Girls Best of the Week: River Valley, Highland battle in classic MOAC softball games

River Valley and Highland squared off in what turned out to be the two most exciting games of the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference season last week.

At River Valley, Delaney Myers hit a walk-off solo home run in the eighth inning to propel her team to a 3-2 win over Highland. Myers also singled and doubled in the game, while Shelby Westler had two singles and Bentley Auld a double for the Vikings. Riley Hamm earned the win with nine strikeouts, one walk and eight hits allowed.

For the Scots, Guinevere Jackson went 3-for-4 with a triple and double, while Adyson Landefeld singled twice, and Abby Jordan doubled. Audrey Robinson hit a game-tying double in the seventh inning for Highland, while Asher pitched five strikeouts, two walks and gave up eight hits.

In the return game at Highland, the Scots scored three runs with two outs in the seventh inning to pull out a 5-4 victory over RV.

Jackson led off the seventh with a single, and Audrey Robinson brought her home with a double. Emma West hit an RBI single followed by a single from Brooklyn Croy and a walk-off double from Jordan. Robinson, Faith Geiger, Jackson and Croy all had multiple hits. Asher worked the first six innings, giving up five hits and striking out four, while West picked up the win with one-inning of relief work, striking out one and allowing a hit.

Earlier in the week, Highland topped Northmor 8-4. Croy hit a home run, Jackson and Geier two doubles each and West one double. Asher struck out eight with a walk and seven hits.

Highland is 15-4 overall and 10-3 in the MOAC, two games behind Ontario in the loss column. River Valley is 10-6 and 6-4.

Here are some other highlights over the last week with area girls spring sports teams and athletes:

» Ridgedale softball's Makenzie Delaney tossed a one-hitter with no walks and 11 strikeouts in a 14-0 win over Waynesfield-Goshen where she also homered, doubled and singled for four RBI. Katie Collins tripled, while Lily Ruth doubled and singled, and Jordyn Nutter, Aubrie Smith and Emily Lowe singled twice for the Rocekts.

» Cardington's Genevieve Longsdorf threw a perfect game, striking out nine over five innings in beating Mount Gilead 20-0. She also hit three doubles for four RBI at the plate. Also for the Pirates, Hailee Edgell went 4-for-4 with three doubles and a triple for four runs and seven RBI, while Emalee Artz tripled and Kyleigh Ufferman doubled. Mac Linkous and Dana Bertke each went 3-for-3 with a double and four runs scored.

» In a second game with MG, Cardington scored 13 runs in the second inning en route to a 21-4 victory. Ari Simpson pitched for the Pirates, allowing seven hits and two earned runs with three walks and seven strikeouts. She also hit a homer, double and two singles. Edgell went 4-for-4 with a homer and double for five RBI. Riley Burchett homered and scored four with four RBI. Linkous, Bertke and Abbi Hardwick combined to go 8-for-9.

» Pleasant trailed Galion 12-8 in the fifth inning before scoring eight runs in the bottom of the inning and five more in the sixth to win 21-12. Gracelyn Staley worked three innings in relief to get the win, striking out three, walking none and allowing four hits. Staley added a double and single at the plate. Also for the Spartans, Faith Kowalczyk doubled and singled twice for four RBI; Markley Watters singled twice for four runs and three RBI; Katie Jordan went 4-for-5, and Madisyn Houseworth, Hannah Miller and Audrey James hit two singles apiece with James bringing in three runs.

» Elgin moved to 10-0 in the Northwest Central Conference to clinch at least a piece of the title, beating Upper Scioto Valley 14-0. Emiliee Bishop went 4-for-4 with four RBI, and Ava Baker doubled and singled twice, while Katie Penry and Emily Keller singled two times each. Alyvia Roth pitched a two-hitter with 12 strikeouts.

» North Union scored three runs in the seventh inning to edge Indian Lake 9-8. Reese DeCamp pitched five innings in relief to get the win, giving up two hits and a walk with two strikeouts. NU's pitchers gave up just one earned run. At the plate for the Wildcats, Kayla Sedgwick and Laine Sparks doubled and singled twice, and Candace Holloway doubled, while Jayla Kelley singled twice for three RBI.

