How a Mother's Dream Helped Build a Wheelersburg Softball Dynasty

AKRON, Ohio – When Teresa Ruby’s mother dreamed of her daughter winning a softball state championship as a head coach, neither could have imagined it would lead to one of Ohio's greatest softball dynasties.

Ruby had been the head coach for two seasons at Portsmouth in 2012 and 2013 when the call came to see if she would be interested in taking the vacancy at Wheelersburg and she thought back to conversations she had with her mother.

“My mom wanted me to win (a state championship) as a coach,” Ruby said. “It was just something we talked about. “She passed away, and the Wheelersburg job came open, and I got a phone call, and I thought this was probably my chance to do something my mom wanted me to do.”

A Dream Worth Chasing

Before arriving at Wheelersburg, Ruby coached for 15 years at her alma mater, Portsmouth Clay, where she went 228-80 and guided the Panthers to the 2007 state tournament, the final one played at Ashland’s Brookside Park. It was the first time they had been there since 1988.

As a player, Ruby helped lead Clay to a state runner-up finish as a sophomore in 1979 and back-to-back state titles in 1980-81. The trip in 1979 was the first state tournament sanctioned by the OHSAA.

She left her coaching perch at Clay to become an assistant at Shawnee State and returned to the high school ranks in 2012 to take over at Portsmouth. She was there for two seasons when the call came to move to Wheelersburg.

Building Wheelersburg Into a Powerhouse

Since taking that phone call and accepting the job at Wheelersburg, all Ruby has done is go 297-21 with five state championships, one state runner-up and eight state semifinal appearances.

The latest state title came this season, as the Pirates defeated Liberty Union 7-6 on Sunday at Firestone Stadium to win their second championship in a row and their fourth in five years.

“I just wanted one, to be honest,” Ruby said, shaking her head abashedly in the hallway after winning the fifth title. “That is what brought me here.”

She was inducted into the Ohio High School Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in January 2024.

The Wheelersburg Way

Before they even get to put on the Wheelersburg varsity uniform or step on the field for the Pirates, most players are already familiar with Ruby and her staff because of their involvement in the youth leagues of Wheelersburg.

“We invest in our youth leagues,” Ruby said. “When I say we invest in our youth league, it’s the same coaches as here, and a lot of people are willing to step up who know how we practice and how we do things. I have a great coaching staff. No way I can take any sole credit here, but we've been together for a while, and we read each other's minds.”

When the players learn the Wheelersburg way in the youth leagues, it isn’t just about how the Pirates like to play once they get inside the lines. It’s also learning about how to be a good teammate, which then leads to program success.

“We work not just on the fundamentals, but really fine tune things,” Ruby said. “We break it down a lot, and we do it over and over and over and over again. And then just that culture and that expectation for winning, and to me, it's winning the right way. We talk about you don’t have to be best friends, but you’re going to be a good teammate, and what that looks like, and sometimes sacrificing.”

Culture of Winning

When you build from the youth leagues on up, it gives the players an investment not only in the team, but the program as a whole. That’s why Wheelersburg is able to have former players come back when they are in town to help out the current team.

Players such as Catie Boggs and Macee Eaton, who has a younger sister on the team now in junior Emee Eaton. When at Wheelersburg, both players were named first-team All-Ohio for three straight seasons.

“At this point, it's a lot of riches that we have, a lot of blessings,” Ruby said. “You have a Katie Boggs who is at North Carolina, is at practice, Macee Eaton is at Virginia, is at practice. It's an ongoing family and ongoing culture of riches. It really is.”

Be ready When Called Upon

One thing that has made Ruby so successful is her willingness to make the hard decisions, such as pulling a starting pitcher in a state championship game to put in another, or even going back to that first pitcher later in the game. It also doesn’t matter if it means putting in a freshman in the biggest moment of the season.

That was the case this year, as she went to freshman Rylan Butcher in the third inning in place of senior Emee Eaton after Eaton had allowed four runs on four hits in the first two innings.

Butcher went four innings and gave up two runs, one earned, on two hits and five walks. The earned run came in the seventh after allowing a double and walk, in which Ruby went back to Eaton. After a double, Eaton retired three of the next four to clinch the title.

“Rylan will tell you, I've been in her ear for a couple weeks now,” Ruby said. “I told her, ‘Don't think I haven't called on a freshman to come into a game in a big part of the game.’ I believe in her, and so I told her every time you come to the park, you're coming like you're starting. I may ask you to go to the bullpen four times, and you'll never get in the game, but there's going to be a time.”

That time was Sunday, and it was reminiscent of the reason Ruby told Butcher about bringing in a freshman in the first place. It was 2022 and sophomore AndiJo Howard was in the circle for Wheelersburg, facing Tuslaw. In that game, it was a leadoff double in the sixth that prompted the move to freshman Kaylynn Carter, who got the final six outs.

As she had with Butcher this season, she had been telling Carter her opportunity would be coming.

“I have given her this message that I needed her to be ready for this moment,” Ruby said at the time.

Beyond Her Wildest Dreams

In all, Ruby now has 492 career wins and a lifetime of memories and accomplishments.

“I had the honor playing in the first state (tournament) and then went to Portsmouth Clay and coached my alma mater and took them to state for the last game in Ashland at Brookside,” Ruby said. “So that was fun.”

And then she arrived in Wheelersburg to try to make her mom’s dream come true and hasn’t stopped winning.

“I ended up at Wheelersburg to try to satisfy a dream she had for me, and I was just hoping for one,” Ruby said. “It's been a joy ride ever since.”

In Ruby’s own words, the journey has been one she never expected.

“It’s just been beyond my wildest dreams,” Ruby said.

Thankfully for her – and Wheelersburg – her mom’s dreams weren’t too wild for Teresa to obtain.

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