Westerville North, New Albany win district titles
Lance Preston scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the sixth inning, putting 15th-seeded Westerville North ahead for good in a 3-2 victory over 19th-seeded Central Crossing in a Division I district final Wednesday.
The Warriors improved to 19-8 and won their first district championship since 1988. They were making their first district final appearance since 2002.
North next plays defending state champion New Albany in a regional semifinal this upcoming Thursday at Dublin Coffman.
Preston hit a two-out triple to leftcenter field off Central Crossing pitcher Chance Woods before racing home with the go-ahead run.
“I saw the ball hit the dirt, so I was ready, and when I saw it skirt past the catcher, there was just no hesitation,” said Preston, who also singled. “It was just go, go, go.”
North coach Sean Ring said Preston needed to be ready, especially with two outs.
“I told (Preston) to be aggressive and on his toes on the secondary lead,” Ring said. “I wanted him to be prepared, and he was.”
Brock Wright went the distance for North, surrendering 10 hits and two runs with three strikeouts and no walks. Woods gave up eight hits and three runs, struck out five and walked two in six innings.
The Comets had a run taken off the board in the top of the third because of runner interference at second base. They also had three runners caught stealing, including one at the plate on a delayed steal by the trailing runner at second.
“For the most part we played a pretty good game, but we talk to our players all the time that when you play for championships, a couple mistakes can cost you a chance to win, and it can cost you a run that can beat you,” Central Crossing coach Scott Todd said. “That’s kind of what happened in this game.”
—Scott Hennen
New Albany 2, Canal Winchester 1
Ben Clark singled home Brandon Ecleberry with the winning run in the bottom of the seventh, keeping the No. 2 seed New Albany and its hopes for a second consecutive state championship alive with a win over eighth-seeded Canal Winchester.
Ecleberry was running for Oliver Shroyer, who led off the inning with a single. Owen Johnson bunted him to second, Andrew Ecleberry singled to center and Eli Henderson was intentionally walked to bring up Clark.
Coach Dave Starling said he briefly considered squeezing with Clark up, but his soft liner back to the mound glanced off pitcher Ethan Martin’s glove to end the game.
“The whole at-bat, I was just trying to put the ball in play, get it on the ground and get on the run. I just had to find a hole somewhere,” Clark said. “I thought the ball was going up the middle, and when (Martin) reached over and barely touched the ball, I knew we’d won it right there.”
New Albany won its fourth consecutive district title and improved to 23-6.
The game was a pitchers’ duel, as New Albany senior and Memphis recruit Caden Robinson gave up four hits, struck out 13 and walked one in 5 2/3 innings. Canal Winchester’s Jack Sprague scattered four hits and walked one without a strikeout in 6 1/3 innings.
“I couldn’t ask for more from our kids,” Canal Winchester coach Drew Dosch said. “It stunk that somebody had to lose that game because it was so competitive and so well-played, but I am super proud of our guys.”
—Dave Purpura
Hartley 12, Granville 5
In a Division II district final, seventh-seeded Hartley put together a six-run fifth inning and took advantage of five errors to beat the top-seeded Blue Aces of Granville.
Hartley improved to 17-8 and advanced to a regional semifinal against Washington Court House Thursday at Teays Valley.
The Hawks trailed 2-1 before breaking through in the fifth.
“Just stay the course is what we told our guys,” coach Tim Heinmiller said. “They’re a really good team, and they might jump out to a lead against us and we’ve got to keep going. We’ve seen innings happen like that to us before. We fought and I knew we weren’t going to give up.”
In the fifth, Brendan Laret opened with a double to left and moved to third on a wild pitch. Warren Markwood walked and Dushaun Tucker followed with an RBI single to left to tie it at 2.
Peyton Underwood also had a tworun double in the inning as the Hawks built a 7-2 lead.
Hartley added two runs in the sixth and three in the seventh.
Granville finished its season with a record of 19-7.
—Jarrod Ulrey sports@thisweeknews.com @Thisweeksports