MOUNT VERNON – To get to the peak of physical conditioning, a sport and practice are only the beginning.
Mount Vernon softball players Brooke Radermacher and Mollie Pentz are proving that fact on and off the field. Both girls committed to living a healthier life through exercise and better eating.
“I used to go through bags of chips before,” Radermacher said. “Now I hardly touch chips. Once in a while we have some in the dugout. For the most part, though, I don’t do that. I track my food intake. Proteins are a big thing. I eat lots of chicken. I didn’t used to do that very often. I’ve just found a lot more things that I like. You don’t need junk food to enjoy life.”
For these girls, it’s not so awkward when healthy celery sticks and peanut butter clash with high-fat pizza and chips.
“We bring our healthier snacks everyday,” Radermacher said. “When you’re tracking your food and someone comes along with pizza or whatever, it’s kind of like a treat.”
The better diet came with benefits, both physical and psychological.
“When you start to work out and eat healthier, you start to feel good,” Pentz said. “It’s very motivating. Just the fact that I was working out made me want to change my diet. I just like the benefits that came out of it. I felt a lot better about myself.”
They both started at CrossFit in Mount Vernon two years ago, and from there it hasn’t stopped.
“I definitely feel that I have more energy,” Pentz said. “CrossFit has helped me out a lot. We don’t do it every day. We have to balance it because it is hard to balance playing a sport and having to work out hardcore all the time like CrossFit is. We try to keep that balance, but we do love to get in there and do a workout and get a good sweat in.”
“It’s a little bit of everything,” Radermacher said. “You get your heart rate up, that’s for sure. But there are a lot of lifts too. I’ve never imagined being able to do those. The amount of weight I’m able to put on it, I never imagined myself lifting.”
The training has helped both girls gain size and strength, and that has made a difference on the field.
“Before I started, I could hardly get a ball out of the infield,” Pentz said. “Since I started, I’ve been super fast and I have so much more power. I’m not a home-run hitter. I have hit one in my high school career. But I can get the ball to the outfield now.”
The commitment they have made goes far beyond high school and softball.
“Doing this has made me realize that fitness is forever,” Pentz said. “It’s always going to be part of my life.”
Mount Vernon battled to get three wins at the very tough Prebis Memorial Classic in LaGrange on Friday and Saturday, April 23–24. The Jackets defeated Holland Springfield 6-3 in Friday’s opener. Then they beat North Ridgeville 3-0 on Saturday before closing play with a 12-0 five-inning shutout of Uniontown Lake in the finale.
“We had a great weekend,” Mount Vernon coach Ryan Pentz said. “Our energy leads us every day. If energy is in the dugout, then energy is on the field.”
The Jackets brought that energy home on Monday, Apr. 26; sending 17 batters to the plate in the bottom of the first inning. They scored 13 runs on 10 hits en route to a 16-2 five-inning thumping of visiting Mansfield Madison in an Ohio Cardinal Conference matchup.
Mount Vernon’s Makaylia Schlosser was 3-for-3 and scored twice to lead the Jackets’ attack, while teammate Layne Cook scored three times and went 2-for-3 at the plate.
Maddy Burdette, Carlena Fiorilli, Kelly Sullins and Mollie Pentz each also scored twice for the Jackets.
After allowing a first-inning, two-run homer to Madison’s Bre Bowles, Mount Vernon pitcher Emma Jones set down the final 13 batters she faced.
