Blanchard River Buzz

Regional Softball: Archbold stops Elmwood

By SCOTT COTTOS
FOR THE COURIER
ASHLAND — Elmwood coach Matt Hoiles had the path to the Division III state softball championship mapped out, with his team being part of the plan.
But if Hoiles turns out to be right, another team wearing blue will get to wear the crown.
Archbold jumped out to a first-inning lead, contained Elmwood’s offense with its pitching and defense and came away with a 5-2 victory in Saturday’s Division III regional championship game Saturday at Brookside Park.
The Blue Streaks, after tying the school record for wins in a season with its 26th against four defeats, advances to Friday’s state semifinals at Akron’s Firestone Stadium. And, according to Hoiles, Archbold should be in good shape in its next two games.
“I said all along that whoever wins this regional, I really feel is going to win state,” said Hoiles, whose club finished at 20-10. “When it came down to us and Archbold in the final here — I really feel that Archbold’s got the team to take it all the way, and I thought we did, too.”
Hoiles felt the Blue Streaks simply made a few more positive things happen than his club.
“They put the bat on the ball — we knew they were going to. They made some plays,” Hoiles said. “We put the bat on the ball. They made less mistakes than we did.”
Four fielding errors are abnormal for the Royals, though only one played directly into an Archbold run. But a few executional items here and there added up to the Blue Streaks gaining their first state bid since 2004.
“It’s a great feeling,” Blue Streaks coach Joe Frank said. “These girls have worked extremely hard. They’re a very deserving group. They’ve worked and done everything we’ve asked them to do. They come in and work extra — take extra swings, stay after practice and take extra ground balls. For those types of things, among other things, they’re being rewarded.”
A tone seemed to be set in the first inning.
Brittany George led off the game for the Royals with a double and Morgan Arnold followed with a walk . But a fly ball to left, a foul pop to the catcher and a called third strike later, the Blue Streaks were out of the inning.
Junior third baseman Alyssa Schaub immediately got Archbold on the board in the bottom of the inning with a leadoff homer to left field.
“I was excited and I wanted to get a good hit to start of the game and it just happened to go over the fence,” Schaub said.
Schaub made one of several nice defensive plays by the Blue Streaks in the second inning as she turned her back to the infield and ran down the left field line to make an over-the-shoulder catch of Lyndsey Clark’s foul pop.
“I just turned and tried not to trip over third base and got to it,”
Schaub was hit by a pitch to start the third inning and scored on winning pitcher Sarah Wyse’s double, putting Archbold up 2-0.
A double steal and a run-scoring single by Morgan Cody pushed the Blue Streaks’ advantage to 4-0 in the fifth. Elmwood closed to 4-2 in a four-hit sixth inning that included RBI singles by losing pitcher Marissa Lee and Amanda Peters before Archbold added a run in the sixth on Jenna Nofziger’s run-scoring single.
Hoiles was proud that his club let Archbold know it was still in a game in the late going.
“They girls fought and at know time did they ever feel they were out (of the game),” he said.
Wyse (19-4) used her change-up effectively while striking out five and walking three as her team played errorlessly in the field. Lee (19-6) struck out eight while walking none but hitting three batters.

Elmwood 000 002 0 — 2 10 4
Archbold 101 021 x — 5 9 0
WP — Sa. Wyse (19-5). LP — Lee (19-6). top hitters: (E) B. George 2B; Striff 2-1B; Lee 1B, RBI; Peters 1B, RBI. (A) Schaub HR; Sa. Wyse 2-1B, 2B, RBI; Cody 1B, RBI; Graber 2-1B; Nofziger 1B, RBI.
records: Elmwood 20-10; Archbold 26-4.

Regional Track: Foster is lone Division II area athlete to advance

LEXINGTON — And then there was one.
Fostoria senior Ray Foster was the lone area competitor to survive to run another day at Saturday’s Division II regional track and field championships at Lexington.
The top four finishers in each event earned a trip to next week’s OHSAA state championships.
Foster earned his first trip to Columbus by posting a third-place finish in the boys 200-meter dash in 22.89 seconds. Teammate Cameron Garrett added a seventh in the 300 hurdles in 41.03.
Ottawa-Glandorf’s Landon Pothast, who was fifth in the long jump Thursday, had another near-miss in the high jump finishing fifth with a season-best jump of 6-4.
Brandon Heckman also scored for the Titans with an eighth-place effort in the 800 (1:59.8).
Upper Sandusky’s Lynzi Daughenbaugh placed in four events but was unable to crack the top four.
She was sixth in the 300 hurdles (46.18) and teamed with Marissa Linhart, Emily Caudill, and Tayler Daughenbaugh for sixth in the 400 relay (51.66) and Allison Snyder, Caudill and Tayler Daughenbaugh for seventh in the 1,600 relay (4:07.47). Linhart, Caudill and the Daughenbaughs were eighth in the 800 relay (1:47.43).
Ottawa-Glandorf’s Hannah Kaufman missed out on a return to state in the 200 by placing fifth in 26.88. She was seventh in the 100 (13.3) and joined Lauren Peck, Kate Cassidy and Kim Bingley for sixth in the 800 relay (1:46.94).
The Titans had three other placers.
Cassidy was seventh in the 300 hurdles (47.76), Katie Imm seventh in the pole vault (10-0) and Dana Lanwehr eighth in the 800 (2:20.31).
Cuyahoga Valley Christian won the girls title with a 1053/4-62 margin over Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary. Ottawa-Glandorf (131/2) was 15th and Upper Sandusky (9) finished 21st.
Peninsula Woodridge topped Sandusky Perkins 65-49 for the boys crown. Ottawa-Glandorf (11) and Fostoria (8) were 20th and 23rd, respectively.