» The 15-team Mount Gilead Invitational was Saturday with Mount Vernon winning with 134.5 points. The hosts were third with 53 points, while Cardington was fifth with 51, Pleasant ninth with 35, Highland 10th with 28, Elgin 13th with 11 and Northmor 15th with eight.

Michaela McGill led the Indians with a win in the 3200-meter run in 11:17.31, while the 4x100 relay and 4x200 relays were runners-up in 52.74 and 1:52.78, and its 4x100 shuttle hurdle team was third in 1:17.14. Also for Mount Gilead, Asia Jones was fourth in the 100 at 13.27, Madilyn Elson fifth in the 200 at 27.27, Haley Pfeifer fifth in the 1600 at 5:29.6, Grace Shipman fifth in the pole vault at 9-0 and Mikala Harris seventh in the discus at 88-2 and eighth in the shot put at 29-0.25.

Cardington's Magi Hallabrin was runner-up in the 800 at 2:30.85, and Loey Hallabrin was also runner-up in the 1600 at 5:29.98 and 3200 at 12:24.11. Hazel Jolliff was second in the 300 hurdles at 49.68 and fifth in the long jump at 15-0.75. Meagan Greenawalt was third in the high jump at 4-8, while Alexis Crone was seventh in the 400 at 1:06.15, and Dana Congrove was seventh in the shot put at 30-8.5. The Pirates were fourth in the 4x400 relay at 4:32.46 and sixth in the 4x100 at 55.15.

For Pleasant, Whitney Waddell was second in the 400 at 1:03.89 and seventh in the 200 at 28.29. She was followed by Casey Kimball in fourth in the 1600 at 5:37.14 and fifth in the 800 at 2:35.81, Tayden Obenour in seventh in the 100 hurdles at 17.83 and eighth in the long jump at 14-9.5, Grace Cobb in sixth in the 300 hurdles at 52.46, Olivia Pratt in seventh in the 300 hurdles at 52.85, the 4x800 team in third at 10:38.92 and the 4x400 team in fifth at 4:37.38.

Highland's Juliette Laracuente won the 200 in 25.57 and the 100 hurdles in 15.29. Alexis Eausey was third in the shot put at 33-5 and eighth in the shot put at 87-0, and Mackenzie Bluebaugh was eighth in the 800 at 2:44.33. The 4x100 was seventh for the Scots in 55.19.

Elgin's Tiffany Hix was fourth in the pole vault at 9-0 and sixth in the long jump at 14-11.75. The 4x100 group was fifth in 54.52, and the 4x200 was sixth in 1:59.84.

For Northmor, Kahlen Ball was fourth in the discus at 97-4, Rachael Ervin sixth in the pole vault at 8-0, and the 4x800 team eighth in 12:08.81.

Coaches and statisticians are encouraged to send their results to rmccurdy@gannett.com, 419-610-0998, Twitter @McMotorsport and Instagram @rob_mccurdy_star.

Marion Star Girls Best of the Week Performer Poll, vote:

» River Valley softball's Delaney Myers hit a walk-off solo home run in the eighth inning to beat Highland, adding a double and single.

» Highland softball's Abby Jordan hit a walk-off double to end a three-run seventh-inning rally over River Valley.

» Cardington softball's Genevieve Longsdorf pitched a perfect game with nine strikeouts in five innings to beat Mount Gilead as she also had three doubles and four RBI at the plate.

» Pleasant softball's Gracelyn Staley worked three innings of relief to earn the win over Galion, striking out three and walking no one in allowing four hits, while also hitting a double and single at the plate.

» Ridgedale softball's Makenzie Delaney pitched a one-hitter with no walks and 11 strikeouts, plus hit a home run, double and singled for four RBI in a win over Waynesfield-Goshen.

Voting continues through early Sunday morning at MarionStar.com and its app.

In last week's poll there were 1,122 votes with North Union track's Hannah Carney winning it with 536 votes (33 percent) after posting wins in the 200 meters at 26.97 and 400 at 1:00.03 at the Benjamin Logan Invitational. Other nominees were Elgin softball's Alyvia Roth, Cardington softball's Mac Linkous, Marion Harding's A'nya Reynolds, Pleasant track's Casey Kimball and Highland softball's Stevie Asher.

This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Girls Best: RV, Highland battle in classic MOAC softball games