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

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.

The Malone College baseball team seems to be peaking at the right time. With just six games left on the season, the Pioneers are riding a 13-game winning streak and look to wrap up the American Mideast Conference this weekend in a doubleheader at Mount Vernon Nazarene.

The Pioneers are 33-9 and ranked No. 20 in the latest NAIA Coaches' Top 25 Poll. They won the National Christian College Athletic Association Division I Championship in 2006.

Although boy's high school volleyball still falls behind other states -- like California, Illinois and Pennsylvania -- it is headed in the right direction.

In fact is quite incredible to see the steps that people like Scott Ebright, the executive director of the Ohio High School Boys Volleyball Association, and Hoban coach Matt Mihelic, who doubles as president of the OHSVBA, have made for the sport.

Three Firestone football players will be continuing their careers in college next season, and two at the same school.
Trevor Kennedy, who was a first-team All-City performer at quarterback, will play at Mercyhurst (Pa.) College, along with receiver Jeffery Brantley. Meanwhile, Ross Davis, a running back for the Falcons, will be a preferred walk-on at the University of Akron.

The three players helped the Falcons (7-2, overall and 6-0 in the City Series) win the outright City championship for the first time since the school opened in 1963 and started playing in 1964.

John Dickerson, a Canton native, will retire from his position as assistant commissioner of the Ohio High School Athletic Association on September 19.

Dickerson is a 1960 graduate of Canton Lincoln High School, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mount Union College in 1964 and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Akron in 1969. He also is a member of the Lorain County Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame, the OSSCA Hall of Fame and the OHSAA Officials Hall of Fame. He was a registered football official in Ohio for 41 years, which included officiating 14 state championship games.

The City Series baseball teams will not have a four-team playoff at the end of the regular season. One veteran City coach said there may have been the perception on the outside that the reason the league did away with the playoff system several years ago was because the district was going through financial difficulty, which forced cuts in extracurricular activities.

The district passed a levy which helped bring back those extracurricular activities that were cut. But Ellet coach John Sarver said the levy had nothing to do with the elimination of the playoff system.

The voice message said, ""You have reached Jason Hall, head football coach at Nordonia High School...''

Hall will quickly be changing that message to, ""You have reached Jason Hall, head football coach at Massillon High School...'' if he hasn't already.

Jason Hall was named the new football coach and assistant athletic director at Massillon on Thursday night.

Woodridge senior left hander Nick Jones and his teammates earned some ink a few weeks back. It seems now they are living up to the hype. Jones pitched a perfect game Monday in an 8-0 route of Streestboro.

 He struck out 13 hitters as he faced the bare minimum (21). The win was the Bulldogs third of the season (3-0) and allowed them to open the Portage Trail Conference County Division schedule on a winning note.

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.

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.

Tom O'Neil is still the track coach at North even though he gave up his position as head football coach after the 2006-07 season.

But that football mentality is still in his head.

This is going to be Nefertitia Phair's year. At least that's what she's hoping.

Phair is a junior at Ellet and last year she had a solid season by finishing runnerup in the shot put at the Division I district meet in Austintown. In fact, Phair's toss (38-8) was tied with Twinsburg's Leah Love but Love had a better throw during seeding. Still, Phair qualified for regionals and although she came up short in qualifying for the state meet in Columbus, she said she's motivated this year.

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.

Firestone boys basketball coach Jerry Laria and Kenmore girls basketball coach Yontami Jones will be honored as the Coaches of the Year during the Summit-Portage Touchdown Club's annual awards dinner April 20th.

Also, Firestone senior guard Ramel Mitchell, the City Series Player of the Year the past two seasons, and Kenmore junior guard Andola Dortch, who also was the City Series Player of the Year this past season, will be honored as Players of the Year.

Copley volleyball standout Kimmie Dyer will continue her education and playing career at Wittenberg University.

Kenny Frease of Perry and Brittany Orban of North Canton Hoover are among the standouts who who showcase their talents at this year's Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association annual Boys and Girls All Star Games.

Four games will be played April 20 at Capital University in suburban Columbus, beginning with Division III-IV girls at noon. Caitlin Sharp of East Canton and Chelsea Fazekas of Chippewa are on the North roster.

Orban, a Northwestern University recruit, will be on the North squad for the Division I-II game at 1:45.

After a brief separation, a pair of Akron natives have been reunited again as teammates.

Dru Joyce III and Romeo Travis are teammates on Ratiopharm Ulm, a professional basketball team in the Bundesliga League in Germany.

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.