Prep Softball: New Riegel blanks Wayne Trace for regional title

By JAMIE BAKER
Staff Writer
New Riegel is on a roll.
New Riegel jumped out to an early lead and senior pitcher Taylor Mathias took over from there as the Blue Jackets rolled up their 16th straight win by blanking Wayne Trace 3-0 in the Division IV regional finals at Lady Trojan Field Saturday afternoon.
The win puts New Riegel in the Division IV state tournament for the first time since 1996. The Blue Jackets (24-6) will take on either Strasburg-Franklin or Portsmouth Clay in the state semifinals at 10 a.m. Friday at Akron’s Firestone Stadium.
Timely hitting, great pitching and solid defense, the Blue Jackets have had the bases covered on all of those aspects of the game throughout the second half of the season.
“They just make play after play defensively,” said New Riegel coach Jamie Lininger. “We’re just so solid defensively. We can put pressure on them offensively and Taylor looks so sharp on the mound.
“It’s a great feeling. The kids deserve this so much. It’s been their ultimate goal to get to state the last two years. Every single one of these girls contributed in some away.”
The Blue Jackets jumped on Wayne Trace early, scoring solo runs in the first and second innings.
Speedy shortstop Jami Wagner legged out an infield single to third to start the bottom of the first. She stole second and went to third on an error when there was no one there to cover the throw to second.
Shana Scherger grounded to third but Wayne Trace first baseman Joellen Fickel dropped the ball allowing Wagner to score.
The Raiders failed to field the ball three times on throws to second on attempted steals.
“We really weren’t planning on running on them too much,” Lininger said. “We were going to go to the short game and we see where it would take us. That was big, that run in the first inning.”
In the second inning, Paige Noftz drew a one-out walk. She went to second on a wild pitch and came around to score on Sarah Reinhart’s stand-up double to the fence in center.
“They have speed and they are extremely quick,” said Wayne Trace coach Nikki Staten. “My catcher is a sophomore, but she has a great arm and she was having trouble making plays on them.
“You have to give them props for getting the ball in play and running everything out.”
The Blue Jackets didn’t have to worry about speed for their final run. That’s because Paula Kelbley crushed a home run to straightaway centerfield on a 1-2 pitch to lead off the fourth against Wayne Trace starter Marcie McDougle to make it 3-0.
McDougle pitched well allowing three runs, two earned, on four hits with one walk and four strikeouts in six innings.
But on this day it was Mathias who was queen of the pitcher’s circle. She raised her record to 18-3 as she yielded four hits with four strikeouts.
The only inning she ran into trouble was in the fourth. McDougle singled to right to open the inning and went to second when Ashley King served a single into left field.
New Riegel catcher made a nice play on a popped up bunt try by Andrea Padilla for the first out, Fickel fouled out and Sarah Feasby grounded to shortstop to end the threat.
Mathias slammed the door on the Raiders the rest of the way, retiring all nine batters over the final three innings.
“It was definitely a little discouraging. I think after that inning the girls were down on themselves and never really recovered from it,” Staten said. “It was just one of those games where we weren’t on our ‘A’ game and they were.”
For New Riegel, Saturday’s win was just the latest in a long list of big games they’ve won this month.
“This is why we beefed up our schedule a couple of years ago, so we would be comfortable playing in a game like this,” Lininger said.
“We played teams like this all year, probably some that were even better. We were ready for this team, but I’m not sure they were ready for us.”

Wayne Trace 000 000 0 — 0 4 3
New Riegel 110 100 x — 3 4 0
WP — Mathias (18-3). LP — McDougle. top hitters: (NR) Kelbley HR, 1B, RBI; Reinhart 2B, RBI; Wagner 1B. (WT) McDougle 2-1B; King 1B; Feasby 1B.
records: New Riegel 23-6, Wayne Trace 22-6.
Baker: 419-427-8409,
jamiebaker@thecourier.com

Prep Baseball: Elmwood rally falls short

By BRIAN LESTER
STAFF WRITER
ELIDA — One day earlier, Elmwood’s baseball team rallied from a two-run deficit and stunned top-ranked Coldwater in the regional tournament semifinals.
But the Royals couldn’t put together another seemingly improbable comeback on Saturday afternoon in the Division III regional final against Clear Fork.
No. 9 Elmwood was torched during a five-run fourth inning by the second-ranked Colts and was unable to bounce back in a 6-4 loss to Clear Fork on a hot May afternoon at Ed Sandy Field.
Clear Fork (30-2) will now face Independence (28-3) in Thursday’s 7 p.m. Division III state semifinal at Huntington Park in Columbus.
“The one big inning was the difference,” Elmwood head coach Kyle Reiser said. “You have to give them credit for coming up with big hits and keeping our hitters at bay.”
The Royals (24-5) led 1-0 after one inning when Jack Waldock came home from third on a throwing error. The lead was short-lived, though.
Clear Fork opened the fourth inning with four straight hard-hit singles to the outfield.
 Matt Squires and Jake Dickerson hit run-scoring singles during the outburst before Logan Perkins blasted a three-run home run to center to give the Colts a commanding 5-1 lead.
Squires also drove in a run in the fifth. The Colts finished with eight hits.
Senior Cody King refused to believe the Royals were done.
“We’ve been here before,” King said. “We always believe we have a chance. This time it didn’t work out.”
Reid Rothenbuhler hit an infield single that drove in a run and cut the deficit to 6-2 in the fifth. The Royals scored two more runs in the seventh on a groundout and error before Brendan Liberti finished off his complete-game effort by striking out Conlan Varty.
Liberti allowed only two runs and two hits.
Varty pitched 31/3 innings. He gave up five runs on seven hits in 31/3 innings of work. He struck out two and walked two.
“I’m proud of our effort,” Reiser said. “We battled to the end. We accomplished a lot this season. The loss just stings right now.”

