Wheeling Central Falls to Shadyside in OVAC Class 2A Softball Final

WHEELING -- For the first time in nearly three decades Shadyside has won an OVAC Tom Bechtel Class 2A softball championship. The last time the Tigers took home the title was in 1994.

The wait is over.

Third-seeded Shadyside (17-6) scored three times in the top of the fifth and tacked on another trio of runs in the sixth to rally past top-seeded Wheeling Central, 6-5, Saturday high atop the Friendly City on the all-turf surface at Patriot Field on the Wheeling Park High School campus.

"This is what the girls wanted. They talked about (winning the title) and they went out and did it," Shadyside head coach Robert Gorrell Jr. said amidst a wild celebration. "This is what they've worked so hard for. I'm very happy for them."

The Maroon Knights (16-4) took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third courtesy of a Brook Edge 2-run homer to deep right-center with two outs. Edge would finish a triple shy of the cycle with a pair of singles and a double to go along with the roundtripper.

The Tigers finally broke through against Wheeling Central ace Josie Frizzell as Abby Gorrell reached on an error leading off.

With one out, Rylee Fulton singled to right and Gentry Brown followed with a bunt single to load the bases. Bella Honeywell doubled to the gap in right-center as Gorrell and Fulton both scored, tying the game at 2.

With two outs and Brown still at third, she raced home on a wild pitch to put the Tigers ahead for the first time, 3-2.

A pair of Wheeling Central errors in the sixth allowed three Shadyside runs in the sixth. Keying the outburst was an RBI single to right by Fulton, and when the ball was misplayed, a second run crossed the plate for a 5-3 reading and Fulton stood at third. She sprinted home on another error.

"That's the worst game we've played defensively all year," Wheeling Centraal head coach Buck Davidson noted. "You can't give up 2-base errors, especially to a good team like Shadyside. We made the errors and they capitalized on them."

Wheeling Central didn't roll over, however. Bella Rine's pinch-hit single in the sixth drove in Erin Maxwell and Frizzell's 2-run single in the seventh drew the Maroon Knights to within 6-5, but Shadyside's Arianna Saxton got the next batter to fly out to Fulton in left to seal the victory.

Saxton, while not overpowering, struck out three and walked five. She allowed nine hits and threw 116 pitches, of which 68 were strikes.

"She did what she had to do," Gorrell said of his pitcher.

Frizzell fanned eight and didn't walk a batter. She yielded a dozen hits.

Even though Shadyside won an Ohio Division IV state softball championship in 2015, the Tigers didn't win the OVAC Class 2A title, nor did they make the finals. They fell to Steubenville Catholic in the semifinals.