Top Northeast Ohio High School Softball Players Participate in Ohio Varsity All Star Games

Photo by Al Kornspan

Mentor – Ohio Varsity held two all star games on June 22 at Mentor High School.

The first game, the Ohio Varsity Underclassmen Showcase included some of Northeast Ohio’s most talented current high school softball players.

In the second game, the Ohio Varsity All-Star Classic, senior softball players who recently completed their playing career were selected to participate.

The underclassmen showcase game was divided up into an Army team and a Navy team. In this game, the Navy team defeated the Army team, 9-3 in nine innings. In the second game, the Air Force team beat the Marines team, 9-8.

The underclassmen showcase game was close for the first 6 innings with the Navy team leading 3-1 going into the 7th inning.

In the seventh inning, Navy scored three runs when Amanda Dobida from Eastlake North hit a triple to drive in two runs. The Navy team added another run in the same inning when Cardinal’s Rylie Leichtman drove in a run with a single to make the score 6-1. 

The Navy underclassmen team added two more runs in the eighth when Eastlake North’s Bre Preston hit a double to drive in two runs.

Navy then took a 9-1 lead when Maddie Kita from Wickliffe drove in a run with an RBI double.

The Army underclassmen team scored two runs in the top of the ninth to make the final score, 9-3.  

In the second game of the night, the senior all star teams faced off for a nine inning game.

The Marines team scored first when Amy O’Brien from Chardon drove in the first run of the game.  

Shortly thereafter, Shea Malone from West Geauga, an NCAA Division I commit who will play softball at Bucknell, drove in two runs for the Air Force team.

The Air Force team took a 4-1 lead in the fourth inning when Madison Zombory from Chardon singled to drive in a run.

The Marines team came back in the bottom of the fourth inning as Riverside’s Delaney Keith tripled to drive in two runs and Berkshire’s Anni Bergmeier drove in a run with a double.

After four innings, the Marines team led the Air Force team, 5-4.

Both teams scored one run in the fifth inning to make the score 6-5 in favor of the Marine team.

In the top of the seventh, Delaney Keith from Riverside hit a two run home run to put the Marine team ahead 8-5.

However, the Air Force team did not quit. They scored two runs in the bottom of the 8th on Shea Malone’s double.

Trailing 8-7 in the bottom of the ninth, the Air Force team scored on Morgan Staska’s (Willoughby South) single to tie the game.

The Air Force team then won the game, 9-8, when Madison Matijevic from Kirtland hit a game winning sacrifice fly to drive in the winning run.

After the Ohio Varsity All-Star Classic game, the owner of the Ohio Varsity organization, Steve Hare, talked about the game.

“The senior game, that was fantastic,” said Hare. “To end an all star event like that, on a walk off, you couldn’t ask for more.”