Clear Fork 000 510 0 — 6 8 6
Elmwood 100 010 2 — 4 2 1
WP — Liberti. LP — Varty.

Finally some springtime school support

By Nathan Inniger

By no means was Thursday’s Division IV regional semi-final between Patrick Henry and Delphos St. John’s pretty.
The two teams combined for 11 errors, eight walks and seven players were hit by pitches.
But regardless, I still enjoyed my day.
The three main reasons why go like this:
1. Effort.
2. Support.
3. Of course, Garrold Parratt Field.
Even though the game was  sloppy, I can always appreciate when high school athletes give  their all on every play.
When you watch a professional game of any sport on t.v., it is usually easy to find players that aren’t playing to their full ability.
Unfortunately, that laziness has trickled down to the prep level as well. It wasn’t visible in the two teams on Thursday.
Although there were several miscues by players on Thursday, it wasn’t for a lack of effort, some of the errors were because the players were trying too hard and trying to do things that they weren’t capable of doing.
I would much rather watch that than a fielder making a mistake for being lazy.
Anther aspect of high school sports that seems to be getting worse in recent years is support from fellow students and community members.
On Thursday, both bleacher sections at Garrold Parratt Field were nearly full of community members and students.
The fans weren’t just there to be there either. They were not shy about cheering on their team on almost every play that was made and arguing with nearly every call that was made by the umpires.
That definitely adds to the experience of the athletes, some of which are playing their final game.
I was pleasantly surprised to see numerous students at the game from each school.
Student support seems to have diminished at many schools around the area, which is a sad thing to see.
Finally, each of the three times that I have been to games at George Parratt Field it has been a wonderful afternoon.
If there is a better baseball field for a high school baseball game in Ohio, please let me know.
Everything about the field is awesome.
The raised grandstands, the speaker system and scoreboard, the outfield wall with signs on it, the batter’s eye in center field, the bullpens, the spacious dugouts, the stellar field conditions...
I could go on and on, but that field is as close as most kids will ever get to playing on a professional baseball field.
The experience of playing on the field is pretty much priceless for any high school athlete that really enjoys playing baseball.
There has been some discussion about whether they should still hold the Division IV tourament there, since it is Patrick Henry’s home field.
The bottom line is that although it may give the Patriots a slight (I mean slight) home field advantage, I wouldn’t care if I was on the opposing team. Just the chance to play on that facility would be a memory that I would never forget as a prep athlete.
Therefore, I think the Division IV northwest regional tournament should stay put at Patrick Henry High School.

Elmwood softball reaches regional finals

By SHANNON DOVE
For The Courier
ASHLAND — Elwmood’s softball team found itself in a familiar place Thursday evening: at Brookside Park in Ashland, playing in the Division III regional semifinal.
And the Royals’ veterans knew exactly what to do.
Emily Reynolds had a solo home run among her three hits and Marissa Lee threw a four-hit shutout as the Royals beat Martins Ferry 4-0.
Elmwood (20-9) advances to the regional final Saturday to face Archbold (24-4) at noon at Brookside Park. Martins Ferry finishes its season at 15-9.
“This field is kind of a second home to us,” Royals coach Matt Hoiles said. “A lot of these girls were on the state team in 2008, so they’ve played here before. We love this place. I love coming here, the surroundings. Just this whole atmosphere here is awesome and the girls love to play here also.”
Reynolds kick-started the Royals’ offense with a solo home run to left center in the top of the fourth inning to put Elmwood ahead 1-0. The first-pitch homer looked very much like her first-inning double that bounced off the fence in straight-away center.
“When I got up there the first time you could just really see the ball coming out of her hand really well,” Reynolds said.  “I guess I was just in my groove today and once I saw it the first time, I knew I was going to have a good day.”
Stephanie Barringer led off the Elmwood fifth with a double to the fence in left center. Sierra Beckford reached first when Purple Rider shortstop Sis Fronapfel dropped a soft line drive; the Royals then uncorked consecutive hits to bring in three runs.
Brittany George brought home Barringer and Beckford with a triple into the right field corner and Morgan Arnold drove George in with a single to left field.
“This whole team, it’s hard to pitch around anybody in this lineup,” Hoiles said. “When you have an 8-hole hitter that gets two doubles that has the power to hit it out, who do you pitch around? That’s the beauty of this team.
“That’s kind of our team,” Reynolds said. “Once one of us starts hitting, the rest of us start hitting. That’s how its been going lately. Even the bottom of the lineup picks the top of the lineup up sometimes. Once one person starts getting hits, the rest of the team follows.”
Meanwhile, Lee was doing her part to keep Martins Ferry off the base paths, retiring the side in order in the first and fourth innings. Lee had five stikeouts in the first two innings.
Lee give up one-out singles in second, fifth and sixth innings, but cather Arnold nailed three Martins Ferry baserunners. Arnold picked off a runner in the second and threw out Taylor Campbell and Shayla Outward trying to steal.
“In the news articles that we’d read on the Internet, we’d seen that they like to run, that they like to be aggressive,” Hoiles said. “I thought that with the defense that we have, that’s going to feed into us. We’ve got strong arms and we’re ready for stuff like that.”
Lee struck out seven and raised her record to 19-5.

Elmwood 000 130 0 — 4 10 0
Martins Ferry 000 000 0 — 0 4 2
WP — Lee (19-5). LP — Delguzzo (15-9). top hitters: (Elm) Reynolds HR, 2B, 1B, RBI; B. George 3B, 2-RBI; Barringer 2-1B; Arnold 1B, RBI. (MF) Delguzzo 1B; Campbell 1B; Studler 1B; Clark 1B.
records: Elmwood 20-9, Martins Ferry 15-9.

