Central Ohio teams are showing power
Only a month into the high school softball season, the district tournament draw looms.
At 20-0, Watkins Memorial is central Ohio’s only undefeated team and, after knocking off previously top-ranked Lancaster 4-1 on Saturday, took over the No. 1 spot in this week’s Division I state poll. Lancaster is third and Hilliard Bradley (17-1) is seventh.
Granville and Jonathan Alder are second and fourth, respectively, in Division II. Danville is fifth in Division IV.
Here are some storylines at the midpoint of the regular season:
Roberts breaks out for Central Crossing
Comets sophomore pitcher Hayliee Roberts might not have hit the fine-tuning stage yet, but her improvement throughout the season has been reflected in several recent performances.
Roberts recorded her eighth doubledigit strikeout game of the season Tuesday with 11 in a 6-1 win over Hilliard Darby. She had 188 strikeouts to 43 walks through 21 games, and also has been one of Central Crossing’s top hitters with a .529 average, 36 hits, seven home runs, nine doubles and a triple.
Pickerington Central’s Nixt hitting for power
Mckenna Nixt still considers herself the line-drive hitter she was during her freshman and sophomore seasons, except now, more of them are going over the fence.
The Tigers’ senior outfielder has become one of central Ohio’s top home run hitters, having blasted seven entering Friday’s game against Newark. Six of them have come in three games, against Central Crossing, Granville and Groveport, and the other was Monday in another Occ-buckeye matchup against Groveport.
As of Tuesday, Nixt was tied for the home run lead in central Ohio with Watkins Memorial’s Maleya Thompson and Jordyn Wycuff, according to statistics provided by Maxpreps. Statewide leader Macy Chamberlin, from Metamora Evergreen in northwest Ohio, had 13.
Veteran Danville among state’s elite
Considering they returned seven starters from last year’s Division IV district runner-up team, the Blue Devils had every expectation of competing for a ninth district title in 10 years.
So far, they have reached their standards, outscoring opponents 171-22. Sixteen of those runs came in fifthranked Danville’s only losses, including an 11-0 setback to No. 3 Portsmouth Notre Dame on Friday.
Grace Gronberg, a Bluffton signee who also has a team-leading four home runs, has twice tied the program record of 16 strikeouts in a game. She and Addy Bocock play second base when not pitching.
Juniors Alicia Humphrey and Addison Mickley and sophomore Abigail Sapp, who is hitting over .400, pace the high-powered offense.
Young Grove City takes big leap
If Bradley, Lancaster and Watkins are the top contenders for the top three postseason seeds in the Central District, Grove City hopes it is making a solid case to be in the group right behind them.
With only one senior in the program and a plethora of juniors and sophomores in key positions, the Greyhounds are enjoying their best season since winning 27 games in 2021. They went 1111 last year and 13-15 in 2022.
Juniors Shiloh Smith (1B) and Albany Throop (OF) and sophomores Cami O’neil (P) and Quinn Loar (C) are Grove City’s returning starters. Freshman Addison Phillips (P) has a team-leading four home runs.
dpurpura@dispatch.com