Ashland freshman Jay Overy (Midview) has made many adjustments since beginning his collegiate golf career, but one thing he didn`t need to change was his competitiveness on the course.
“The high school competition can be good at times, but the college golf competition is pretty much solid from top to bottom with good golfers,” Overy said. “Everybody is good compared to high school.
“It`s the mental game that you have to control because getting upset at yourself just totally kills a round. It depends on the mental game and being able to stay positive and hit more good shots. It all has to do with my coach helping me out and working on my game. I`m doing my best to get the ball in the hole and am going out there and having fun.”
Overy made an immediate impact for the Eagles.
He tied for medalist at the Migration Classic in Tallahassee, Fla., in early March and led the Eagles to a first-place finish in the tournament with an even-par 72.
In the fall, Overy competed in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships at the Bay City Country Club in Michigan. He tied for 20th with a three-round total of 222. The Eagles finished fourth.
“He adjusts well to playing in college,” said fifth-year Ashland coach Darrin Jones. “He treats it like it`s another round of golf. Some kids get star-struck by the competition, but it`s almost like he has a degree of fearlessness. He just doesn`t worry about the talent level of the guys around him.
“A lot of kids see a lot of good golfers and they doubt themselves,” Jones added. “Rather than being a guaranteed top-10 finish every week, they know it`s going to be a fight. Jay never worried about that. He just came up and played golf like he has his whole life. I try to look at it as he is going through the adjustment period, so he`ll be even better next year. I hope it`s not the ceiling for him. He`s done very well and I`m pleased with it.”
Overy continued to improve as the spring season moved along. He was in the top five after the second round of the Ashland University Invitational with a two-day total of 144.
Overy shot rounds of 74 and 78 in the NCAA regional tournament and helped the Eagles advance to the NCAA Super Regionals.
“There are 80 teams in the Super Regionals and 20 of them are here,” Overy said. “Every team has a shot at going to nationals. It`s a great opportunity to represent your school.”
While Wayne State University won the Super Regional, Ashland gained valuable experience in an intense pressure situation.
That could give the Eagles an edge next year as they look to continue developing the program. It gave Overy a chance to work on his short game.
“Tee to green, I usually don`t have a lot of trouble,” said Overy. “If you`re struggling with your long game, you`ve got to be able to still put together a decent round. I`ve worked a lot more on my short game than I did back in my high school days. I`ve improved a lot on the greens.
“During practice three or four times a week, instead of playing nine holes, we`ll go to each green on the course and hit four or five shots from bunkers,” he added. “That helps us get different feels for different greens and create new shots for yourself.”
Whether it is in the summer or next fall, Jones feels Overy will keep getting better.
“I don`t think he necessarily has a weakness in his game,” said Jones. “Like all players, they become more versatile with age. They learn new varieties of shots. They learn to get better at those shots. I think he has every shot in the game. There`s some he`s better at, some he`s not. That just comes with practice and time.”
Overy didn`t need much time to prove he was ready for college life on the course.
“The longer I`ve coached, the more impact our freshmen have,” Jones said. “I`m not taking all the credit, but to a degree, I`m getting better at seeing guys who can come in and contribute. The bigger issue is that these young kids are playing in so many more tournaments. You see guys that are playing in national qualifiers. They`re playing all year long.
“They`re playing on very, very good golf courses in high school, pretty much the level we are in college,” he added. “When I was in high school, we just went to rinky-dink courses, showed up and slapped the ball around. When kids go to high school tournaments now, it`s a big production. There`s top-level talent.”

News and notes

Caitlin Myor (Elyria) ended her Baldwin-Wallace softball career by tying the school record of 123 runs batted in, a mark set by Elyria Catholic`s Nicole Loudin in 2006. In the first game of a doubleheader sweep of Wilmington College, Myor gave the Yellow Jackets a 1-0 lead with a home run in the fourth inning.
Myor graduates as one of B-W`s most prolific power hitters. In her career, Myor belted 23 home runs and 23 doubles and finished with a .564 slugging percentage and 239 total bases. Myor also helped the Yellow Jackets turn the program around under second-year coach Tom Spencer. B-W went from 17-23 in 2008 to 24-16 this spring.
** Cleveland State won the Horizon League Softball Tournament and will play Notre Dame in the opening game of the Michigan Regional of the NCAA Tournament on Friday in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Freshman Megan Bashak (Elyria) has played in 33 games this season, hitting .340 with nine doubles, three home runs and 19 runs batted in. She has a .515 slugging percentage and .424 on-base percentage. Bashak is 9-for-12 in stolen base attempts.
Sophomore Andrea Nagy (Elyria) has seen playing time in 44 games with a .250 batting average. She is 9-for-9 in steal attempts.
** Zack Koinis (Vermilion) completed a rare feat at the Ohio Athletic Conference men`s golf championship. Koinis, a junior at Heidelberg University in Tiffin, finished as the medalist in back-to-back OAC Tournaments. Koinis is only the sixth player since 1959 to win consecutive individual championships.
Earlier this season, Koinis was a medalist at Capital University`s Purple and White Invitational, as well as the Defiance Invitational.
** Notre Dame College continues to develop its football program with the hiring of Bill Rychel to fill the offensive coordinator role. Rychel is no stranger to college football, having come to NDC from Ohio Northern, where he was co-offensive coordinator.
Rychel was an All-American guard at Mount Union College (1997-2000) and helped the Purple Raiders win three NCAA Division III national championships. During his time at Mount Union, the Raiders went an astonishing 54-1.
Contact Matt Florjancic at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

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