Upper Sandusky's Daughenbaugh advances in four events

LEXINGTON — Upper Sandusky’s Lynzi Daughenbaugh qualified for the finals in four events to lead the way for area athletes at Thursday’s Division II regional track meet at Lexington.
Daughenbaugh had the top qualifying time in the girls 300 hurdles in 46.2 seconds. She also joined Marissa Linhart, Emily Caudill and Tayler Daughenbaugh to advance with the sixth-best time in the 400 relay (51.62) and teamed with Allison Snyder, Caudill and Daughenbaugh for the sixth-fasted time in the 1,600 relay (4:05.77).
The Daughebaughs, Caudill and LInhart also have the No. 7 time in the 800 relay (1:47.77).
Ottawa-Glandorf returning state qualifier Hannah Kaufman made the finals in the 100 (13.27) and 200 (26.28) with the No. 7 and No. 5 qualifying times respectively. She also joined teammates Lauren Peck, Kate Cassidy and Kim Bingley to reach the finals of the 800 relay (1:47.18) as the fourth seed.
Cassidy picked up the eighth and final spot in the 300 hurdles (48.37) for the Titans.
In the boys meet, Ottawa-Glandorf’s Landon Pothast missed advancing in the long jump by 31/4 inches as he finished fifth with a leap of 21-81/2.
The Titans also scored in the 3,200 relay as Calvin Niese, Tyler Verhoff, Rob Giesken and Brandon Heckman were seventh in 8:12.0.
Fostoria’s Cameron Garrett advanced in the 300 hurdles with sixth-best time in 40.62.
The meet will wrap up Saturday with the field events at 11:30 a.m. and the running event finals at 12:30 p.m.

Prep Track: Arlington sprinters will be busy

By JAMIE BAKER
Staff Writer
Arlington’s Aaron Coppler and John Inniger are going to be pretty busy Friday.
Both will be competing in four events when the Division III regional track meet at Tiffin resumes today beginning at 4 p.m. with the field events.
The Red Devil sprinters have been fantastic this season. But admittedly, they get lost in the shuffle sometimes as two of the state’s top track and field athletes in LIberty-Benton’s Seth Butler and Pandora-Gilboa’s Sam Spallinger compete alongside Arlington in most meets.
They’ll have a chance to step into the spotlight today as both Coppler and Inniger made the finals in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes and will team with Dylan Mathews and Tad Berger to compete in the finals of the 400 and 800 relays.
The top four finishers in each event earn a trip to next week’s OHSAA state championships in Columbus.
“We tried really hard this year to give our relays a chance to get to state. It’s Dylan Mathews, first year running and he’s done great this year,” said Coppler, who is a senior.
“We’ve done a lot of work getting our handoffs down. We never try and put each other down. We’re always trying to be positive and encourage one another. We try and help each other correct our mistakes and our coaches have done a great job working with us too.”
While they ran well enough Wednesday to make today’s finals, there’s still some work to do as they’re on state qualifying bubble.
Inniger heads into the finals with the No. 5 time in the 100 (11.4) and No. 4 time in the 200 (22.84). Coppler is seeded eighth in 100 (11.63) and 200 (23.71).
The 400 relay had the fifth-fastest qualifying time (44.72) while the 800 relay ranks fifth (1:33.05).
“John’s doing great as a junior and I think he’s got a great shot to advance and next year, he’ll really be something to see,” Coppler said. “I had a little case of senioritis and by the time I got over it was almost too late for me to get where I wanted to be.
“I just woke up and realized this is my last chance and I have to give it everything I’ve got.”
A FEW ALMOSTS: You couldn’t get any closer to qualifying for state than Vanlue senior Jordan Cook did in the boys long jump at Tiffin.
Cook sailed to a career-best jump of 21-8 and tied returning state qualifier Roger Guerra of Lakota for fourth place.
But Guerra’s second-best jump beat Jordan’s second-best effort by a mere inch-and-a-half to claim the final state bid on a tiebreaker.
“That was a heartbreaker. He was right there tied and Guerra, who’s a heck of an athlete, tied him on his last jump,” said Vanlue boys coach Todd Richards.
“It was a heck of a time for the best jump of his career. He had a heck of a season for us.”
It’s been more than 20 years since the Wildcats have sent an athlete to the state meet.
Hopewell-Loudon’s Brook Kracher (high jump) and Leipsic’s Kendra Averesch (shot put) and Elmwood’s 3,200 relay team of Miranda Wagner, Bethany Flage, Darla Heimann and Addy Mathias also had to settle for fifth place finishes Wednesday.
FIRST TIMER: As Pandora-Gilboa’s top thrower the past couple of years, junior Tejay Boes felt a little left out last season when the Rockets finished second at the OHSAA state meet.
He’ll get a chance to contribute to the team’s success this season after qualifying in the discus with a fourth-place effort of 150-1.
“I did feel a little left out. I’ve been to regionals every year and I felt like I kind of choked last year,” Boes said. “I was more mentally prepared today. I think we lost by five points last year at state. If I can contribute any points down there next week, it’ll be a big help.”
Boes will get a chance to qualify in the better of his two events today in the boys shot put.
OTHER SITES: Findlay High School sophomore Kyesha Neal will try and double up. After qualifying in the shot put at the Division I regional at Amherst Steele Wednesday, she’ll be trying to advance in the discus for the Trojans Friday.
Miranda Price (800) and Catie Huber (3,200) will also compete for Findlay’s girls Friday while Matt Waaland will represent the Trojans in the boys 1,600 run.
Division III athletes tonight will also compete at regional sites at Troy and Lancaster Fairfield-Union.
On the Net: http://www.baumspage.com/rtrack/2010/index.htm
Baker: 419-422-5151,
jamiebaker@thecourier.com

