High school softball 2023: North Ridgeville's Autumn Behlke a seasoned standout thanks to years playing in Texas

It's no surprise North Ridgeville's Autumn Behlke has a great work ethic when it comes to softball preparation. After all, the senior spent the first five years of her career playing year-round in Texas. Originally from the Cleveland area, Behlke's family moved to Texas when she was young because of her father's job. She learned the fundamentals in the Lone Star State and was able to continue to sharpen her skills in the winters while Ohio players were stuck searching for indoor facilities or hitting off tees into nets in heated garages. "We were playing every single week — I think we took off two weeks for Christmas and New Year's — and, personally, I loved it," Behlke said. "Even in the winter when the girls didn't really have a league, our team would play in the boys league." Behlke's parents both had experience on the diamond — her dad with baseball and her mom with softball — and they signed her up for coach pitch at 5 years old. It was an instant love connection and her passion for the sport grew stronger when she began pitching. "I remember starting lessons when I was 8 years old," said Behlke, who 10 years later is just months from playing for Youngstown State. "I'd always throw in my front yard and my parents were troopers as they'd have to chase down the balls at the beginning there. But I was persistent and I just fell in love with pitching. "I loved watching the college girls on TV, which is surreal because I'm going to be there next year. And just having that control and being a big contributor and helping my team in any way that I could." Behlke's family returned to Ohio when she was 10, and she continued to improve in the pitcher's circle and at the plate, with her father serving as her hitting coach. Power was the theme in both areas, as Behlke was just as comfortable zipping 60-plus mph fastballs by hitters as she was sending a softball 20 feet over the outfield fence. She has become one of the premier two-way players in Lorain County and all of Northeast Ohio. "I love both equally … I can't really pick one over the other," Behlke said of pitching and hitting. Unfortunately for Behlke and the Rangers, she has been limited during her high school career, losing her freshman season due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and missing a significant amount of time last season after having offseason foot surgery. "Trying to come back from an injury is tough," Rangers coach Amy McMillan said. "It does set you back and it kind of tests you mentally and physically, but it can also give you kind of an edge. It tells you, 'I'm going to bounce back from this. I'm going to be stronger. I'm going to be better than I was before,' and she's done that. "Last season I said we kind of needed to bubble wrap her a little bit because she wanted to go, she was ready to go. We knew she was going on to play at the next level so we kind of babied her a little bit because we wanted to take care of her. But she just has this drive, this edge, to her now and she feels like she's got something to prove." Besides healing from her foot injury, Behlke has also worked on her pitching mechanics and built up her body to be an even more dominating offensive force. She works regularly with pitching coach Todd Poggiali in Sandusky and spends plenty of time at Method Sports and Fitness near Victory Park in North Ridgeville. "She did a lot of things in the offseason to kind of rebuild herself and work out some kinks," McMillan said. "She was trying to find herself again, coming off that injury. She's just constant, she just never takes a day off. She goes and goes … she's really pushed herself to get stronger and be able to bounce back." While the pitching and hitting have always been big parts of the package she provides for North Ridgeville's softball program, this season she's adding a leadership role that she hasn't had to play in the past because the Rangers have had strong senior classes the past two years. Behlke was able to learn from and work in tandem with Katie Barnhart — another elite pitcher and hitter — the past two seasons. Now Behlke finds herself in the mentor role for a couple of sophomores — the Rangers' other star pitcher Naomi Bottomlee and battery mate Gabby Thibodeaux. "Naomi's great, she's such an advanced player already," Behlke said. "It's really cool to be her teammate and kind of mentor her in a way because I know where she's been and what she's going through. Just like Katie and I were able to relate, so it's really cool that we have a great bond." McMillan is more than happy to have help when it comes to building team chemistry. "She's taken Gabby, who is her catcher this year, under her wing … she's just a good teammate," the coach said. "It's great to be good in the box and good in the circle, but it's more than that. Reaching out to the younger kids, especially since we're young this year, and pushing these guys and passing on the tradition of Ranger softball … teaching the younger girls, 'Hey, this is how we do things here.'" Behlke said it's easy being there as a leader for her teammates because they return the favor by helping her become a better player. "I wouldn't be here without any of them … they just support me so much," she said. "They always have my back. So it's just a really good feeling this year. I feel our group has a lot of good chemistry, we play with a lot of unity out there and our coaches have done a great job once again preparing us like they always do. So, yeah, I'm really excited to see what the season brings." Contact Shaun Bennett at (440) 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com. 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