Highland, Johnstown, Newark Catholic, West Jefferson win softball district titles
The West Jefferson softball team did not get off to a perfect start in a Division III district final Saturday at Pickerington Central, but coach Jim Stevens said the Roughriders’ 9-1 win over North Union went according to script in any case.
“A lot of times, it’s the second or third inning that we come together and take off,” Stevens said. “Their bats have come to life and our pitching has been outstanding. All of these girls work together well and help each other out. It showed today again.”
Two home runs from catcher Kassie Simmons helped blow the game open and complemented another strong pitching outing for Brooke Mannon as second-seeded West Jefferson won its second district final in four seasons and avenged its only loss in the process.
The Roughriders (19-1), who lost to North Union 7-2 on April 13, will face Lewistown Indian Lake in a regional semifinal Wednesday at Centerville. Their only previous district title came in 2019.
Division I: Hilliard Bradley, Marysville, Newark, Watkins Memorial win district titles
West Jefferson averages 6.4 runs per game and has seen Mannon, a Florida signee, thrive to the tune of a 0.15 ERA entering Saturday. After giving up a leadoff home run to Cagney Stewart, Mannon scattered three hits, struck out 13 and walked one.
The Roughriders have allowed only 17 runs this season.
“I threw that (pitch to Stewart) too high; it was a changeup and it went right down the middle,” said Mannon, who also doubled, tripled and walked twice. “If it was the seventh inning, I’d have been nervous, but the first inning, I wasn’t too worried about it. I just keep throwing and try to be competitive. I don’t really worry about stats. I just keep doing my thing.”
Simmons blasted a three-run homer in West Jefferson’s six-run third inning and led off the fifth with her second homer. She admitted the loss to North Union was on her mind Saturday.
“I just adjusted to what we were seeing and knew the pitches I had to hit,” Simmons said. “We found out against them that anyone can win on whatever day. We knew we could come back and beat them if we played our hardest.”
North Union, which was seeking its first district championship since 2018, finished 20-4.
Division II: Highland 5, Jonathan Alder 3
Stevie Asher’s two-run single to center in the top of the seventh capped a late comeback for the eighth-seeded Scots, who knocked off the top-seeded Pioneers to win their first district championship since 2010.
The senior also struck out six to clinch the program’s second district title. She pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the seventh, including a grounder to third baseman Aubree Bellamy to end the game.
“Before I came up to bat, I envisioned that exact hit in that exact place and I got the pitch I wanted,” Asher said. “This is unbelievable. I’m still in shock.”
Highland (14-11) knocked off second-seeded Granville 6-5 in nine innings Tuesday to reach the final.
The Scots will play Springfield Kenton Ridge in a regional semifinal Wednesday at Wright State.
A two-run home run for Natalie Neumeier in the first and a run off an error in the fourth staked Jonathan Alder (20-6) to a 3-0 lead. Highland tied it in the sixth on Kate Clements’ RBI double and a ground ball from Delaney Hernandez that brought home two runs, the first on an error and the second on Bellamy’s hustle from second base.
“We dig deep and find a way,” Scots coach Abby Steele said. “You have to win one inning at a time. I’m not sure there’s anything more fun for a district championship game.”
Division III: Johnstown 1, East Knox 0
Akron-bound pitcher Macy Walters scored on a Dakota Staffan bloop single in the third inning, then pitched out of a two-on, none-out jam in the seventh as the top-seeded Johnnies won their second district title in three years.
Walters struck out nine, gave up seven hits and walked one as Johnstown (24-2) advanced to a regional semifinal against Sherwood Fairview on Wednesday at Bucyrus.
The senior, who is one of four players on the roster from the Johnnies’ state semifinalist team of 2021, hit a two-out double before Staffan's base hit.
“I was down 0-and-2 and just trying to put any ball in play, not strike out, and I got a riseball down the middle,” Walters said. “Off the bat I thought it was gone but the wind kept it in, so I had to run fast.”
East Knox twice had two runners on in the seventh but Walters induced a game-ending fly out to center field.
Laney Zak had two of Johnstown’s four hits.
Gracie Sheasby’s three hits led East Knox (18-7), which won a district title in Division IV last year.
Division IV: Newark Catholic 13, Danville 2 (5 innings)
Maris Knowlton’s two-run single in the first inning set the tone, and the junior first baseman came up a home run short of the cycle as the fourth-seeded Green Wave (19-10) run-ruled the second-seeded Blue Devils (18-7).
Knowlton tripled in Newark Catholic’s four-run third inning and doubled in its five-run fourth.
Kami Diaz and Kylie Gibson homered for the Green Wave, who won their second district title in three years and will return to Central on Wednesday for a regional semifinal against Portsmouth Notre Dame or Racine Southern.
Five Newark Catholic players collected multiple hits.
Emily Weckesser homered for Danville, which fell short of its eighth consecutive regional.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Central Ohio high school softball district finals roundup