Prep Track: Tiffin regional results; lane assignments

Girls Division
Friday's Lane Assignments
100 — 1, Cubukcu (Gates Mills Hawken) 13.2. 2, Jackson (Western Reserve) 13.0. 3, Lantz (Archbold) 13.0. 4, Reiser (Elmwood) 12.3. 5, Horne (Leavittsburg) 12.7. 6, Burkin (Fremont St. Joseph) 12.8. 7, Benson (Van Buren) 13.1. 8, Ford (Liberty-Benton) 13.1.
200 — 1, Benson (Van Buren) 27.1. 2, Burkin (Fremont St. Joseph) 26.6. 3, Roose (Toledo Christian) 26.6. 4, Reiser (Elmwood) 25.4. 5, Horne (Leavittsburg) 25.5. 6, Jamieson (Ottawa Hills) 25.5. 7, Robson (Western Reserve) 26.8. 8, Lantz (Archbold) 26.8.
400 — 1, Sunshine (Gates Mills Hawken) 63.0. 2, Stults (Old Fort) 60.3. 3, Robson (Western Reserve) 60.6. 4, Reese (Cornerstone Christian) 58.7. 5, Guagenti (Bluffton) 59.9. 6, Hauler (Monroeville) 60.3. 7, Keaton (Woodmore) 62.5. 8, Ohman (Rootstown) 62.5.
110 HH — 1, Bradbury (Hicksville) 16.6. 2, Pangle (Spencerville) 16.2. 3, Luginbuhl (Bluffton) 15.8. 4, Conkle (Liberty-Benton) 14.9. 5, Steinmetz (Toledo Christian) 15.6. 6, Hogrefe (Patrick Henry) 15.3. 7, Hoffer (Bluffton) 16.5. 8, Jacoby (Carey) 16.5.
300 ih — 1, Dillon (Toledo Christian) 49.1. 2, Rhodes (Liberty-Benton) 47.6. 3, Gunther (Leavittsburg) 47.1. 4, Jamieson (Ottawa Hills) 45.6. 5, Kryling (McComb) 47.1. 6, Jackson (Western Reserve) 46.8. 7, Gase (Fostoria St. Wendelin) 47.9. 8, Weickert (Fremont St. Joseph) 48.1.
400 relay — 1, Sandusky St. Mary 51.8. 2, Campbell Memorial 51.3. 3, Collins Western Reserve 51.0. 4, Fremont St. Joseph 50.8. 5, Liberty-Benton 50.8. 6, Leavittsburg LaBrae 50.9. 7, Tinora 51.8. 8, Patrick Henry 51.8
800 relay — 1, Northwood 1:50.6. 2, Columbus Grove 1:49.3. 3, Tinora 1:49.1. 4, Liberty-Benton 1:47.2. 5, Bluffton 1:48.7. 6, Ottawa Hills 1:48.8. 7, Norwalk St. Paul 1:50.2. 8, Gates Mills Hawken 1:50.6.
1,600 relay — 1, Western Reserve 4:13.3. 2, Bluffton 4:10.3. 3, Toledo Christian 4:09.7. 4, Liberty-Benton 4:07.8. 5, Archbold 4:08.3. 6, Woodmore 4:09.3. 7, Pettisville 4:12.3. 8, Liberty Center 4:13.0.
Team Standings
1, Fremont St. Joseph 11. 2, (tie) Rootstown, McComb, Pettisville 10. 5, (tie) Liberty Center,  Bluffton, Gates Mills Hawken 8. 8, Liberty-Benton 7. 9, Edgerton 6. 10, (tie) Fairview, Toledo Christian, Columbus Grove 5. 13, (tie) Hopewell-Loudon, Elmwood, Leipsic 4. 16, (tie) Leavittsburg LaBrae, Woodmore 3. 18, (tie) Van Buren, Old Fort 2. 20, (tie)Cardinal Stritch, Evergreen 1. 
Wednesday’s Results
SHOT — 1, J. Leppelmeier (McC) 45-3¾. 2, Molyet (Fremont St. Joseph) 41-6. 3, Gary (Liberty-Benton) 41-3½. 4, Grinnell (Fairview) 39-11¾. 5, Averesch (Leipsic) 39-7¼. 
HJ — 1, Pickens (Rootstown) 5-5. 2, Guagenti (Bluffton) 5-5. 3, Henricks (Edgerton) 5-4. 4, Eversole (Columbus Grove) 5-3. 5, Kracher (Hopewell-Loudon) 5-1. 7, Benson (Van Buren) 5-0.
3,200 RELAY — 1, Pettsiville 9:49.7. 2, Gates Mills Hawken 9:53.0. 3, Liberty Center 9:53.6. 4, Toledo Christian 9:58.7. 5, Elmwood  10:04.0. 8, Liberty-Benton 10:07.7.
