that is replacing most of its starting lineup and filled with a majority of freshmen and sophomores.
The Bobcats have questions to answer, but there are plenty of reasons to think they can build off of last season’s success.
Correction appended: A previous version of this article stated that former head coach Kenzie Roark retired in September, when Roark actually retired in July. This article has been updated to reflect the most accurate information.
