BELOIT OH- Western Reserve fell in a tough match against West Branch in Monfay. They lost in four sets (15-25 25-18 20-25 22-25).
Alyvia Hughes led the Blue Devils with a double-double. She tallied 14 kills, and 17 digs. Dani Vuletich had 8 kills with 4 blocks.
The Blue Devils return to action Tuesday hosting McDonald. The game will be live on YSN.
Welcome to another week inside the Hot Corner. As players begin working towards their fall season we will continue to bring you coverage of all things softball on this blog. In this edition we shine a spotlight on a familiar face. Sydney Mercer of West Branch High School, and Ohio USSSA Pride-Scarlett talks about her summer in our first spotlight interview. I’m excited to do more of these in the future. Also this week’s special guest is Justin McLeod. Softball fans may know him better as Justin’s World of Softball. He does a fantastic job covering softball at every level. The Adam Shefter of the sport we all love.
Spotlight: Sydney Mercer.
Sydney Mercer spent her summer with our friends at Ohio USSSA Pride-Scarlett. She dazzled at the plate all summer long, putting up monster numbers. In 53 games played Sydney hit .544 with 24 HR and 80 RBI. With an eye popping OPS of 1.891 Sydney strikes fear in the eye of every pitcher she comes across. Mercer is a class of 2022 that plays her high school ball at West Branch. She also plays volleyball, and basketball. Her three sport routine keeps in her in shape for achieving her goals. Sydney was kind enough to take time to talk to me about her summer season.
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Special Guest Justin McLeod
Justin is one of the premiere people that covers softball on a national scale. He covers the sport at all levels whether it be Division III college, travel ball, or professional. Justin started doing what he does for a similar reason YSN was founded. He wanted to cover a sport he saw no one covering. He started Justin’s World of Softball in 2012. Justin has been very helpfully to me when I started this blog. He gave me great advice on contacting college SID’s in order to get some of the wonderful guests we’ve already had on the Hot Corner. I was happy to return the favor and have the man who is usually asking the questions answer them. You can visit Justin’s World of Softball at justinsworldsb.com for the latest softball news from around the country.
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EAST PALESTINE, OH- The Lady Bulldogs were in action on Monday against West Branch on the tennis court. Looking for their first victory, East Palestine fought valiantly, but the experience of the Lady Warriors was just too much.
1st singles- WB senior Abby Stephens best EP senior Christine Adam 6-1, 6-1
2nd singles WB senior Emily Algaier beat EP senior Katherine Simon 6-0, 6-0
3rd singles WB sophomore Ally Zion beat EP sophomore Alexis Schnelle 60-,6-0
1st doubles- WB seniors Makayla Randlett and Halle Cutchall beat EP seniors Ivy Burkett and Alex Siracuse 6-2, 6-2
2nd doubles- WB juniors Liana Gabrelcik and Sydney Fetters beat EP senior Hannah Felger and freshman Claire Evans 6-1,6-0
West Branch is now 4-0, while EP drops to 0-2.
AUSTINTOWN OH- Saturday’s district championship game definitely lived up to the hype. Poland stormed back from an eight point fourth quarter deficit but just missed victory. West Branch took it 44-43.
The Warriors, who struggled to score in last year’s district matchup with Poland found good shots early and often, and they hit them. Their only points in the first quarter were made threes. On the other end, Kailyn Brown paced the Bulldogs in the first quarter scoring all 9 of Poland’s points. She would go on to score 13 of the Bulldog’s 16 first half points. Trailing 22-13 Jackie Grisdale got a three near the buzzer of the half to make it a 22-16 deficit at half.
That shot is all Grisdale needed to get going. In the third quarter while West Branch kept shooting well from deep, Grisdale seemed to match every bucket they made. She did a great job making sure Poland just stuck around to make a run. After three Poland felt good just being down 36-29.