Boys Division
Friday's Lane Assignments
100 — 1, Coppler (Arlington) 11.6. 2, Wilde (Norwalk St. Paul) 11.2. 3, Inniger (Arlington) 11.4. 4, Strup (Tinora) 11.0. 5, Spallinger (Pandora-Gilboa) 11.1. 6, Guerra (Lakota) 11.0. 7, Hammersmith (Archbold) 11.4. 8, Rosenberger (Liberty-Benton) 11.5.
200 — 1, Coppler (Arlington) 23.7. 2, Hammersmith (Archbold) 22.8. 3, Inniger (Arlington) 22.8. 4, Spallinger (Pandora-Gilboa) 22.1. 5, Strup (Tinora) 22.5. 6, Guerra (Lakota) 22.7. 7, Sleigh (Archbold) 22.9. 8, Balliett (Old Fort) 23.3.
400 — 1, Huffman (Toledo Christian) 52.3. 2, Salyer (Upper Scioto Valley) 51.3. 3, Keefer (Archbold) 51.6. 4, Spallinger (Pandora-Gilboa) 49.2. 5, Cook (Allen East) 49.9. 6, Tobin (Fairview) 50.8. 7, Rader (Cory-Rawson) 51.7. 8, Burwell (Hilltop) 51.4.
110 HH — 1, Jackson (Western Reserve) 17.0. 2, Dillon (Toledo Christian) 15.9. 3, Gunther (Leavittsburg) 16.2. 4, Gase (Fostoria St. Wendelin) 15.4. 5, Jamieson (Ottawa Hills) 15.8. 6, Meyer (Patrick Henry) 15.7. 7, Bassitt (Bluffton) 16.4. 8, Boraweic (Leavittsburg) 16.7.
300 ih — 1, Shaw (Toledo Christian) 42.1. 2, Curry (Woodmore) 41.3. 3, Jones (Margaretta) 40.7. 4, Conkle (Liberty-Benton) 40.3. 5, Benecke (Tinora) 40.3. 6, Young (Archbold) 40.6. 7, Luginbuhl (Bluffton) 41.3. 8, Pangle (Spencerville) 41.4.
400 relay — 1, Gibsonburg 45.4. 2, Arlington 44.7. 3, Lima Central Catholic 44.6. 4, Tinora 43.9. 5, Hicksville 44.3. 6, Norwalk St. Paul 44.4. 7, Pandora-Gilboa 44.7. 8, McComb 44.9.
800 relay — 1, Spencerville 1:34.8. 2, Arlington 1:33.0. 3, Pandora-Gilboa 1:32.5. 4, Archbold 1:30.6. 5, Tinora 1:32.0. 6, Lima Central Catholic 1:32.5. 7, Norwalk St. Paul 1:33.0. 8, Hicksville 1:33.2.
1,600 relay — 1, Hilltop 3:33.1. 2, Bluffton 3:29.6. 3, Archbold 3:29.3. 4, Liberty-Benton 3:25.8. 5, Woodmore 3:26.6. 6, Allen East 3:28.5. 7, Gibsonburg 3:32.2. 8, Spencerville 3:32.4.
Team Standings
1, Columbus Grove 20. 2, Liberty-Benton 18. 3, Pandora-Gilboa 17. 4, Woodmore 14½. 5 Archbold 11. 6, (tie) Fremont St. Joseph 8, Norwalk St. Paul, Hilltop 6. 8, (tie) Margaretta, Edgerton 6. 11, Waynesfield-Goshen 5½. 12, (tie) Lakota, Spencerville, Liberty Center 5. 16, Vanlue 4. 17, (tie) Bluffton, Pettisville, Patrick Henry 3. 20, Toledo Christian 2. 21, Upper Scioto Valley 1.
Wednesday’s Results
PV — 1, Wolfe (Columbus Grove) 15-4. 2, Keller (Liberty-Benton) 15-0. 3, Goebel (Edgerton) 13-8. 4, Alexander (Old Fort) 13-4. 7, Augsburger (Pandora-Gilboa) 12-6.
LJ — 1, Spallinger (Pandora-Gilboa) 23-9 (meet record). 2, Griffin (Norwalk St. Paul) 22-0. 3, Sleigh (Archbold) 21-8½. 4, Guerra (Lakota) 21-8. 5, Cook (Vanlue) 21-8. 6, Hogrefe (Patrick Henry) 21-6½.
DISCUS — 1, Vogt (Columbus Grove) 164-1. 2, Bowling (Fremont St. Joseph) 153-0. 3, Corwin (Margaretta) 151-3. 4, Boes (Pandora-Gilboa) 150-1. 7, Evans (Liberty-Benton) 145-9.

