CITIZENS’ VOICE SOFTBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Chipego handles strain of senior season – Wilkes-Barre Citizens’ Voice

Hannah Chipego’s final hit of her Lake-Lehman profession tells this story.

The Lake-Lehman senior smoked a ball towards the railroad tracks in straightaway middle area at Wilkes University. The residence run was a no-doubt-about-it shot. Everyone knew it was gone. The crack of the bat bounced all through the power.

Watch Chipego run the bases, and one wouldn’t have identified.

A full dash; 100% motoring across the bases as quick as she might so she might have a good time with the Black Knights at residence plate.

That’s Hannah Chipego. She doesn’t know play the sport some other method.

That’s the way in which she was raised.

That’s the way in which she grew up in softball.

That’s all she is aware of.

It’s a full dash each time.

“I knew that I wanted to give it everything I had,” mentioned Chipego about coming into her senior yr. “In February, my grandmother passed away and she was really big with softball. She loved watching me play. I knew that I wanted to go out there, and play for her the whole season. Everything I did was basically for her.”

For her efforts, Chipego was chosen as The Citizens’ Voice Girls Softball Player of the Year.

The senior leaves Lake-Lehman High School as one of many prime gamers to ever don the yellow and black.

She’s additionally among the finest to ever pitch within the Wyoming Valley Conference.

Her accomplishments are unmatched.

A 3-time all-state choice, and nearly sure to be a four-time choice when the 2026 squad is introduced later this summer time.

A multiple-time WVC Coaches all-star.

A four-time Citizens’ Voice choice.

A Division I commit.

This season, she was 17-3 within the circle with an ERA of 0.47 with 233 strikeouts. For her profession, Chipego — a starter since her freshman yr — is 71-11. Her ERA is 0.75, and she or he’ll go away Lake-Lehman with 853 strikeouts.

She’s additionally stable on the plate. A profession .550 hitter, Chipego completed her senior marketing campaign with a .615 common, 38 runs, 32 hits and 33 RBIs.

Her profession numbers are eye-popping. She’s triple digits in runs (145), hits (152), RBIs (103) and stolen bases (135).

Chipego sat down to talk with The Voice about her profession at Lake-Lehman, how she dealt with the strain of her senior yr and the way she landed at James Madison University.

Q: Out of each participant within the league this yr, you had been the participant that everybody was watching. What was that strain like and the way did you block it out?

A: Honestly, to me, I by no means actually checked out it as strain. I knew that I needed to preserve enjoying my recreation, and simply doing what I needed to do. My mother raised me and taught me cope with strain. Every time that I stepped on that area, all I cared about was the staff. I used to be on the market enjoying for my staff.

Q: How would you describe this yr in your individual phrases?

A: I’d say that it was fulfilling, however at occasions, it was like a curler coaster. There had been a whole lot of ups and downs.

Q: What video games and moments stick out probably the most for you this yr?

A: I’d say the Mid Valley recreation was the one which caught out for me. That was when the group was huge, and that’s the place the strain was. But I by no means let the strain get to me, and I by no means crumbled in that second. I used to be capable of keep centered, keep collectively and simply performed onerous for the staff. I needed to again up my ladies, however we simply fell a little bit quick in that loss. I’d additionally say the Berwick recreation the place I obtained my 800th strikeout was fairly necessary to me.

Q: What was the dynamic like when you have got mother as a coach?

A: It was troublesome at occasions. There had been occasions the place we might butt heads rather a lot, however I must say that it didn’t occur this yr. We actually met one another within the center, and we had been capable of put our heads along with completely different concepts and methods with work a batter. Throughout the years, she’s taught me play beneath strain and deal with myself in sure conditions. She’s taught me all the pieces I have to know.

Q: I do know coming into the season, you had been actually centered on hitting that 800th strikeout. How necessary was that for you?

A: Hitting 800, that was considered one of my targets since my freshman yr. I at all times knew that I needed to get to 800 strikeouts. That was actually huge for me, and it was an enormous milestone. I believe it confirmed all the work that I put into the game, exterior of the particular season and outdoors of practices.

Q: If I advised you to look again in time while you first began throwing the ball in your yard, might you have got think about how far you’ll have come?

A: Never. I used to be simply instructing a lesson, and the one mother was telling me how the little lady was wild in her video games. I advised her that my pitching coach advised me that she by no means anticipated me to be pretty much as good as I’m. Because once I was younger, and round eight years outdated, I couldn’t throw a strike to save lots of my life. I used to be hitting batters left and proper.

Q: What was your faculty journey like and the way did you choose James Madison?

A: I visited colleges and I didn’t get the house feeling that folks say it’s best to get. But as quickly as I stepped onto campus at James Madison, I fell in love with the group and the campus. And I fell in love with the coaches. While I used to be on the camp, I used to be injured and I advised the coach that I wanted to take a seat out, and defined to her what occurred. And the coach simply took me in like I used to be considered one of hers, and she or he was like a mother to me. And she made me really feel so comfy in a scenario the place it’s uncomfortable. That’s once I knew.

Q: As a senior, give a bit of recommendation to a participant within the Lake-Lehman softball program or perhaps to a younger lady that appears as much as you and hopes to be such as you sometime. What would you inform them?

A: Don’t wait in your second. Act such as you already had your second, and you’ve got already been there and achieved that. Don’t wait to indicate the coaches. Give all the pieces exterior of apply. Show your coronary heart and dedication. Don’t look ahead to the sport, and assume that’s when you must present them what you need to do. You want to indicate them what you are able to do at apply and outdoors of apply.