Girls Best of the Week: Softball league champions crowned

River Valley's Emily Radcliff hits the ball during last week's 19-0 Division II sectional softball title win over Bexley at RV. The Vikings made it to the district level along with five other area teams this week.
River Valley's Emily Radcliff hits the ball during last week's 19-0 Division II sectional softball title win over Bexley at RV. The Vikings made it to the district level along with five other area teams this week.

Softball champions were crowned this season across the area's leagues.

Elgin earned a third straight Northwest Central Conference championship with an 11-0 record. The Comets were to play a makeup game with Upper Scioto Valley Monday after press time, but regardless of the outcome, they are the outright champs.

North Union dominated the Central Buckeye Conference's Mad River Division with an 13-1 league mark, while Cardington won the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference for its ninth straight league title with a 12-0 record.

Ontario won the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference crown with a 12-2 record — its first conference championship in softball in 22 years — while Highland finished as runners-up at 11-3 in its first season back in the MOAC after five years in the KMAC.

Heading into this week, six teams remained alive in the district tournament with River Valley and Highland playing in Division II, Cardington and North Union playing in Division III and Ridgedale and Northmor playing in Division IV.

Watch MarionStar.com and its app for more on the district games being played at neutral sites this week.

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

» River Valley's Shelby Westler had herself a day in a 15-2 win over Pleasant. The Ohio University-bound senior shortstop hit a grand slam, another home run, a double and two singles. Delaney Myers also homered and singled, while Lanie Wooten and Bentley Auld added three singles, and Riley Hamm and Maizie Frank both singled twice. Wooten pitched a four-hitter with a strikeout and no walks.

In a 5-1 loss to Ontario, the Vikings were held to just three hits as Wooten struck out six and walked one in a complete game.

River Valley bounced back with a 19-0 tournament win over Bexley followed by two wins over Galion 11-2 and 18-4. In the first Galion game, Wooten doubled twice; Auld and Westler doubled and singled; Hamm doubled; and Frank singled twice. Hamm gave up four hits and a walk with 10 strikeouts. In the second game with the Tigers, Hamm doubled and singled three times; Frank singled four times; Chrissy Vitek doubled and singled; and Emily Radcliff doubled. Wooten struck out four and walked no one to get the win.

» Cardington toppled Division I No. 2 state-ranked Lancaster 3-2 with Riley Burchett hitting a home run and Genevieve Longsdorf giving up six hits with six strikeouts and three walks. The Pirates are No. 2 in Division III in the latest state coaches poll, too.

In an 8-3 loss to Gahanna Lincoln, Longsdorf pitched a complete game with seven strikeouts and no walks as Dana Bertke doubled and Mac Linkous had two hits.

The Pirates followed by recording 26 hits in a 14-0 win over Columbus International where Ari Simpson struck out all 15 batters she faced. Hailee Edgell and Longsdorf homered and doubled, while Emalee Artz homered, and Simpson, Cadie Long and Kayleigh Ufferman all doubled.

» Ridgedale softball posted a productive week. The Rockets opened with an 11-1 win over Perry as Abigail Bridges tossed a one-hitter with 13 strikeouts and four walks, while going 3-for-4 at the plate with a double and three RBI. Also for the Rockets, Alexa Garnes went 3-for-3 with a double; Taylor Bouahom scored three times; Lily Ruth tripled and singled; Makenzie Delaney doubled and singled; Jordyn Nutter doubled; and Emily Mulvaine singled twice.

Ridgedale earned its district spot with a 12-0 win over Granville Christian Academy. Delaney threw a four-hitter with no walks and 11 strikeouts, plus hit a home run and single for three RBI. Alexis Burton doubled and singled for three RBI; Bridges went 3-for-3 with a double; Aubrie Smith doubled; Mulvaine singled twice; and Nutter scored three times.

The Rockets pounded out 24 hits in a 26-0 win over Perry. Bridges pitched a two-hitter with seven strikeouts and no walks, plus hit four singles for five RBI. Delaney hit two doubles and two singles for five runs and six RBI followed by two doubles and a single by Ruth, a double and single by Burton, a double by Smith, three singles by Nutter and Garnes and two singles by Mulvaine.

» Highland earned its district berth after a 5-4 victory over Granville where Audrey Robinson hit a walk-off single in the seventh inning. Robinson also had two doubles, while Guinevere Jackson and Faith Geiger both went 3-for-4 with doubles. Stevie Asher gave up nine hits and struck out five for the win.

» The Scots moved to 17-4 overall after a 15-1 win over Clear Fork. Julia Varney hit two home runs followed by a home run and single by Emma West, a 3-for-3 performance with a double by Jackson, two singles by Abby Jordan and a double by Robinson. West gave up four hits and struck out one with a walk.

» North Union's Laine Sparks pitched a perfect game with nine strikeouts in a 9-0 win over Northwestern. Kayla Sedgwick homered for NU, while Cagney Stewart doubled and singled twice, and Candace Holloway and Ryleigh Rasey doubled and singled. Jada Davis doubled, and Baylee Grubb singled twice.