Regional Softball: New Riegel ousts Crestview

By DAVE HANNEMAN
STAFF WRITER
The regional softball tournament is usually just a stopover for Convoy Crestview.
This year, thanks to Taylor Mathias, Sarah Reinhart and the New Riegel Blue Jackets, it was a final destination.
Mathias had Convoy Crestview popping up all day and Reinhart, the light-hitting No.8 batter in New Riegel’s lineup, came through with a huge two-run double as the Blue Jackets beat the Knights 2-1 Wednesday in the Division IV regional softball semifinals at Findlay’s Lady Trojan Diamond.
“I’ve never seen a group of girls want this as much as these girls do,” said New Riegel coach Jamie Lininger.
“They want to go to state. And I think they really believe they can win a state championship.”
New Riegel’s 15th straight win earned the Blue Jackets (23-6) a spot in Saturday’s noon regional championship.
There New Riegel, looking for its first trip to state since 1996, will face the winner of today’s regional semifinal between Arlington (18-4) and Wayne Trace (21-5). The Arlington-Wayne Trace clash is scheduled for 5 p.m.
With one state championship (2005), two state runner-up finishes (2003 & 2009) and five straight state tournament appearances, Convoy Crestview (23-4) was the big dog in the regional.
Noted for its power, Crestview did get a fifth-inning home run from Jessica Burger Wednesday. But the balls Crestview was hitting were going more up than out.
Mathias induced Crestview into 13 fly-ball outs. Nine of those outs were pop-ups on the infield.
“I don’t know what was going on there,” said Mathias, now 18-3 on the season. “I was trying to keep the ball low on them. It was luck, I guess.”
Mathias struck out only two batters. But she walked none, was backed by good defense, and left Crestview hanging more than a few times.
Crestview got two hits in the second inning. But Mathias retired Maddie Etzler on a come-backer to the mound to end the threat.
In the fourth inning, Etzler lined a one-out single up the middle and was sacrificed to second.
Maddie Preston then delivered a two-out single, but New Riegel center fielder Paula Kelbley charged the ball, came up firing and gunned a strike to catcher Joann Borer in plenty of time to make the put-out at the plate.
New Riegel dodged its biggest bullet, though, in the fifth.
Holly Genth reached on an error to open the inning. Genth was thrown out trying to steal second, just one batter before Burger rocketed a blast over the fence in left-center.
“I felt like I had to press a little bit,” said Crestview coach Owen Pugh.
“Maybe we shouldn’t have tried to score the girl from second base (on Preston’s single).
“And if we hadn’t gotten the girl thrown out trying to steal she would have been on when Jess hit her home run and it would have been 2-2.
“Things like that happen. Not only do you have to play defense and have good pitching, you have to hit the ball at the right time, and today wasn’t the right time for us.”
It was, though, for Reinhart.
The senior second baseman, who lost her spot in the lineup because of an early-season slump, came to the plate with two on and two out in the second inning. She laced the first pitch she saw to the corner in left.
“I don’t get too picky. The first pitch was the best pitch and I went after it,” Reinhart said.
“At the beginning of the year I was really nervous. But I got my nerves out of the way. I’m not thinking so much. Now I just go up there looking to hit the ball. I don’t care where it goes.”
“She was in a such a slump early this season. She was probably 1-for-20 so we had somebody DP (designated player) to hit for her,” Lininger said.
“I don’t know why, but when we put her back in the order she thrived. She’s probably raised her batting average 60 points in the last two, three weeks.”
Pugh had a scouting report on Reinhart as well.
“They get runners on second and third, this little girl comes up, and I’m up waving in my left fielder,” Pugh said.
“I’m telling them, ‘Come in a little bit,’ and she rips one right down the line. That’s their two runs.”
Shana Scherger and Kelbley had two hits each for New Riegel. Dani Hicks had a pair of singles for Crestview.
Both teams played like they were in a hurry and running late. Mathias threw just 86 pitches. Crestview starter Chelsey Lare threw only 76.
The game took just one hour, seven minutes.
But it must have seemed like an eternity for a New Riegel team looking to knock off the perennial power and earn its own chance at a regional title.
“This means a lot to us because they beat in the regional semifinals two years ago,” Mathias said. “We were so pumped for this game it was ridiculous.”

New Riegel  020 000 0 — 2 7 2
Convoy Crestview 000 010 0 — 1 7 1
WP — Mathias (17-3). LP — Lare. top hitters: (NR) S. Scherger 2-1B; Kelbley 2-1B; Reinhart 2B, 2 RBI. (CC) Hicks 2-1B; Burger HR, RBI.
records: New Riegel 23-6, Convoy Crestview 23-5.
Hanneman: 419-427-8408,
davehanneman@thecourier.com

Prep Track: Neal, Newell & Stump qualify for state

AMHERST — Kyesha Neal’s best throw of the season earned her a trip to Columbus.
The Findlay High School sophomore put together a throw of 41-feet which was good for a second-place finish at the Division I regional track and fgield championships at Amherst Steele Wednesday.
The top four in each event qualify for next week’s OHSAA state championships in Columbus.
Just missed the 40-foot mark on her first throw when she recorded a toss of 39-113/4. Her she uncorked her best throw on her third attempt bettering her previous best this season by nearly three feet.
Lorain Southview’s Shanique Ogle won the event with a throw of 41-11.
Findlay’s Holly Barton also placed as she tied for eighth place in the high jump by tying her best mark of the season at 5-2.
Findlay’s Molly Parsons, Catie Huber, Sara Plott and Miranda Price finished 13th overall with a time of 9:56.3.
Medina leads the girls meet with a 18-12 margin over Lorain Southview after three events. Findlay is eighth with 91/2 points.
The Trojans had one placer in the boys meet as Cody Swisher was eighth in the pole vault with a jump of 13-4.
Cleveland St. Ignatius has a 17-16 lead over Middleburg Heights Midpark in the boys team standings.
The meet will wrap up Friday with the field events at 4 p.m. and the running events scheduled for 5 p.m.

Newell, Stump advance
LANCASTER —The long trip to Division III Lancaster Fairfield-Union Regional didn’t bother Carey’s Dana Newell and Hardin Northern’s Shelby Stump as both advanced in the high jump on the first day of the meet Wednesday night.
The top four finishers in each event qualify for next week’s OHSAA state championships in Columbus.
Newell advanced with a third-place finish while Stump was fourth as both athletes cleared 5-1.
Several athletes in track events put themselves in position to earn a state berth when the meet resumes Friday by qualifying for the finals in their respective events.
Stump advanced with the No. 3 time in the 400 (1:00.2) and No. 4 time in the 200 (26.75) while Carey’s Lauren Jacoby qualified for finals in both the 100 (13.09) and 200 (26.93) with the seventh-fastest times.
Arlington’s girls qualified two of its three relays to the finals.
Lauren Pepple, Joy Reamsnyder, Haylie Beck and Taylor Beck had the No. 4 time in the 800 relay (1:49.33) while the Red Devils’ 400 relay team of Kristin Schroeder, Pepple, Laura Beach and Haylie Beck are ranked sixth with a time of 52.22.
Just one area boy advanced during the preliminary races. New Riegel’s Aaron Schalk has the No. 4 time in the 400-meter dash at 51.73.
Spencerville leads Wheelersburg atop the girls standings 13-12. Colonel Crawford has a 19-15 lead over Sugar Grove Berne Union in the boys meet.
 
