Girls Best of the Week: MOAC softball standings wide open with five vying for the title
2025-04-29T09:02:36Z
Here are some highlights from around the Marion area during the last week in girls spring sports:
It’s the last week of April, and the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference softball race still has five teams with championship hopes.
By the end of Wednesday night, there will be more clarity.
Entering the week, Clear Fork was alone in first place at 7-1, but a game back in the loss column were Shelby at 8-2 and River Valley at 6-3. Behind them at 7-3 were Highland and Ontario.
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On Tuesday, Highland goes to RV, and Shelby plays at Clear Fork. The following night the matchups switch sites. Ontario has a home-and-home matchup with Marion Harding.
In the Northwest Central Conference, Ridgedale and Elgin are the lone remaining undefeated teams in the league standings. The Marion County rivals were supposed to play Friday, but for the second time this year, their game was postponed due to the weather. There is a tentative date of May 9 set for the matchup.
Here are some highlights from around the Marion area during the last week in girls spring sports:
Softball
Ridgedale topped North Baltimore 12-2 behind the pitching and hitting of Kenzie Delaney. She tossed a 6-hitter with 16 strikeouts and 1 walk, plus hit a home run to go with a pair of singles and 4 RBIs. Alexis Burton tripled for the Rockets, while Adyson Thomas singled three times, and Brenda Scott and Jillian Slaughterbeck singled twice.
In a 5-3 upset win over Division IV Central District No. 1 Lakewood, Highland’s Lydia Shaffer hit two home runs to break the single-season school record of eight set by McKenzie Rhodes in 2012 and Hailey Moore in 2014. Shaffer also pitched, striking out 5, walking 2 and giving up 5 hits. Kate Clements tripled and singled, and Saylor Squires doubled for the Scots.
Highland beat Galion 11-4 behind the 8-hits allowed, 2 walks and 8 strikeouts by Squires. Clements tripled and singled; Shaffer doubled and singled for three RBIs; Bryleigh Young doubled; and Delaynie Hernandez singled three times. The Scots fell to Galion 5-2 as Shaffer homered and Brielle Gilmore threw a 7-hitter with 2 walks and 6 strikeouts.
Kennedy Harrah drove in four runs while tripling, doubling and singling in North Union’s 11-2 win over Dublin Jerome. Also for NU, Sierra Farrington doubled, and Kailin McElroy and Emma McElroy both singled twice. Brenna Martino pitched a 6-hitter with 3 walks and 5 strikeouts. The Wildcats were limited to two hits in a 9-0 loss to Kenton Ridge.
In a 6-3 North Union win over Graham, Leah Cox doubled twice and singled, while Harrah tripled and singled, and Kailin McElroy singled twice. Cox and Martino teamed for a 5-hitter, allowing 2 earned runs, 3 walks and 6 strikeouts. In a 16-0 romp over Graham, Kale Keigley tripled twice and singled; Harrah doubled twice and singled for three RBIs; Emma McElroy tripled and singled; Rylee Fox doubled and singled twice; Kailin McElroy doubled; Farrington singled three times for three RBIs; and Cox singled twice, plus pitched a 2-hitter with 1 walk and 8 strikeouts.
Elgin’s Madison Hill threw a 4-hitter with 9 strikeouts and no walks to lead the Comets to a 1-0 win over Waynesfield-Goshen. Kendall Allen scored the winning run in the sixth inning.
Marion Harding’s Abbey Hoertz hit a triple and single and Kameron Biederman hit two singles in a 19-1 loss to Clear Fork. In a 26-6 win over Westland, Raina Smith went 3-for-4 with a double and 5 RBIs, Hoertz hit a 2-run triple; Addison Myers went 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs; and Kameron Biederman tripled as the Presidents rolled to a 26-6 win over Westland. Harding had two hits in a 12-2 loss to the Colts.
Olivia Collins homered twice and Olivia Spires homered once in River Valley’s 8-6 win over Shelby. Addi Braun singled three times and Kylie Eastep singled twice, plus struck out 13 as the pitcher for the Vikings. Shelby turned around and beat RV 7-3 in the other game. Eastep hit a homer and double for the Vikings, and Samantha Woods hit a double.
Northmor was held to one hit and two walks in a 3-1 loss to Danville. Shelby Cooper pitched a 4-hitter with 5 strikeouts and 1 walk for the Golden Knights.
Cardington dropped Pleasant 15-1 in five innings. Ari Simpson held Pleasant to two hits, walking nine and striking out six. She also hit a home run and two doubles to end with three runs and seven RBIs. Behind her for the Pirates were Abigail Hardwick with three singles and three runs, Celia Hall with two singles and three runs, and Alexis Longsorf and Myleigh Bishop with two singles each.
In a 12-5 win over Centerburg where Cardington scored seven runs in the fourth inning, Simpson homered and singled three times for five RBIs, while also striking out 6, walking 2 and allowing 9 hits. Hall had a double and two singles to score three times, while Riley Bierl and Longsdorf singled twice, and Morgan Powell scored three runs. In a 4-3 win over the same team, Cardington scored all its runs in the fourth inning. Powell doubled and singled, and Ava Davis doubled, while Bierl and Hardwick both singled twice.
The Pirates trailed Fredericktown 4-2 in the seventh, but rallied for a 5-4 win. Powell tripled, and Hardwick singled three times, while Simpson doubled and singled twice for three RBIs, plus allowed 8 hits, 3 walks and 3 strikeouts in the circle.
Track and Field
North Union finished third out of 13 teams at the Tiger Invitational at Waynesfield-Goshen. Winning events for the Wildcats were the 4×200-meter relay in 1 minute, 51.58 seconds, Stella Hancock in the 100 hurdles in 17.6 and Gabby Lindsey in the 400 in 59.5. Runners-up for NU were the 4×100 in 54.3, the 4×800 in 10:43.81, Lauren Hall in the 1600 in 5:44.18 and 3200 in 13:09.4, Lindsey in the long jump at 16 feet, 8 inches, and Jessanie Pfister in the triple jump at 31-5.
Highland was also third, competing against 14 teams at an invitational at Bloom-Carroll. Kameron Stover won the 400 in 1:02.84, and Kynzie Green won the discus in 123-1, while Ava Fichtner was second in the pole vault at 8-0.
Highland also hosted Ontario and Clear Fork in a tri-meet at home and won. Picking up event wins for the Scots were Fichtner in the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles, Green in the shot put and discus, Reagan Maibach in the 1600 and the 4×100 relay.
Marion Harding went to Fairbanks with a four-way meet against Columbus Horizon Science and Jackson Center, finishing second. Leah Price won three events, taking the 800, 1600 and 3200 for Harding. The Presidents also won the 4×100, 4×200 and 4×800 relays.
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