The Malone College baseball team seems to be peaking at the right time. With just six games left on the season, the Pioneers are riding a 13-game winning streak and look to wrap up the American Mideast Conference this weekend in a doubleheader at Mount Vernon Nazarene.

The Pioneers are 33-9 and ranked No. 20 in the latest NAIA Coaches’ Top 25 Poll. They won the National Christian College Athletic Association Division I Championship in 2006.

The roster is peppered with plenty of local players like Chris Mandeville (Tuslaw), Zach Winkhart (Canton Central Catholic), Ryan Baechel (Glen  Oak), Adam Boudler (louisville) and Zac Barson (Canton South) just to name a few. Here is the complete roster and here is complete statistics for the season.

The City Series baseball teams will not have a four-team playoff at the end of the regular season. One veteran City coach said there may have been the perception on the outside that the reason the league did away with the playoff system several years ago was because the district was going through financial difficulty, which forced cuts in extracurricular activities.

The district passed a levy which helped bring back those extracurricular activities that were cut. But Ellet coach John Sarver said the levy had nothing to do with the elimination of the playoff system.

Sarver said it all started a few years back when the basketball teams decided to drop the four-team playoff system and instead just play the championship game between the top two teams. That change was implemented because the basketball teams, in putting together schedules each season, had to factor in the possibility of playing in the semifinal and/or championship games. That meant coaches could only schedule 18 games (OHSAA rules allow for 20 regular season games) in case they made it to the City playoffs. But if a team didn’t make the playoffs, they would have only played 18 or 19 games during the regular season.

So the baseball teams decided to follow suit and drop the playoff system, allowing the coaches to schedule two additional games in place of the two dates they would have reserved for the playoffs.

Incidently, OHSAA rules allow 27 regular season baseball games.

Woodridge senior left hander Nick Jones and his teammates earned some ink a few weeks back. It seems now they are living up to the hype. Jones pitched a perfect game Monday in an 8-0 route of Streestboro.

 He struck out 13 hitters as he faced the bare minimum (21). The win was the Bulldogs third of the season (3-0) and allowed them to open the Portage Trail Conference County Division schedule on a winning note.

The Bulldogs are now 4-0 after beating Streetsboro again 6-1 Tuesday.

OK, this has to be one of the more interesting and amusing tidbits I’ve come across.

Lake Center Christian School in Hartville has two student-athletes on the baseball and softball teams, respectively, who are siblings.

Brad Miller is a left fielder and pitcher and his sister, Mary Miller, plays center field.

Then there’s Jesse Coblentz, who is a pitcher on the baseball team, and Brittany Coblentz, who is a pitcher on the softball team.

I called the school to see about writing a feature on the four athletes thinking how interesting it would be to write about two sets of siblings playing the same sports at the same schools.

Well, after talking to one of the secretaries at the school, she informed me that Jesse and Brittany share the same last name, but aren’t even related.

Go figure.

When it comes to track, it’s always about who ran the fastest, jumped the highest or threw the shot or the discus the farthest. But sometimes there are stories, GREAT, INSPRATIONAL STORIES, that don’t have to do with who won.

For instance, I remember watching the local news in the fall, I think it was, and there was an amazing story about a young lady (she may have been from the Youngstown area), who was competing in the state high school cross country meet and was almost near the finish line. Then came a gruesome sight. She broke her leg on the course and fell to the ground.

But this young lady had the courage and fortitude to crawl and limp her way to the finish line, despite being in obvious pain.

It was a story of incredible self-will. This young lady needed medical help, but she didn’t want it. She was withering with pain but she wanted to finish that race, and if you watched the video, you couldn’t help but get a little emotional, knowing she was in a world of pain. But watching her will her way to that finish line, regardless of the pain she was experiencing, was breathtaking and moving.

The yound lady gave a great television interview a few days later and it was great to see she was doing well and was in good spirts. I think she even joked that all she was thinking about, when she went down, was that she wasn’t going to be able to dance at her sister’s wedding later that night.

I witnessed another incredible story, but it didn’t involve injury. A few years ago I was covering a regional track meet at Ravenna and the Copley girls were favored in this particular relay event. As the race began, Copley was right there, as expected. But during one of the exchanges, the baton was dropped and the team was out of the race.

The young lady who dropped the baton was devasted. I mean, I had never seen an athlete more distraught. What I found out later was that the young lady was only a sophomore and there were two seniors on that relay team. The sophomore felt she had blown it for the seniors because it was their last chance to make it to state.

She was on the infield of the track, as the race was still going, slumped over an emotional ball.

She just shuddered and shook as she cried.

Then, former Copley standout Carrie Dyer, who was a senior and on that relay team, ran to the young runner to comfort her.

Then the rest of the realy team followed.

To me, that was one of the most inspirational stories I had ever witnessed.

The sophomore was heartbroken. But she was heartbroken because she cared about her teammates and wanted to perform at her best so that it would help the seniors.

It didn’t happen. But when it didn’t happen, the seniors weren’t mad, bitter or upset. They showed support for their younger teammate because they loved her. And in the end, winning didn’t matter.

So, with that, I’m asking readers to post any inspirational stories you witnessed, in track or any other sport, that didn’t involve someone winning.

A story where someone overcame odds to get where they are. Or a story about teammates helping one another.

Those are the most compelling stories.

It appears as if Eastern Michigan has searched deep into Ohio plucking four area softball players to fill next year’s roster. Hoover’s Sarah Gerber (1B) and McKenna Russ (OF) are both already inked. As is Jackson’s Jess Richards (3B). Stow’s Allison Scherer (SS) will join her sister, Jenny Scherer ( a sophomore OF),  at EMU  as well.

Former Canton McKinley baseball shortstop Zack Leonard is also at EMU. The freshman is hitting .263 with two home runs in 20 games this season.

Freshman defensive back Judson Rambaud, Formerly of Akron St. Vincent St. Mary, and redshirt freshman wide receiver Corey Welch (Green High School) are on the football roster there.

Canton Central Catholic seniors Grant McCoury, and Max Colaner have committed to continue their baseball and academic careers in college.

McCoury selected Elon (N.C.) University and Colaner is bound for Northern Kentucky.

McCoury, a pitcher/third baseman, had a .402 batting average last season, with six home runs and 38 RBI. He also compiled a 4-1 record with two saves.

Colaner, a center fielder, batted .407 last season with 45 runs scored, 22 RBI and 20 stolen bases.

Hudson senior Chad Opalich has committed to continue his baseball and academic careers at the University of Dayton.

Opalich is a two-time all-league selection. He batted .489 last season with 45 hits, 24 RBI and a school-record nine triples.

Wadsworth seniors Dru Jones and Brian Solitario have committed to continue their baseball and academic careers.

Jones is headed to Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pa. and Solitario will go to Youngstown State University.

Highland senior Cory Johnston has committed to continue his baseball and academic careers at Savannah (Ga.) College.

Johnston, a left-handed pitcher/outfielder, helped the Hornets reach a Division II regional final last season and earned first-team All-Suburban League honors.