Notebook: Whetstone Braves capture fourth straight City League boys tennis title

Beaux Baldwin didn’t have much down time during the spring of his senior year at Whetstone.

In addition to playing first singles for the second consecutive season and helping the boys tennis team win its fourth consecutive City League championship, Baldwin spent much of March and the early part of April playing the lead role in the Whetstone Academy of Performing Arts’ production of “Shrek The Musical.”

“Overall, the season (was) tough,” Baldwin said. “I played a lot of good matches, but last year I had a much better season, just with the pandemic and a lot of the other activities (I’m involved in) not being back in full swing yet. I could devote all of my time and energy to tennis, but there’s been a lot more going on this year with college and theatrical performances that haven’t allowed me to give as much time and attention to tennis that I’d like. But I think I’ve learned a lot.”

Whetstone went 4-0 to win the City-North Division and beat West 5-0 in the City final May 17 to finish 10-2 overall.

Baldwin was the runner-up in the City coaches individual tournament held May 2 and 4 at Africentic, losing 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 to Centennial freshman Andrew Wissman in the championship match.

In addition to Baldwin, who has committed to Capital – he’ll major in voice performance – the Braves lose Evan Beers, Riley Creagh, Thomas Gott and Henry Hustentis to graduation.

Sophomore Max Johnson should be the top returnee after playing second singles, and sophomore Owen Hostetler also is eligible to return.

“It’s been a fun group,” coach Bucky Walters said.

Beechcroft finished second (3-1) in the City-North and went 6-3 overall, with senior Amani Lyles spending most of the season at first singles.

Lyles, who was the Division II district Player of the Year while helping the boys basketball team to a district runner-up finish this past season, plans to play basketball at a prep school next year.

Senior Lord Boateng competed at second singles and Paul Odife was another key senior for the Cougars, whose top returnees should include sophomores Dominique Wise and Jaylen Adu.

“It’s been a wonderful season,” coach Daphne Hess said. “We’ve come so far with so many players that are new to the game.”

•With just six players throughout a large chunk of the regular season, the Watterson boys tennis team went through one stretch where it lost three of four matches by 3-2 scores.

The growth of players such as freshman Tommy O’Brien and sophomore Colby Graham, who both won their opening matches at the Division II sectional May 10 at Columbus Academy, is something the Eagles will look to build on in the offseason.

O’Brien played first singles for Watterson, which finished 2-12-1.

“I definitely like being on a team,” O’Brien said. “I love that it’s a personal sport but that you can rely on your teammates. Definitely mentally, you have to be strong (to play first singles) because I play a lot of seniors and juniors. But I just try to stick with them and not get frustrated because I know I have three more years left.”

O’Brien believes his serves improved significantly this season, especially his second serves. He’s been competing in USTA tournaments since he was 13.

Others eligible to return include sophomore Tommy Spence, who missed part of the season with injury but saw action at singles, and sophomores Franco Kader and Ashton Slack.

“We played with six players a lot, so it was tough to start every match being down 0-1,” coach Ryan Schwieterman said. “(O’Brien is) very exciting. He’s got a lot of potential. He hits the ball well and is very smart for a freshman, very laid back and calm. He knows what he’s trying to do and won well over the majority of his matches.

“Colby played a bunch of second singles after starting at doubles in his first couple matches and Colby is only a sophomore.”

•The 17th-seeded Watterson softball team scored three runs in the top of the sixth inning to take a 6-5 lead over 13th-seeded Westerville Central on May 12 in a second-round Division I district tournament game.

The Warhawks answered with four runs in the bottom of the sixth, however, to post a 9-6 victory.

The highlight of the season for Watterson was going 6-0 in the CCL to win the championship after finishing as runner-up a year ago.

“We (had) great senior leadership with Anna Emswiler and Julie Hall,” said coach Shawn Bray, whose team finished 13-8 overall. “We’re still pretty young.”

Emswiler, who started at catcher and batted cleanup, and Hall, who played in the outfield and was one of the pitchers, were the only seniors.

Mary Gamble was the No. 1 pitcher and was part of a sophomore class that also included Ales Mosholder (SS), Liz Hohlefelder (3B), Sofia Siles (OF) and Lexi White (OF/C).

Juniors Kenzi Jones (1B) and Katie Moore (OF) and freshman Abby Emswiler (2B) also were key contributors for the Eagles, who went 13-13 a year ago.

•Most of the DeSales softball team’s top players will graduate after the Stallions went 8-13 overall and 3-3 in the CCL during what coach Rick Conti called a disappointing season.

The Stallions’ top hitter and pitcher is eligible to return in junior Kennedy Hawk, who batted .534 with 39 hits, 17 RBI and seven doubles.

But DeSales graduates its second- through fifth-best hitters in terms of average in Maggie Valentine (2B; .484, 31 hits, 25 RBI), Alena Stewart (1B; .431, 25 hits, 20 RBI), Kaitlin Kovach (3B; .381, 24 hits, 11 RBI) and Marietta recruit Jessica Melvin (SS; .379, 25 hits, 7 RBI).

Kovach had two of the team’s eight home runs, while six players had one each.

“We had higher expectations,” Conti said. “(In) most of our losses, we’ve given up 10 or more runs and six or seven walks. We can’t put too much pressure on our defense. There have been games where our defense looked pretty good and games where we didn’t. There was a lot of disappointment, from the standpoint of having six seniors, that we didn’t do more.”

Other players eligible to return include sophomore utility players Catie Miller and Annamaria Trolli. The program also will welcome 10 freshmen next season, according to Conti.

“We’ll be very young and inexperienced,” he said.

—Dave Purpura

sports@thisweeknews.com

@ThisWeekSports

BEECHCROFT TENNIS 

•Record: 6-3 overall  

•Seniors lost: Lord Boateng, Amani Lyles, Jaydon Magassouba, Paul Odife and J.V. Velaszquez 

•Key returnees: Jaylen Adu, Jerome Killebrew, Khalil Samuel and Dominique Wise 

DeSALES SOFTBALL

•Record: 8-13 overall

•CCL standings: Watterson (6-0), DeSales (3-3), Hartley (3-3), Ready (0-6)

•Seniors lost: Kaitlin Kovach, Jessica Melvin, Andrea Millenbaugh, Alena Stewart, Maggie Valentine and Madison Wehrman

•Key returnees: Kennedy Hawk, Catie Miller, Lauren Orzechowski and Annamaria Trolli

•Postseason: Lost to New Albany 13-0 (5 innings) in first round of Division I district tournament

WATTERSON SOFTBALL 

•Record: 13-8 overall  

•Seniors lost: Anna Emswiler and Julie Hall 

•Key returnees: Abby Emswiler, Mary Gamble, Liz Hohlefelder, Kenzi Jones, Katie Moore, Alex Mosholder and Lexi White 

•Postseason: Def. Canal Winchester 16-0; lost to Westerville Central 9-6 in second round of Division I district tournament  

WATTERSON TENNIS 

•Record: 2-12-1 overall  

•CCL standings: St. Charles (4-0), DeSales (2-2), Ready (2-2), Watterson (1-2-1), Hartley (0-3-1) 

•Seniors lost: Grant Gilsenan and Evan Matuska 

•Key returnees: Colby Graham, Franco Kader, Tommy O’Brien, Ashton Slack and Tommy Spence 

WHETSTONE TENNIS 

•Record: 10-2 overall 

•Seniors lost: Beaux Baldwin, Evan Beers, Riley Creagh, Thomas Gott and Henry Hustentis

•Key returnees: Owen Hostetler and Max Johnson

This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Notebook: Whetstone captures fourth straight City tennis title