Amazing Azmoun: Madison pitcher's uniqueness has Rams grooving at perfect time

MADISON TOWNSHIP — It was a quick 20-minute drive back to Madison High School from Hillsdale High School down State Route 42.

Madison softball coach Tim Niswander called his starting pitcher, senior Layla Azmoun, up to sit beside him at the front of the bus. It was normal for the two to spend some time chatting to and from games about anything and everything. Azmoun, an old soul, chops it up with her coach about classic rock, world politics, current world affairs and just about everything a high school kid shouldn't know about, but Azmoun is well versed in those fields.

But this conversation was different. For once, it was about softball.

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The Rams had just lost to Hillsdale 9-6 in the fourth game of the season. Azmoun allowed nine runs, just three were earned, but allowed 14 hits with just six strikeouts. It was the fourth straight game Azmoun allowed 10 or more hits.

"I told her to stop nibbling," Niswander said. "I wanted her to trust her stuff and just throw and stop thinking about being perfect. That is her thing. I asked her a softball question at practice one day and it was a deeper concept, but she didn't know and it made her flustered because she is so used to having the answer to everything.

"She was so uncomfortable, but I told her that it is time to stop thinking. It was time to throw to a spot and stop trying to be perfect. She had to just attack people instead of trying to get people to chase a curveball just off of the corner of the plate."

Niswander also told her she didn't have to strike everyone out. And since that day, she has started striking everyone out. The very next game, Azmoun had her best outing of the season to that point in a 10-5 win over Shelby where she allowed five runs on eight hits with 12 strikeouts. Not nearly her potential or the standard she holds herself to, but encouraging to say the least. She lost two very close games to Lexington, 5-3, and West Holmes, 6-5, in the following days before responding with a 9-6 win over WH in Game 2 of the series where she struck out six and allowed just four earned runs.

Then came a Saturday game on the road at Clyde and that was when everything clicked. Azmoun tossed a complete-game four-hitter allowing one unearned run with 11 strikeouts and she hasn't lost a game since. She followed that up with a 16-strikeout performance in a 3-1 win over a very good Elyria Catholic team allowing just two hits on the day. She struck out 10 against Huron in a 3-1 win and 11 more in just four innings in a 10-0 win over Columbian.

Then came her back-to-back performances against Ohio Cardinal Conference powerhouse and five-time league champ Mount Vernon. In Game 1, Azmoun led the Rams to a 3-2 win allowing two runs on four hits with five strikeouts. The next night, it was no runs on three hits with five strikeouts in a 1-0 walk-off victory for the sweep.

And finally, a a 3-hit, 12 strikeout, 3-0 win over Perkins and a 7-0, 14-strikeout no-hitter against Ashland before an 11-4, 11-strikeout win over the Arrows in Game 2 of the series. When she gave up a pair of runs in the fourth inning with an 8-0 lead, it was the first time a team pushed a runner across on Azmoun in 30 innings.

It was a far cry from allowing 44 hits and 24 runs in the first four games of the year.

"Part of it is the beginning of the season is all about working back into a rhythm," Azmoun said. "No matter how many reps you get in the offseason or in practice, you just cannot replicate game scenarios. Chalk some of it to just getting back into it.

"People advise you not to play angry, but it works for me. It is more about being angry with myself because I hold myself to a high standard and I know the caliber of the program I play for and the girls I play with. I hold myself to a standard that a Madison softball pitcher should play. Having that frustration with myself and kicking my own butt really drives me and has turned things around."

Old school ways makes Azmoun unique

Part of the reason Azmoun holds herself to such a high standard is her old-school ways of living. Hard work and perfection are mainstays and letting your team down is unacceptable. It was simply how she was raised. She was raised to do her best at everything she does, never accept failure and always want more for herself.

She was also raised on classic rock and Motown music making her as old school as she can possibly be.

"My parents are old school," Azmoun said. "My mom is the old rocker who lived in New Jersey when she was young and was into the East Coach rock scene and that got me interested in all of that. My dad grew up here in a middle class, black farming family and Motown was his love. The Temptations were always playing in our house. A cousin of ours actually played piano for the Temptations."

Music has always been a staple in the Azmoun household. So much so that when Azmoun decided to try out for a school play, she had one stipulation. If she was going to try out, it would have to be by singing a Temptations song as an ode to her father and those classic tunes that filled the house on a daily basis. Obviously, she made the cut mostly because she sang a song none of her classmates had even heard before but her teachers and advisors grooved to.

