Brezina Aims to Lead Her Team to the Top of the OAC
Written by Tom Kessler, Sun Newspaper Sports Editor on April 8, 2004
BEREA - As one of the aces of the Baldwin-Wallace College softball pitching staff, senior Jeanette Brezina is anxious to deal her repertoire of fastballs, risers and changeups to opposing hitters.
She hasn't been able to do much pitching lately, due to the typical winter-like early-spring weather that has confronted the Yellow Jackets since they returned from their recent trip to Florida. Still, Brezina prefers to accentuate the positive.
"Things look good if we can ever get a game in," said Brezina, who is one of many graduates of southwest suburban-area high schools who are playing key roles on B-W sports teams this spring. "Our team looks good. We went 6-4 in Florida and really came together by the end of the trip."
Since heading back north, the Yellow Jackets of head coach Joe Yocabet dropped a pair of games against Otterbein and swept two from Wilmington to move to 8-6 on the season (2-2 in the Ohio Athletic Conference).
"We have a competitive team, and we want to win," said Brezina, who is a graduate of Valley Forge High School and a former star hurler for the Patriots. "Coach Yocabet pushes us, and at the same time he keeps it fun. We enjoy going to practice every day.
"We have great defense," added Brezina, who also plays first base for B-W. "Once our hitting comes along, I think we'll be pretty much unstoppable. We have the potential."
The Yellow Jackets are striving to improve upon last season's 25-16 record and second-place finish in the OAC. Their goal is to qualify again for the league tournament - and this time, to win it.
"We need to take advantage of the opportunities and the little things, and we need to hit," said Brezina, who went into this week's action with a 3-1 pitching record and a 2.89 earned-run average as well as a .270 batting average. "I think we can do it. I think we are just as good as any team out there."
Brezina has struck out 14 batters in 28 innings thus far this season. Last year, she fanned 26 hitters in finishing with a 9-4 record and a 1.74 ERA.
"I get really fired up on the mound when I'm pitching," she said. "I like to be put in tough situations. In college, all the hitters are really good, so you have to be smart and know what to pitch to them."
That's where Brezina's aforementioned array of pitches comes in.
"I have a drop-curve, screwball, riseball, dropball, changeup and fastball," said Brezina, whose career record at B-W is 19-8, with a 2.11 ERA. "This year I have been using a lot of screwballs and changeups. I like to mix it up - different games, different pitches, different hitters."
Brezina began her collegiate career at Tiffin University before transferring to Baldwin-Wallace.
"B-W is close to home and the atmosphere is like a college town," said Brezina, who is majoring in communication, with a minor in public relations and marketing. "My goal is to work as a pharmaceutical sales representative. I also want to coach, possibly at the college level."
Brezina and Holy Name graduate Meredith Godec are co-coaches of an age 12-and-under summer travel tournament team called the Cleveland Wildcats. On top of that, Brezina also holds down a seasonal job.
"It is a big challenge," Brezina said about juggling her fast-paced schedule. "I am the type of person who is always going, going, going. I have schoolwork and softball and I work, and I still am able to manage a social life. I love it."
This spring, Brezina and Olmsted Falls graduate K.C. Young are two of the anchors of the B-W pitching staff. Young, a junior, has a 2-3 record thus far and is hitting .333 with six runs batted in. Other southwest suburban-area high school graduates playing for the B-W softball team are junior outfielder Jackie White (Holy Name), junior infielder Julie Durkot (Normandy) and junior outfielder Mary Farrell (Holy Name). White opened the season by going 7-for-19 for a .368 batting average.
Meanwhile, five area graduates are playing baseball this season for Baldwin-Wallace, including four from Strongsville High. Coach Bob Fisher's Yellow Jackets baseball roster includes former Strongsville Mustangs players Jim Yezbak, Jeff Cicerchi, Matt Daugherty and Brian Karaffa. They are joined by Normandy graduate Jeff Suvak, a freshman pitcher. Yezbak, a junior first baseman, is hitting .333 with a home run and eight runs batted in. Cicerchi, a junior third baseman, is hitting .214 with an RBI. Daugherty, a freshman middle infielder, began the season by going 2-for-5 with an RBI. Karaffa is a freshman pitcher.
In tennis, junior Matt Seitz, an Olmsted Falls graduate, is unbeaten in his collegiate career at B-W and serves as a backup on the undefeated Yellow Jacket varsity (which began the season with 15 consecutive wins). Seitz is 2-0 this season and is 18-0 in his singles career at B-W. Strongsville resident Brian Rector is B-W's all-time winningest men's tennis coach, while Jack Bethlenfalvy, of Parma, is the school's most-successful women's tennis coach. Rector, a 1989 B-W graduate and former All-American, is in his 15th season and has a 235-57 career record. Bethlenfalvy, in his 20th year, has a record of 192-155.
Olmsted Falls graduate Alex Johnson, who won an OAC individual title and was 10th in the shot put at this year's NCAA Division III Indoor Championship Meet and who placed 14th at last year's NCAA Division III Outdoor Meet, headlines a group of 14 local graduates who are running track for veteran B-W head coach Bill Taraschke. Joining Johnson on the men's team are senior middle distance ace Brian Adkins (Berea), sophomore distance runner Kevin Andrzewski (Berea), sophomore jumper Ryan Beeler (Olmsted Falls), freshman middle distance runner Pat Crann (Berea), sophomore thrower Bob Hinkle (Valley Forge), freshman thrower Dan LaRocco (Midpark), sophomore jumper Mark Miracola (Olmsted Falls) and freshmen distance runners Chris Smolinski (Padua) and Chris Buhoveckey (Padua).
The five local women are freshman hurdler Stephanie Damas (Padua), senior high-jumper Amren Fraser (Midpark), sophomore thrower Megan McDannel (Berea), senior middle distance runner Tara Perry (Berea) and senior distance ace Lisa Bartkiewicz (Berea).
At Saturday's OAC Northern Quad Meet at Mount Union College, McDannel won the discus (with a throw of 127-5) and Fraser took the high jump (at 5-4) to lead the B-W women to the overall title. The Yellow Jacket men finished second, as Miracola took the triple jump with a mark of 42-41/2 and Johnson won the shot put with a throw of 52-81/2.
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