Near misses for Ottoville
TROY — There was a couple of near-misses for area athletes at the Division III regional track and field championships at Troy.
The top four finishes in each event qualified for next week’s OHSAA state track meet in Columbus.
Ottoville’s Lauren Kramer was one spot short of a trip to state in the girls shot put as she finished fifth with a throw of 36-61/4. In the boys meet, Nathan Beining recorded a sixth-place effort in the discus at 138-10.
There will be no return trip for Ottoville in the girls 3,200 relay as the Big Green was disqualified in the event.
For relays and an individual did manage to qualify for Saturday’s finals in Wednesday’s track preliminaries.
Fort Jennings’ 800 relay team of Kaitlin Stechschulte, Lauren Norbeck, Stacie Chandler and Macy Schroeder posted the sixth-best time in the 800 relay (1:49.54) while Schroeder is ranked sixth in the 400 (1:00.14).
Ottoville’s Tasha Kaufman, Molly Maag, Kari Beining and Shayla Siefker are seeded fifth for the finals in the 1,600 relay (4:10.91).
In the boys meet, Continental’s 400 and 1,600 relay teams advanced.
The Pirates’ 400 relay team of Dylan Geckle, Brock Homier, Jacob Fry and Austin Sharp have the No. 6 time (45.45) and Mike Recker, Damon Schmidt, Geckle and Homier are ranked seventh in the 1,600 relay finals with a time of 3:30.23.
The meet will wrap up Friday.

Prep Track: Four area athletes win titles at Tiffin

By JAMIE BAKER
Staff Writer
TIFFIN — It was a blistering performance by Pandora-Gilboa’s Sam Spallinger at Wednesday’s Division III regional track and field championships at Tiffin.
Literally.
Blister and all, Spallinger sailed to a new meet record in the long jump as four area athletes collected regional titles on the first day of the regional meet.
“I got a blister yesterday being stupid. I ran a warm up lap in my bare feet, I’ve done it before but it was kind of hot yesterday and I ended up getting a blister right on the ball of my left foot,” said Spallinger, who medaled in four events at the state meet last season.
“I was thinking to myself, ‘Way to go Sam.’ I was worried about it all day and I was hoping it wouldn’t affect me today.”
It didn’t.
Spallinger fouled on his first jump but broke Liberty Center’s Jesse Smith’s record of 23-feet set in 1999 on his second try when he sailed to a career-best jump of 23-9.
His jump is the best in the state this season, regardless of division. After his record-setting leap, he didn’t even bother to attempt another.
That’s because Spallinger was a little busy on the track advancing to Friday’s finals with the top time in the 200 (22.15) and 400 (49.29) and the No. 2 time in the 100 (11.11).
With the Rockets trying to rack up as many points as they can trying to defend their regional title, junior Tejay Boes certainly gave Pandora-Gilboa a lift.
Boes put together one of his best throws of the year in the discus to qualify for next week’s OHSAA state championships with a fourth-place effort on a throw of 150-1.
The other two boys regional champions Wednesday were from Columbus Grove as Dylan Vogt won the discus and Tyler Wolfe won the pole vault to give the Bulldogs a 20-18 lead over Liberty-Benton in the team standings after four events. Pandora-Gilboa is third with 17 points.
Having to use his back up discus because his No. 1 discus was disallowed by Tiffin’s meet officials because it had a scratch for the second straight year, Vogt uncorked the winning throw of 164-1 on his very first toss.
Despite being a heavy favorite in the event, Vogt was still a little wary heading into the meet.
“There’s always a chance that you mess up, you just have to go out and do the things you’ve been doing all year,” said Vogt, who finished third at state in the discus last season.
“I’ve thrown well enough that I should have been able to make it to state today. But I’ve seen people mess up pretty easily here, you think about that sometimes because those things happen.”
Wolfe, a sophomore, has battled with Liberty-Benton’s Brad Keller for area boys pole vault supremacy and Wednesday’s competition was no different.
Both vaulters cleared 15-feet before Wolfe went up, turned and twisted perfectly to clear the bar at 15-4 to give him the win over his L-B rival for the second straight week.
The 15-4 mark is the best in the state for a Division III competitor this season.
Liberty-Benton’s 3,200 relay team of Joseph Sherrieb, Zach Johnson, Jacob Clagg and Seth Butler also qualified for state by finishing second in 8:11.58. Butler, the two-time defending state titlist in the 800, got the baton in fifth place and passed three teams while running the relay’s anchor leg.
In the girls meet, McComb’s Jackie Leppelmeier just keeps on winning. She was the lone area girls champion in the three finals contested Wednesday.
Leppelmeier led from start to finish winning the event with a toss of 45-33/4, her second-best effort of the season.
The McComb junior, who has the No. 1 throw in Ohio and 12th best mark in the country this season at 46-61/2, knows anything can happen in the postseason.
One her friendly throwing rivals, Fremont St. Joseph’s Jessica Molyet, had thrown the discus 151-0 this season but failed to advance at districts when she fouled on all three throws.
“I just know if I throw like I know I can, I’ll be all right,” Leppelmeier said. “Anything can happen. With Jessica Molyet in the discus, it was a heartbreaker. When I heard about that, it brought back my focus and made me stay confident.”
“I just want to keep building and get even better next week,” she added.
Liberty-Benton sophomore Alyssa Gary will join Leppelmeier in the circle at state after she advanced for the second straight year with a third-place and season-best throw of 41-31/2.
Bluffton sophomore Lydia Guagenti advanced in the high jump for the second year in-a-row by finishing second with a leap of 5-5. Columbus Grove’s Riley Eversole will join her in Columbus after finishing fourth with her best effort of the season at 5-3.
The meet will wrap up Friday. The field events get underway at 4 p.m. with the running events set to begin at 5 p.m.
Baker: 419-427-8409,
jamiebaker@thecourier.com