Ellet wins City Series baseball title; Hoban, Norton, CVCA, Tallmadge, Manchester advance

BASEBALL

City Series Postseason Championship

Ellet 3, Firestone 2

Junior Chase Merring pitched six innings to get a win, junior Cameron Allen worked a scoreless seventh for a save and Ellet took advantage of five errors by Firestone on Wednesday at Canal Park.

Merring, a right-hander, allowed two hits in the first inning and then baffled Firestone hitters for the next five innings. Merring struck out eight and walked three.

Allen, a right-hander, struck out three batters and walked one in the final inning as Ellet, which also won the City Series regular season championship, beat Firestone for a third time this season.

Firestone (7-12) took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning with juniors Jack Core and John Grass scoring runs on a triple to right-center field by senior Devin James. Core led off the game with a single, Grass worked a walk and senior Nate Strub laid down a sacrifice bunt ahead of James' hit.

Ellet (13-7) countered with an unearned run in the third, fourth and fifth innings.

Junior Duane Brown reached base via a fielding error to lead off the third and scored on an RBI single by junior Trevor Ingham.

Merring hit a two-out single in the fourth, stole second base and advanced home on two throwing errors.

Ellet scored its final run in the fifth when senior Devin Huwig hit an RBI single that scored senior Trenton Fink, who had reached base on a fielding error.

Strub, a left-hander, struck out three, walked two and limited Ellet to four hits over six innings for Firestone.

North Ridgeville Division II Sectional Final

Archbishop Hoban 10, Springfield 0

Sophomore Noah LaFine pitched a five-inning shutout to lead host Hoban in its tournament opener this season after winning the Division II state title last year.

LaFine allowed one hit and had eight strikeouts. Hoban senior catcher Nolan Holmgren hit a single, double and home run and had three RBIs.

The other top hitters for the Knights were Parker Falkenstein (single, double, two runs); Matt Terzola (two singles, two RBIs); Masud Jennings (single, two runs RBI) and Shawn Parnell (single, two runs).

North Ridgeville Division II Sectional Final

Norton 7, Oberlin Firelands 3

George Antal pitched a complete game with eight strikeouts and added an RBI and Carter Metz hit a single and had two RBIs to lead the host Panthers.

Norton's Owen Easterling scored a run and had an RBI and McKennan Cooper added a triple, run and RBI. Jacob Ford, Daniel Hopkins, Logan Miller, Justin Osolin and Paul Mattei each scored a run for the Panthers. Dylan Madonia and Tanner Cool both had an RBI.

Richfield Division II Sectional Final

CVCA 14, East Cleveland Shaw 0

Otto Rogers improved to 5-1 with a four-inning no-hitter and had nine strikeouts to lead the host Royals (24-2). Rogers also hit a single, scored two runs and had one RBI.

CVCA's Andrew Hendrickx hit a solo home run and scored two runs, Joey Lehner totaled a single, a double, two runs and an RBI.

Twinsburg Division II Sectional Final

Tallmadge 22, Cleveland Central Catholic 2

The Blue Devils ran away with their playoff opener over the Ironmen in a game that was shortened by rain. The umpires called the game with Tallmadge batting and no outs in the bottom of the third inning.

Jackson Schwalbach (6-2) got the win on the mound for Tallmadge.

Division II Struthers Sectional Final

Field 1, Cortland Lakeview 0

Griffin Ailes (6-1) pitched a three-hit shutout with nine strikeouts and three walks to lead the host Falcons (20-5). 

Field's Kayden Smith hit a single and had an RBI, and Xander Rorrer and Nicholas each hit two singles.

Creston Division III Sectional Final

Manchester 6, Rocky River Lutheran West 0

Owen Canter (5-2) pitched a one-hit shutout with eight strikeouts over seven innings to guide the host Panthers (12-7) to a win in the final baseball game at Bond Field.

Canter also scored a run. Manchester's Kenton Duty and Brady Johnson each hit two singles and scored a run. Cooper Briggs contributed a single, run, RBI and two stolen bases. Logan Carr and Jaxon Monnard also scored a run for the Panthers.

Division III Struthers Sectional Final

Rootstown 5, Garrettsville 3

The host Rovers rallied from a 3-0 deficit to advance.

Rootstown's Tony Karp hit a two-run single that scored Jaggar Kokochak and Mason Bartholomy in the third inning. Blake Bower and Bartholomy reached base via hits and scored in the fifth to make it 5-3. Justin Pratt singled in Bartholomy.

SOFTBALL

Brunswick Division I District Final

Brecksville 10, Brunswick 0

The second-seeded Bees erupted for eight runs in the fourth inning against the seventh-seeded Blue Devils (21-7).

Brecksville had 12 hits and eight of its nine hitters reached base to lead the Bees to their first district title since 2019.

“This one is really sweet because it shows that last year of determination,” Brecksville third baseman Grace O’Malley said. “This district final was the completion of everything. Not that this our destination, but it’s certainly a landmark for us. For them to feel that pressure and that stress in the game when it was 2-0 in the fourth and battle, as a senior that’s really sweet to see.”

O’Malley played a big part in the win with three singles and two RBIs. Chelsea Mack had three singles and an RBI and Kaleigh Urbanowicz had two singles and an RBI.

Miranda Roth blasted a triple and scored two runs and Brooklyn Kimball drove in two.

Anna Wise (23-2) struck out seven and gave up two hits.

Sam Timar had a double for Brunswick.

The Bees will play Austintown Fitch (22-2) in a Region 1 semifinal in Youngstown on Wednesday.

Austintown Division I District Final

Austintown Fitch 6, Green 5

The seventh-seeded Bulldogs (17-5) almost pulled off the upset of the day but were walked off on in a thriller.

It ended when Alison Foley stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and no one out in the bottom of the seventh. Foley sent a slow roller to the left side and Ashlee McLean beat the throw home.

Green scored five in the top of the fifth inning, but Sydnie Watts tied things up in the bottom of the sixth before the late-inning heroics pushed the top-seeded Falcons to a date with Brecksville.

Watts also struck out 18.

Hubbard Division II District Semifinal

Field 10, Hubbard 6

Sarah Rufener hit a three-run home run in the top of seventh inning to help the Falcons extend their season. Rufener finished the game with seven RBIs.

Field's Tia Ulrich had one RBI and Mallie Ruscitti totaled two RBIs.

GIRLS LACROSSE

Division II, Region 5 Qualifier

CVCA 15, Oregon Clay 3

Caroline Gage scored eight goals and Hannah Lux netted four goals to lead host CVCA (10-6) past Clay (13-6)

CVCA's Aneya Schvartz added two goals and Cara Raymer scored a goal. Sydney Starcher-Burton made four saves for the Royals.

Division II, Region 6 Qualifier

Archbishop Hoban 11, Pepper Pike Orange 4

Lane Shannon scored four goals and Mary Kate Novak and Angie George netted two goals apiece to propel the host Knights to a win.

Hoban's Rachel Alexander, Olivia Muren and Lizzie Russo also scored a goal. Shannon had three assists, George had two assists and Mia Gallagher made 10 saves.

BOYS VOLLEYBALL

Firestone 25-25-25, Medina 21-6-16

Trevor Boss and Peter Green had eight kills apiece to lead the Falcons. Boss also had 15 digs and five aces. Firestone's Brennan Chivers totaled 20 assists, Paramoi Chan had 13 service points and Benjamin Sanderson had four blocks.

— Compiled by Michael Beaven, Brad Bournival and Michael Leonard

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Ellet tops Firestone to win City Series baseball postseason final