The fourth quarter was gut check time for the Bulldogs. The found themselves down 41-33 with 4:00 minutes left it didn’t look too promising. Grisdale buried a three to make it 41-36. She then got fouled shooting her next three and made all shots from the line to make it 41-39. After a West Branch bucket, Poland came right back down and scored. Then Grisdale found some space underneath and tied the game up with a layup with 1:08 to go. Both teams traded an empty possession and Poland ended up with the ball with and 9.1 seconds left. West Branch made a great play to jump in front of the inbound pass that led to a fast break. Poland fouled the shooter, who hit 1 out of 2 free throws. On the insuring possession West Branch fouled Grisdale and put her at the line with 3.1 seconds left. Grisdale’s first free throw stuck on the back heel of the rim. West Branch would secure the inbound and the narrow one point victory.
Jackie Grisdale led the Bulldogs with 22 points, 19 of which came in the 2nd half. Kailyn Brown finished with 13.
Poland finished the season at 22-3.
BELOIT OH-West Branch was able to hold off Salem Friday night with a 57-36 win.
The Quakers had a huge second quarter outscoring the Warriors 15-6 in the second quarter. It was a great response from the Quakers who trailed 17-3 after one frame. The big second quarter made it a 23-18 game at half. But it wasn’t enough for Salem as the Warriors shot of a cannon in the third quarter. They grabbed control of the game at that point and never looked back.
Hunter Griffith led the Quakers with 10 points.
Salem travels to East Palestine on Tuesday.
BELOIT, OH- Boardman dropped a game at West Branch on Saturday afternoon by the score of 72-38. The Spartans were 12-44 from the field and 11-25 at the line. Many easy missed opportunities in the first 20 minutes of the game dug the Spartans a 17 point deficit. West Branch hit a barrage of 3s, connecting on 8 triples in the second half alone to put the game well out of reach.
Boardman was lead by Raegan Burkey’s 10 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Bailey Moore added 7 points on only 3 shots. Katie Stamp tallied 6 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals. Maria Torres added 4 points from the free-throw line. Emma Tokarsky each scored 3 points. Serene Khatib and Dana Haus each added a basket. Gia Triveri added a free throw to cap off the scoring. The Spartans continue their travels around Mahoning County visiting rival Canfield next Thursday and then down 224 at Poland in the United Way Classic.
*Story contributed by Justin Coffin and boardmanathletics.org
The Ursuline Irish advanced to the Youngstown district championship on Tuesday night with a 9-7 win over West Branch
Ursuline jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first with extra-base hits by Julia Nutter and Emily Holland.
West Branch answered back 5 runs in the top of the second largely in part to Riley Mesler, who finished 1-3 with 2 RBIs.
The score stayed at 5-3 until Ursuline got the offense going again in the 5th with 4 more runs, two more hit in by Holland. She finished 3-4 with 4 RBIs.
After the 6th, Ursuline was holding on to a 9-5 lead, but with two outs in the top of the 7th West Branch started to fight back. Grace Heath hit a two run homer to bring it within 2. Emily Holland was relieved by Emma Ericson for the final out when Peyton Alazaus flew out to first. Securing the 9-7 Irish victory.
Emily Holland led the way offensively for the Lady Irish with 3 hits and 4 RBI. Maris Barbato also had three hits in the victory.
Ursuline advances to play Poland in the Youngstown District Championship game on Thursday night at 4:00 at YSU Softball Complex.
CANFIELD, OH- It was the first home-field home run by a South Range Raider since the field was built. That piece of history now belongs to South Range Senior, Ben Rivera. The Raiders ran off with the lead late in the game in a 9-8 victory over West Branch on Thursday. The game was tied at five with the Raiders batting in the bottom of the sixth when Jaxon Anderson drew a bases-loaded walk, scoring one run.
The Raiders built a four-run lead in the sixth inning and then held off West Branch’s charge. West Branch scored three runs in the failed comeback on a single by Nick Wilson, a triple by Cole Bates, and a single by Tristan Ballard.
The Raiders got on the board in the first inning. Ben Rivera‘s sac fly scored one run for Raiders. South Range knotted the game up at five in the bottom of the fifth inning. Raiders scored two runs when Ben Rivera homered.
West Branch scored four runs in the third inning. Wilson and David Cunningham each had RBIs in the frame.
Trey Pancake took the win for Raiders. He went two innings, allowing three runs on four hits, striking out three and walking zero. Brandon Mikos started the game for Raiders. He lasted five innings, allowing five hits and five runs while striking out nine.
