It was a packed house for the OVAC All-Star Softball Game on Ben\u2019s Field at the I-470 Sports Complex. Fans from all over the valley were excited to cheer on girls from 23 schools representing both West Virginia and Ohio.<\/p>\n
Before the game, Tom Bechtel was honored for his 50 years of service to the game of softball in both WV and Ohio.<\/p>\n
Between innings, the OVAC Players of the Year were recognized and awarded plaques. Winners included Steubenville\u2019s Juliana King, Oak Glen\u2019s Lizzie Kell, Caldwell\u2019s Maddie Mumaw, Toronto\u2019s Michelle Anderson, and Conotton Valley\u2019s Maddison Kelley. The OVAC Coach of the Year was Steubenville\u2019s Gus DiMarzio.<\/p>\n
State Champion Kadence Pettit started on the mound for the Mountaineers. She continued to dominate and not give up a run in her 3 innings pitched. Also pitching for WV was Wheeling Park\u2019s Delaney Theiss, Linsly\u2019s Baeleigh Burwell, and Oak Glen\u2019s Lizzie Kell.<\/p>\n
West Virginia kicked off the night with a double by Weir\u2019s Reagan Hoover to open the inning. Oak Glen\u2019s Lizzie Kell\u2019s single to right field brought in Hoover. The second inning run was scored by Wheeling Central\u2019s Jocelyn Shaw. To close out the fourth, Parkersburg South\u2019s Taylor Lamp and Wheeling Park\u2019s Hannah Sievertson advanced Weir\u2019s Sophie Aperfine giving WV the 3-0 lead. West Virginia\u2019s final score was clocked in the 5th inning by Kell.<\/p>\n
However, the Buckeyes were not deterred, as Ohio came back to take the lead. Edison\u2019s Katie Fluharty started the Ohio rally. Martins Ferry\u2019s Katie Gillespie would pinch run for Fluharty. Harrison Central\u2019s Maddie Butler hit a triple to right-center. Indian Creek\u2019s Abby Starkey smacked a grounder, hitting in Butler. Indian Creek\u2019s Alexis Dawson double to left center tied the game.<\/p>\n
In the bottom of the sixth inning, St. Clairsville\u2019s Abby Salisbury would double, and Conotton Valley\u2019s Daphne Stuber would walk to set up Bellaire\u2019s Sophie Porter. With two outs, a quick Porter hit to left center advanced Salisbury and brought Stuber home making the score 5-4 in favor of the Buckeyes of Ohio.<\/p>\n
Edison\u2019s Fluharty struck out three. Also pitching for Ohio was Caldwell\u2019s Maddie Mumaw, Martins Ferry\u2019s Kelsi Gillespie and Steubenville\u2019s Jules King. King came to the mound for Ohio in the 7th with a one run lead. In classic King fashion she pitched three innings, giving up just two hits and no runs. The game ended in the 9th when Mumaw made a nice catch on a line drive and threw out the runner on first for a double play to end an attempted rally by the Mountaineers.<\/p>\n
Congratulations to both teams for ending the OVAC calendar with an exciting game of softball. Now it\u2019s time to enjoy the summer for a little while, before the OVAC starts off their sports season with the Rudy Mumley All Star Football game on Saturday July 22nd. In the meantime keep up with ovathletics.com for all the Valley sports updates throughout the summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It was a packed house for the OVAC All-Star Softball Game on Ben\u2019s Field at the I-470 Sports Complex. Fans from all over the valley were excited to cheer on girls from 23 schools representing both West Virginia and Ohio. Before the game, Tom Bechtel was honored for his 50 years of service to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-high-school"],"yoast_head":"\n