TONTOGANY — Apparently, there are software programs that can compare the relative speed of a baseball pitcher against the speed of a fastpitch softball pitcher.

The argument around Otsego High School is whether senior softball pitcher Lexi North, a Mercyhurst University signee, or baseball pitcher Joseph Dzierwa, who will play at Michigan State University, has the most velocity.

“It’s been the talk,” North said. “Our principal, Mr. (Kevin) O’Shea, has been in the middle of that.

“He’s been comparing our speeds and he’s asking us what we are throwing and what pitches we are throwing, so that has been a fun competition between us two.”

The question is how do you compare a 90-mile-per hour fastball to a mid-60s MPH fastball thrown from different distances?

Otsego softball coach Jason Colyer says maybe just having North and Dzierwa try to hit each other’s pitches would work and do it as a fundraiser. Of course, he is not serious, but it’s an idea.

“I think that would be a great fundraising opportunity right there,” Colyer said. “I think you have to play up the matchup with big Joseph and a lefty.

“I don’t know how he would do against some of our left-handed hitters, but he’s definitely a good talent, too.”

Virtually unhittable at first

Already this year in 91 innings in the circle, North has struck out 190, walked 16, allowed 37 hits, and 29 runs, but only seven earned runs. She has an 0.54 ERA.

No opponent was able to get a hit off North until her fifth game when Lake batter Alivia King hit a soft liner that found a gap in shallow center field in the top of the first inning during an 11-1 Otsego win.

Until that point, North had thrown four straight no-hitters to open the season.

But North is a force at the plate, too, batting .519 (28-for-54) with four doubles, one triple, three home runs, 21 RBIs and she scored three runs, which is down because she is typically replaced on the basepaths by a courtesy runner.

North grew up in Lebanon, Ohio, where she first began mastering the art of softball pitching as a youth softball player.

“It was a lot of hours in the backyard,” North said. “Coach Lou Landers in Lebanon, because I grew up there, was a big part of my pitching journey.”

When her family moved to Northwest Ohio, North played her freshman season at Bowling Green, setting school records for strikeouts (235), wins in a season (16), innings pitched (167.1), games pitched (29), games completed (23), and plate appearances (110).

That season, 2019, she allowed 135 hits, 90 runs, including 47 earned, and walked just 44 with a 1.97 ERA. The following year, 2020, there was no softball because of the global pandemic, but she came back strong

In 178 innings, North struck out 253, walked 23, and allowed 141 hits and 61 runs, including 40 earned runs, with a 1.53 ERA in 2021.

When she showed up at Otsego as a sophomore, Colyer knew he had something special.

“She definitely was a talented pitcher before she came, and she continued to put in the work and got even better since then. She is never satisfied with how things go. She always wants to improve,” Colyer said.

“She can definitely move the ball well, she can locate pitches, and she does not get rattled,” Colyer continued.

“She can kind of mix speeds a little bit, move the pace a little bit, and slow things down when she needs to. She looks like a senior pitcher who has command of the whole defense in the circle.”

It helps that she has an All-Ohio catcher in Summer Berry completing the battery, too. Berry has worked on her game her entire life, attending camps in Puerto Rico and throughout the country.

“She definitely aids in Lexi’s success in many ways,” said Colyer.

A little intervention helps

North has gotten a little intervention this season from another unfamiliar source — Pasquale Shoe Repair on Upton Avenue in West Toledo.

When her glove came apart, she needed an emergency fix, and they were able to get it done for that afternoon’s game with an hour-and-a-half to spare.

Last year, Eve Serrato, a shortstop for Otsego who now plays second base for Monmouth University, was also rescued by the Pasquale brothers. That’s how Lexi and her parents knew they could get a quick fix.

Intervention for North comes from everywhere, and that includes Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania.

One of the reasons North is heading there is because her mother, Kate, pitched and played third base there after her high school career in suburban Cleveland, so Lexi already has a strong relationship with coach Leanne Baker.

“It’s just the environment. I love the campus,” North said. “Coach Baker there, I trust her, love her with everything I have, so I just felt at home at Mercyhurst, plus my mom is an alumnus from there, so it just felt like a good thing for me.”

Colyer added, “I think it is a great choice for her. Her mom played there, it’s a beautiful campus.

“She toured a lot of different schools, had a lot of different opportunities, but I think it felt at home with her and it’s a good fit with the coaches and players there. I know she’s definitely excited about being there.”

First, North wants to take care of business at Otsego.

“I think this year, especially in the NBC, it is going to come down to defense, so we’ve worked really hard on our defense in the offseason and the preseason, so we are a strong defensive team,” North said.

“Also, we want to win the NBC again, so we’re working for that. We made it to regionals last year, but we want to keep moving forward and we want to make it to the state tournament this year.”

The defense is a work in progress as Otsego committed 10 errors during an 18-17 10-inning win over Eastwood, so only five runs were charged against North.

“We have a goal to win every game we play,” Colyer said. “We have a goal of getting better every single time. We take it one game at a time.

“We don’t want to look too far ahead or look back at our accomplishments. It is always about what we can do next to get better.”