It was a long day of softball for the St. Vincent St Mary softball team. The Fighting Irish played three games in the Elyria Classic Tournament, winning two. The Fighting Irish lost to Midview 7-2 in the first game.  

Senior Olivia Mathews made it all worth while in the second game. The senior hit a game-winning grand slam home run to cap a seven run seventh inning rally and help the Fighting Irish defeat Oberlin 9-7

Mathews added a triple in third game. St. V-M beat North Olmsted 9-2 in their final game of the day.  

Manchester High School junior Ashley Harbarger pitched a perfect game Friday and led the Panthers to a 1-0 softball victory over Dalton in the Champions Challenge at Loudonville.

Harbarger recorded seven strikeouts and also contributed as a hitter by getting a single. She improved her season record to 8-4 and the perfect game was her first in her high school career.

Harbarger’s performance outshined a solid effort by Dalton senior Andrea Arney, a University of Akron softball recruit. Arney, the Bulldogs top pitcher and hitter, struck out five batters and her record this season is also 8-4. Dalton has won the past two Division IV state championships.

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.

While working on an upcoming story, I had to interview Elizabeth “Georgia” Stokes, a sophomore catcher for the Hudson Explorers. Stokes played a key role in Hudson winning the Division I state championship last year as she went 2-for-3 with two RBI in the title game.

That was an impressive performance, especially by a freshman. Stokes said that winning the state championship was special on so many levels, but mainly, she said it was because many outside the program never gave the Explorers a chance to even make it that far because of their youth.

Stokes said there’s no complacency this year and that the team is keeping that same “Us-against-the-world” mentality, so it’ll be interesting to see how Hudson fares this year.

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.

The city of Akron will make a written proposal next week to the Ohio High School Athletic Association in its attempt to become the host site for the state softball tournament.

If the OHSAA deems the proposal worthy of consideration, city officials will make a formal in-person presentation Oct. 9 in Columbus. The city wants to host the event at Firestone Stadium.

Once the OHSAA makes its decision, the winning site will be awarded a three-year contract.
Ashland, the current site, and Columbus are the others being considered.

The OHSAA board of control is expected to vote Oct. 11.

The Beacon Journal’s Tom Gaffney reported this news item:

Archbishop Hoban is looking for a new baseball coach and St. Vincent-St. Mary
is looking for a new softball coach. Ted Guscoff has left the Knights position, citing family obligations and
travel.

Guscoff, a Canton resident, confirmed rumors that he has applied for the
vacant Massillon job and is ”very interested in it.”

McCoy, an Akron resident, compiled a 63-19 record in three seasons at
St. Vincent-St. Mary. He will remain as softball coordinator at Pinnacle
Sports.

McCoy takes over at Copley for Mike Kuthan, who resigned late in the 2007
season.

The Hudson softball team won it’s first state championship Saturday, defeating Elyria 4-0 in the Division I state championship game at Brookside Park in Ashland.

Varsity Letters Co-Players of the Game: Hudson senior Beth Cinadr and freshmen Mindy Meredith and Elizabeth Stokes.

Cinadr led off a four-run first inning with a line drive double and scored, Meredith pitched a five-hit shutout to earn the win and Stokes smashed a two-run double to cap the first inning.

“It’s something you only dream about,” Cinadr, the Explorers center fielder, said about winning the title. “We were dreaming about this since we were little kids. We are here. We are done. It’s the best last game I could ever ask for in high school.”

The Dalton softball team won it’s second consecutive Division IV state championship Saturday by defeating North Lewisburg Traid 3-1.

It was the second season in the row the Bulldogs (27-4) beat the Cardinals (23-8) in the title game at Brookside Park in Ashland.

Varsity Letters Player of the Game: Dalton senior Jessi Carmichael.

Carmichael led Dalton to a win by pitching a one-hitter and struck out 15 batters, which tied a Division IV record in a state tournament game. The lone run Triad scored was unearned and Carmichael delivered a two-run double to break a 1-1 tie in the fifth inning.

“This was her last game as a senior for Dalton, and she was going out there and she was pitching her whole heart out,” Dalton coach Jessica Miller said.

This marked the second season in a row that Carmichael has pitched the Bulldogs to victory in a state title game.

“Going into this game, I knew they had improved,” Carmichael said. “I knew this game would be tough. For me to come out and perform the way I did, I am pretty proud.”