And it is what bonds Azmoun with her coach. Both are Van Halen fanatics and music trivia buffs so when the Rams head on a long bus ride to an away game, it is normal for Azmoun and Niswander to grill each other on some music trivia to pass the time.

"I have never been able to stump him on a piece of music trivia," Azmoun said. "But we exchange trivia all of the time. I can't seem to stump him. But I am going to cook on some trivia and see if I can catch him."

And while Niswander answers all of her trivia questions, he is always blown away about her vast knowledge of a musical genre she has now business even being interested in as a high school kid.

"It is the most adult conversation I have and that is no offense to my wife," Niswander said with a laugh. "She is into world news, politics and old-school music. She is straight from the 60s and 70s and it is very unique, that is for sure."

Unique and refreshing.

"It is refreshing," Niswander said. "The only kid she talks to on the bus is me because I am the only one who knows what she is talking about. She is a kid you talk to and based on one conversation, you know she is going to be successful. She is such an old soul."

Azmoun planning on big things after high school and softball career

If she wanted it, Azmoun could easily be a college softball pitcher. Her ability to locate pitches, throw with intelligence and battle in any situation makes her a rarity in high school softball and ready for the next level.

But, she has much bigger plans than spending the next 4-5 years on a softball diamond. And those plans are grand.

Azmoun, the class Valedictorian at Madison Comprehensive High School, is headed to The Ohio State University in the Fall to major in Public Affairs Journalism. Her goal is to get a job in the Sports Information Department at OUS just like her dad as she works toward her degree.

I want to get into broadcasting or news writing," Azmoun said. "Growing up, I always loved sports and listened to Tom Hamilton, Austin Carr and Ken Rosenthal. When I was little, I would sit and watch football games and I would do the play-by-play with them. I just love that world of sports broadcasting and sports media."

If that plan doesn't work out, and even if it does, she would love nothing more than to be involved in politics, world media and public affairs as a journalist. When she isn't broadcasting sporting events, she wants to cover some of the biggest news stories the world has to offer.

"And I love to write," Azmoun said. "A big dream of mine is to write for a big, nonpartisan newspaper like the New York Times or the Washington Post. Writing is what I think I do best in this world and I want to play to my strengths and what I am passionate about."

So how exactly does a kid from little Madison Township become interested in world politics? The same way she learned to love classic rock, Motown and softball. Her family. During regular visits with her grandmother, Azmoun would be greeted with a, 'Hi, how are you?' and before Azmoun could even answer, the two were engulfed in a conversation about what was going on around the world.

"What is in the blood is in the blood," Azmoun said. "I get a lot from my grandmother who came from a poor black farming town in Nashville, Tennessee and she was the first one in our family to graduate from college. She always wanted a little bit more for herself and pushed my father who pushed me to want more and look at things. It is just important to know about what is going on in the world around you. My family always encouraged me to be aware and conscious and not be a rat in the cage."

Azmoun leaves Madison softball better than she found it

And Azmoun is far from a rat in the cage. Especially when it comes to softball.

AS a freshman, Azmoun threw 44 innings of varsity softball going 3-2 with a 4.93 earned run average with 44 strikeouts. Her biggest game came in the Division II district semifinals when she was put in to close out a 10-6 victory in the seventh inning as she recorded three strikeouts to slam the door.

The following year, she could have been a diva and only pitched varsity as a sophomore. Instead, she sharpened her skills at the junior varsity level as the Rams had an ace in Bailey Lyons. Azmoun still recorded 14 ⅔ innings going 1-0 with a save and 17 strikeouts with a 0.48 ERA allowing just one hit all year long.

That set the stage for a breakout junior year when she threw 128 ⅓ innings posting a 16-4 record with 136 strikeouts and a 3.44 ERA as she led the Rams to a share of the OCC title and league pitcher of the year honors.

And through her team's first 17 games of the 2024 season, she is even better. She is 12-4 with 129 strikeouts and a 2.13 ERA and if you take away her first four outings, she has only allowed 61 hits and 33 runs in 13 games.

But most of all, she was as good of a teammate as any Madison Ram in history. She put the team and program ahead of herself when she could have been selfish and demanded what she earned.

"We have a whole group of kids like that," Niswander said. "Since Day 1, we preached that the program is bigger than you, bigger than us and bigger than one season. Every player is always welcome here and they have family with people they don't even know or realize. This entire senior class really takes that personally and made sure that people are going to know who they are by the end of the year and Layla has been that kid in the circle."

In the circle and on those fun, intelligent bus rides.

jfurr@gannett.com

740-244-9934

X: @JakeFurr11

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Amazing Azmoun: Madison pitcher's uniqueness has Rams grooving at perfect time