The Ohio softball team added five athletes during the early signing period, head coach Paige McMenemy announced Thursday, Nov. 12, according to Ohio University Athletics — a class that spans four states and includes two of Ohio’s own standout players.
Joining the Bobcats for the 2027-28 season are McKenna Cassidy, Giana Chirpas, Breann Lipold, Harlie Reich and Ava Rush, Ohio University Athletics said. “We are excited to welcome our 2027 signing class to the Ohio softball family,” McMenemy said in the university’s announcement. “This group comes from four different states and brings a great combination of talent, character, and competitiveness.”
The headliner for Ohio fans is Chirpas, a utility player from Bridgeport who stars at Martins Ferry High School. According to Ohio University Athletics, Chirpas is a three-time OVAC First Team selection and two-time OVAC Player of the Year in softball, holds Martins Ferry’s career records for RBIs, home runs and batting average, and led the Purple Riders to back-to-back OVAC championships in 2025 and 2026 — while also topping 1,000 career kills in volleyball and 1,000 career points in basketball.
Rush, a pitcher from Portsmouth who plays at Portsmouth Notre Dame, brings a championship resume of her own: Ohio University Athletics said she was the Southern Ohio Conference Pitcher of the Year in 2025 and 2026, the 2026 District Player of the Year and a 2026 First Team All-Ohio pick, and helped Portsmouth win conference, district and regional titles and the Division VII state championship in 2025 and 2026.
The out-of-state signees fill the circle and the infield. Lipold, a pitcher from Lake Elsinore, California, owns a career 2.67 ERA with 161 strikeouts in high school and a 2.18 ERA with 728 strikeouts in travel ball, according to the university. Cassidy, an infielder from Lakewood Ranch, Florida, is a four-year letter winner at IMG Academy, and Reich, an outfielder from Purcellville, Virginia, was First Team All-Region and All-Northern Virginia at Loudoun Valley.
What happens next for the five is the long runway of a signing class: they finish their high school careers this school year and arrive in Athens for the 2027-28 season, where McMenemy said in the announcement the staff is confident they “will make a positive impact on our program, both on and off the field.”
For Southeast Ohio, the class carries a local point of pride: two of the five — Chirpas from the Ohio Valley and Rush from Scioto County — chose to stay in state and play in Athens, giving Bobcat fans familiar names to follow long before the class ever takes the field.
Photo: Gkuriger, CC BY-SA 4.0