Justin Goode took the loss for West Branch. He lasted one-third of an inning, allowing one hit and one run while walking one. Mason Walker started the game for West Branch. He lasted five and two-thirds innings, allowing seven hits and eight runs while striking out one.
South Range tallied eight hits on the day. Jared Bajerski and Brandon Mikos each collected multiple hits for Raiders. Jared Bajerski went 3-for-4 at the plate to lead the Raiders in hits.
West Branch collected nine hits. Ballard, Wilson, Jared Butler, and Bates each managed multiple hits for West Branch.
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BELOIT, OH- The Quakers talked about coming out aggressive after seeing the Warriors no-hit a team on Tuesday. Bailee Thorn took the first pitch of the game right back up the middle to lead things off. The #2 hitter Elly Exline singled on the second pitch of her at-bat. With runners on 1st and 3rd, Exline attempted a steal and on the throw to second, Thorn aggressively went home to score the first run of the game. A three-run fourth inning would push West Branch to the victory. The Quakers wanted to stay aggressive on the bases but only had one other base runner after the first two hits of the game until 2 outs in the 7th inning.
Meg Rossero singled to right field in the 7th inning to extend her school record hitting streak to 19 games. Brooke Veglia and Elly Exline singled. Bailee Thorn had two singles.
On the defensive front, the Quakers didn’t commit an error and hustled on every attempt. Hayden Carner caught two foul balls and laid out on an attempt in front of the plate. Bailee Thorn went all out for a ball blooped down the left field line with a little push from the wind behind it. These girls played their hearts out defensively and in all aspects of the game. Hannah Kelm caught a line drive.
With a strong wind blowing out to center and left field it was very important for the upward movement to be crisp. Taylor Thorpe struck out 8 batters and other than a bunt out, 16 of the 17 outs were either K’s or infield pop up outs. Taylor Thorpe broke her single season (2018) school record of strikeouts as she’s reached 201 on the season.
PHOTO CREDIT: GARY LEININGER
Salem has senior day Saturday 11 am vs East Palestine and on Wednesday they finish their season at Carrollton.
*Contributed by Mike Thorpe
BELOIT, OH- Lakeview watched the game slip away early and couldn’t recover in a 16-3 loss to West Branch on Saturday. West Branch scored on a single by Rito, an error, a single by Blake, and a single by Alazous in the first inning.
The Lakeview struggled to put runs on the board and had a tough time defensively containing West Branch, giving up 16 runs.
R Pittman was credited with the victory for West Branch. She lasted five innings, allowing nine hits and three runs while striking out two and walking one.
Cait Kelm took the loss for Lakeview. She allowed 13 hits and 16 runs over four innings, striking out two. Offensively for the Lady Bulldogs, they tallied nine hits on the day. Kelm and Laura Garvin all managed multiple hits for Lakeview. Kelm led Lakeview with three hits in three at-bats.
West Branch scattered 13 hits in the game. Alazous, Rito, S Mercer, S Morris, and Blake each racked up multiple hits for West Branch. Alazous went 3-for-4 at the plate to lead West Branch in hits.
In the second game, Lakeview fell behind early again and couldn’t come back in a 13-3 loss to the Lady Warriors. West Branch scored on an error, a single by Rito, and a groundout by Rockwell in the first inning.
West Branch scored five runs in the third inning. West Branch batters contributing to the big inning included Mesler, Grace, Mercer, and Rito, who each had RBIs in the inning. Pittman led the West Branch to victory on the rubber. She went four innings, allowing two runs on four hits, striking out three and walking one. Rockwell threw one inning in relief out of the bullpen.
Raegan Schick took the loss for Lakeview. She allowed 13 hits and 13 runs over four and two-thirds innings.
Mariah Tackett, Schick, Beady Titus, Abbie Campana, and Laura Garvin each collected one hit to lead Lakeview.
West Branch racked up 13 hits in the game. Rito, Mercer, Alazous, and Mesler all managed multiple hits for West Branch. Rito went 4-for-4 at the plate to lead West Branch in hits.
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