Notebook: Dublin Coffman Shamrocks girls lacrosse team shows grit, toughness

By season’s end, the Dublin Coffman girls lacrosse team was showing the type of mentality that first-year coach Adam Beasley had been seeking.

Following a run to their first Division I state championship last spring, the Shamrocks opened the season with a 12-8 loss to Massillon Jackson on March 19.

Although Jackson would go on to reach a state semifinal, it was an early sign that Coffman might undergo a growth curve following the loss of a strong 2021 senior class led by midfielder Amanda Bailey.

The Shamrocks won their next five before a 21-4 home loss to Upper Arlington on April 11, then put together another five-game winning streak before falling 20-9 on April 26 at Olentangy Liberty.

Coffman was seeded second for the Region 3 tournament and reached the final, where it lost 17-7 to UA on May 25 to finish 15-6.

“The journey (was) super fun,” junior midfielder Kate Tyack said. “Our team (did) a really good job working hard to get better this season. I’ve been most pleased with the work ethic of our team. Everyone on our team gives 100 percent all the time.”

Tyack and junior midfielder Bailey Morris — both were first-team all-region and second-team all-state — give the Shamrocks a pair of veterans to build the offense around next spring.

Morris finished with 81 goals and 15 assists and Tyack had 72 goals and 17 assists.

Joining Morris and Tyack on the all-region first-team was junior midfielder Olivia Lantz, with Morris and Lantz making first-team all-league in the OCC-Central Division and Tyack, junior goalie Kiki Jose and senior attacker Elliot Chinnock earning second-team all-league honors.

Junior defender Micaiah Parks was second-team all-region.

Sophomore Quinn Hammond (defender/midfielder) had 22 goals and five assists, Chinnock had 20 goals and five assists and junior Morgan Halli (attacker/midfielder) and sophomore Ava Westmeyer (midfielder/attacker) both scored 13 goals.

Junior Audrey Bajec (defender), sophomores Caroline Ebeling (midfielder), Faye Mossman (defender) and Meghan Shera (midfielder) and freshmen Libby Berg (midfielder) and Izzy King (midfielder) also contributed.

King had missed six weeks with an injury before returning for a 17-7 win over eighth-seeded Scioto in a second-round tournament game May 20.

“These girls fight hard,” Beasley said. “(At times), it doesn’t occur to me how young we are. We’ve started four sophomores and two freshmen at any given point. Our juniors are always replaced by freshmen. It’s an extremely talented team that made a great run last year and sometimes they didn’t know what they didn’t know. The pressure definitely (came) off from where it was earlier in the year.”

•The Jerome baseball team showed glimpses of its potential this spring before losing to 19th-seeded Central Crossing 2-1 on May 23 in a Division I district semifinal.

“It was a good run,” coach Chris Huesman said. “We felt like we could have been a district champion this year. We carried that all year long. The kids did a great job coming through.”

The 20th-seeded Celtics finished 13-15 overall and 6-9 in the OCC-Cardinal.

Junior Brayden Krenzel (P/OF) was 3-3 with two saves and had a 2.12 ERA with 54 strikeouts and 21 walks in 43 innings. He was first-team all-district and all-league.

Senior Andrew Williams (C/OF/P) led the team in batting average (.376), runs (21) and doubles (10) and shared the team lead in RBI (14) with junior Alex Mazza (C/OF). Williams was first-team all-league and honorable mention all-district, while Mazza batted .305 and was special mention all-league.

Reid Birkholz (INF) batted .307 and was second-team all-league, and Caden Lockwood (SS/3B) was honorable mention all-league. Both are juniors.

“It’s tough to say goodbye to the (eight) seniors,” Huesman said.

•Scioto baseball coach Ryan Longbrake hopes a challenging schedule helped prepare his underclassmen for a bounce-back season in 2023.

After opening with five consecutive wins, Scioto finished 13-15 overall and 7-7 in the OCC-Capital.

“We could not catch that fire again,” Longbrake said. “We knew this team had a chance to be very special, so we challenged ourselves with a very tough schedule. We were certainly battle tested and had a lot of big wins and big moments, but couldn’t quite get over the hump.”

The 21st-seeded Irish lost 3-1 to 15th-seeded Westerville North in the second round of the Division I district tournament May 18.

