High school softball: Firelands' Jeannette Crawford switched to softball -- and has become one of area's top pitchers

Like many young athletes, Firelands junior Jeannette Crawford got her start in softball thanks to the encouragement of her parents. But that encouragement didn't quite look the same as everyone else's. "I actually started playing soccer when I was really little, following my brother, and then when I reached the third grade my mom finally said, 'You look terrible playing soccer … you need to find another sport,'" Crawford said. "It was because I was tall and running around for tall people isn't the best. So we went to Oberlin College and they used to have this event that was for girls in sports and you could try every sport they offered. I really liked softball and I asked her if I'd be able to try that." Crawford not only looked great playing her new sport, she found she could excel at the plate and in the pitcher's circle and has become one of the area's top two-way players. Her breakout sophomore season earned her the Lorain County Pitcher of the Year award in Division II last year. It was a confidence boost and a nice reward for Crawford, whose pitching career was born out of necessity. "It was half (the game) tee ball and half kid pitch," Crawford said of her career debut in the Firelands Hot Stove league. "I actually started pitching because I was the only one on our team that could get it over the plate consistently. So I never got to watch other girls pitch in games (to be motivated to try pitching), I was just kind of thrown out there. The coaches were like, 'Just try to get it over the plate, please.'" Crawford sharpened her skills in Hot Stove for several years then started playing travel ball, all the while learning how to become a better pitcher all over the county. She took a handful of lessons at Leffew Fastpitch, learned from Oberlin College coaches and spent time with former Firelands standouts Ashley Strauss and Claire Vilagi. While Falcons coach Chad Parsons is entering his second season at the helm and has known Crawford for just a little over a year, he said the improvement he's seen in that time has been amazing. "She had a really good offseason — playing travel ball during the summer and we played winter ball and she pitched against some really good teams — and she just looks ready to go," Parsons said. "Her arm is so much stronger this year. I think the game's actually slowing down for her. She's having fun on the mound and really hitting her spots." Crawford laughs when asking about her arm strength. She said she's never been clocked and has no idea how fast she throws, and she's not a great judge of whether she's gotten faster since last season. "There's some days I walk out on the mound and I look at everyone and say, 'Am I slow?'" Crawford said. "They all look at me and laugh and say, 'No, you actually seem really fast today.' So it's just going out there and doing the best I can." It took awhile for Crawford to be able to showcase her pitching skills. She tore her ACL playing basketball during the eighth grade and missed the entire softball season, then spent her freshman year behind No. 1 starter Adrianna Buchanan. "I got in a few games (as a freshman) when Adrianna started to struggle or there was a three-game stretch where her arm was really hurting and I had to pitch that week," Crawford said. "But I also got a lot of work that year because the travel ball team I was on, I was really our only actual pitcher so I got consistent work that summer." Crawford has also shown steady improvement on offense — hitting in the middle of the lineup — and hit her first career home run during the Falcons' season-opening win over Open Door. "That was really nice because before the season I would beg my dad for a new bat and he'd always say, 'A $500 bat isn't going to fix a $5 swing,'" Crawford said. "So it was nice kind of getting that hit because then I was able to say, 'See … I told you I needed a new bat.'" It's clear that Crawford has become a leader on offense and defense with her play on the field, and now that she's entering the second half of her varsity career she'll be looked at as a leader off the field, too. "She always has a smile on her face and is willing to do whatever is asked of her," Parsons said. "She's our spark obviously on defense and when she's pitching good, it seems that things start to flow really well. She has great awareness on the field and she's able to call where the cutoffs are going to be and which base we should go to … she sees the whole field. "She's a great kid and still has a lot of potential. It's been a pleasure to have her on the mound for us." Crawford does have a few personal goals this year — she's sitting at around 175 career strikeouts and wants to eclipse 300 by the end of the season — but her biggest desires center on team achievements. "I would love for our team to win (the Lorain County League) this year so badly," she said. "I think this is definitely our year that we could make it, as far as making it to the district finals (last season). I would love to make it back there again. We have a strong team and we have a very experienced team this year with a bunch of seniors and juniors." Contact Shaun Bennett at (440) 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @ShaunBennettct on X.