The Wildcats earned their district berth with a 12-2 win over Northridge. Reese DeCamp allowed three hits and a walk with four strikeouts. Sparks hit three doubles and a single for four RBI; Sedgwick doubled and singled twice; Stewart singled three times; and DeCamp and Grubb singled twice.

» In other sectional games, Elgin fell to Centerburg 6-4 in Division III. Also in D-III, Mount Gilead beat Pleasant 7-5 before losing 12-0 to Johnstown. Marion Harding won its first sectional game 22-0 over Columbus West, then was eliminated by Division I No. 2 seed Watkins Memorial 11-0.

River Valley's Emma Hawk, left, and Catherine Starrs run in the girls 800 meters at the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference  Track and Field Championships at Harding Stadium last week.
River Valley's Emma Hawk, left, and Catherine Starrs run in the girls 800 meters at the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference Track and Field Championships at Harding Stadium last week.

» Elgin's girls track team finished at Northwest Central Conference runners-up, scoring 133 points to trail only Waynesfield-Goshen's 161. Ridgedale was seventh with 10 points.

Winning conference championships for Elgin were Kenya Dillon in the 100 meters at 13.25 and high jump at 4-feet, 10 inches, the 4x100 relay team of Dillon, Addison Holland, Tiffany Hix and Grace Waldo at 53.7, and Hix in the pole vault at 9-0.

Finishing as NWCC runners-up were the 4x800 relay team of Brooklyn Mathews, Waldo, Holland and Shaylah Grim at 12:07.95, the 4x200 relay team of Holland, Waldo, Hix and Mathews at 1:56.15, Dillon in the 200 at 27.74, Holland in the high jump at 4-8 and Hix in the long jump at 15-2.5.

Others scoring points for the Comets were Samantha Girton in the 100 (sixth, 14.23), 400 (third, 1:06.59), 300 hurdles (third, 55.1) and 200 (fifth, 29.44), Kendall Akers in the 1600 (sixth, 7:17.67), 3200 (fifth, 21:09.39) and 800 (sixth, 3:28.34), Grim in the 1600 (seventh, 7:30.34) and 800 (3:10.22), Mathews in the 400 (fourth, 1:06.92) and long jump (third, 14-0.5), the 4x400 relay of Sarah St. Germain, Abigail Seiter, Callie Mathews and Grim (fourth, 5:28.86, Seiter in the discus (third, 93-1), Hanah Rhodes in the shot put (fourth, 26-7.25), Callie Mathews in the shot put (seventh, 23-00) and Waldo in the pole vault (sixth, 5-6).

Scoring for Ridgedale were Amirah Jones who was third in the 100 at 13.69 and fourth in the 200 at 28.56 and Gracian Daugherty who was eighth in the discus at 76-5.

» One North Union girl set Mad River Division records at the Central Buckeye Conference track meet last week. Hannah Carney ran a 59.82 in the prelims for a record and then won the finals in 60.1. She also topped the meet record in the 200 in the prelims, but finished second in the finals with a 26.84.

Others scoring for the Wildcats were the 4x800 team in fifth at 11:41.01, the 4x200 in fifth at 1:59.36, the 4x100 in fourth at 55.85, the 4x400 in fifth at 4:47.17, Kaylee Brestle in eighth in the shot put at 31-0.25, Catherine Hinkle in fourth in the 300 hurdles at 55.33, Gillian Stone in sixth in the 300 hurdles at 58.4 and Savannah Amstutz in fourth in the 800 at 2:36.77.

Rob McCurdy is the sports writer at the Marion Star. He can be reached at 419-610-0998, rmccurdy@gannett.con, Twitter @McMotorsport and Instagram @rob_mccurdy_star.

Vote: Marion Star Girls Best of the Week Performer Poll

» Highland softball's Audrey Robinson hit a walk-off single in the seventh inning to send her team to districts in a win over Granville.

» North Union's Laine Sparks pitched a perfect game with nine strikeouts in a win over Northwestern.

» River Valley softball's Shelby Westler hit a grand slam, plus another home run, a double and two singles in a win over Pleasant.

» Cardington softball's Riley Burchett hit a home run to help beat state-ranked Division I power Lancaster.

» Ridgedale softball's Abigail Bridges threw a one-hitter with four walks and 13 strikeouts, plus went 3-for-4 with a double and three RBI in a win over Perry.

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

In last week's poll, Ridgedale's Makenzie Delaney, who pitched a one-hitter with 11 strikeouts, plus hit a home run, double, single and four RBI in a win over Waynesfield-Goshen, won it with 1,124 of 2,907 votes (39 percent). Other nominees were Cardington softball's Genevieve Longsdorf, River Valley softball's Delaney Myers, Pleasant softball's Gracelyn Staley and Highland softball's Abby Jordan.

Rob McCurdy, Marion Star and USA Today Network-Ohio
Rob McCurdy, Marion Star and USA Today Network-Ohio

This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Girls Best of the Week: Softball league champions crowned