Junior Conner Peer (1B/OF/3B/P) batted .306 with 16 runs and nine RBI and was first-team all-district and all-league. He also was 3-2 and had a 2.85 ERA with 30 strikeouts and 11 walks in 27 innings.

Junior Bryson Arthur (3B/OF) batted .351 with 17 runs and 14 RBI and was first-team all-league and honorable mention all-district. Junior Jack Geisler (SS) scored 14 runs and was second-team all-league.

Junior Landon Harris (P/utility player) was 4-1 and had a 2.58 ERA with 21 strikeouts and 14 walks in 35 innings. He was special mention all-league.

Sophomore Charlie Marando (C) totaled 15 runs and 13 RBI and was honorable mention all-league.

“Our seniors will be sorely missed due to their talent and experience, but most importantly, their leadership,” Longbrake said. “However, I’m confident that they’ve laid solid groundwork for some of our younger players to pick up where they left off.”

—Frank DiRenna

•Karli Burkett hopes her success as a player at the prep and collegiate levels, especially her 3-point prowess, translates as the coach of the Jerome girls basketball program.

Pending school board approval, Burkett will replace Pam Hartford, who stepped down after two seasons.

A 2013 graduate of Shadyside, Burkett holds the state records for 3-pointers in a season (110 in 2012-13) and career (350 from 2009-13). She went on to play at the University of Findlay, where she holds the program record for 3-pointers in a career, hitting 260 from 2014-17.

“My expertise is beyond the arc,” she said. “If any girl is interested in me fixing their form or helping them to improve their shot, I would be all about that. Obviously, there’s other aspects of the game that I can help perfect, but my area of expertise is shooting. My goal would be for someone on my team to break my records someday. That would be a really cool experience.”

Burkett is a mathematics teacher at Upper Arlington, where she coached at the junior varsity and freshman levels in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons.

During her playing career at Shadyside, Burkett was a two-time Eastern District Player of the Year and a two-time first-team all-state honoree.

Under Hartford, the Celtics went 16-30 overall and 9-11 in the OCC-Cardinal.

—Frank DiRenna

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COFFMAN GIRLS LACROSSE

•Record: 15-6 overall

•OCC-Central standings: Upper Arlington (5-0), Olentangy Liberty (4-1), Coffman (3-2), Olentangy Orange (2-3), Hilliard Davidson (1-4), Hilliard Bradley (0-5)  

•Seniors lost: Audrey Bajec, Elliot Chinnock, Kaitlyn Gamble, Lily Holmes and Lauren Soots 

•Key returnees: Morgan Halli, Quinn Hammond, Kiki Jose, Olivia Lantz, Bailey Morris, Micaiah Parks, Kate Tyack and Ava Westmeyer 

•Postseason: Def. Miamisburg 19-6; def. Scioto 17-7; def. Springboro 9-8; lost to UA 17-7 in Division I, Region 3 final

JEROME BASEBALL 

•Record: 13-15 overall 

•OCC-Cardinal standings: Olentangy (14-1), Hilliard Darby (10-5), Olentangy Berlin (7-8), Jerome (6-9), Marysville (4-11), Thomas Worthington (4-11) 

•Seniors lost: Andrew Barney, Charles Beuselinck, Will DeMuesy, Ryan Kline, Egan O’Hara, J.T. Schoessel, Luke Walter and Andrew Williams 

•Key returnees: Reid Birkholz, Brayden Krenzel, Caden Lockwood and Alex Mazza

•Postseason: Def. Chillicothe 7-1; def. Mount Vernon 10-7; lost to Central Crossing 2-1 in Division I district semifinal

SCIOTO BASEBALL 

•Record: 13-15 overall 

•OCC-Capital standings: Canal Winchester (14-0), Westerville North (11-3), Worthington Kilbourne (9-5), Scioto (7-7), Westerville South (7-7), Big Walnut (4-10), Delaware (4-10), Franklin Heights (0-14) 

•Seniors lost: Luke George, Patrick Joyce, Silas Moore and James Nelson 

•Key returnees: Bryson Arthur, Landon Harris, Jack Geisler, Conner Peer and Ethan Shipps 

•Postseason: Def. Olentangy Berlin 6-4; lost to North 2-1 in second round of Division I district tournament

This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Dublin Coffman girls lacrosse team shows grit, toughness