A few weeks ago when the Upper Arlington baseball team seemed to be on the verge of foundering, there likely weren't too many people who believed the Golden Bears ever had a shot at a district championship.
As far as Golden Bears' coach Matt Middleton was concerned, it was the people who really counted that did believe.
"I think we did," said Middleton after seeing his squad take down Gahanna Lincoln 3-1 in a Division I Central District semifinal Wednesday, May 19, at Grove City.
"And that's the reason why we won. We've got a little grit to us, a little toughness to us, that we didn't have at the beginning of the year."
The Golden Bears (23-8) won two of their most important games of the season in different styles, riding the left arm of pitcher Andy Bean against the Lions, then pounding out 10 runs over the final two innings to down a game Reynoldsburg team 12-5 Saturday, May 22.
Late in the regular season, the Bears muffed what seemed an excellent chance to win the Ohio Capital Conference Central Division title. Yet now they are but two games away from a state tournament berth.
Gahanna coach Mike Shade saw his own strong pitching performance by Dinny Galiardi go for naught.
"That was his first loss," said Shade of Giliardi. "He throws hard; he's a competitor. A tough loss for him."
The Lions got runners in scoring position in each of the first three innings, but couldn't collect any timely base hits.
"Their kid pitched well," said Shade. "I think he was the difference in the ball game."
"It didn't seem like it, cause he was walking guys and hitting batters, but he battled and we made plays behind him," said Middleton.
Gahanna had its best chance to grab the game by the throat early, as Bean pitched into trouble with walks in the bottom of the first. With a bases-loaded, one-out situation, the Lions grounded into a double play.
"That's a huge double play in the first inning that Joe McGlumphey and Phil (Jaskot) made," Middleton said.
"It gets us out of a big inning right there with no runs scored, and that's big-time."
Also big-time, of course, was Bean. No matter how many jams he got into, he'd either pitch his way out, or get some sterling defensive play behind him.
"That's the intestinal fortitude of Andy Bean and our defense," Middleton said.
"When he did get guys on, we made plays. They beat it into the ground for the most part, and we made plays."
Bean finally yielded the mound to Jaskot with two out in the seventh. And Jaskot did not disappoint.
"Phil coming in and shutting the door, that's huge in a district semifinal game to come into that situation and throw strikes," said Middleton.
"You have to give credit to those seniors, they want it a little bit, and they're having fun."
Against the Raiders, big hits were turned in by McGlumphy, Bean and Andy Cooper.
The result gave UA its first district title since 2003.
Now, the Bears move on to a regional semifinal against Cincinnati Elder Thursday, May 27, at 5 p.m. at Dublin Coffman.
The winner faces either New Albany or Mount Vernon in a regional final Friday, May 28, at 5 p.m. at Coffman.
This year's state tournament will again be at Huntington Park June 4-5.
The Elder Panthers are coming off a 12-2 district final win over Sidney.
The fourth-ranked team in the state according to the Associated Press, Elder is 25-4 and has averaged nearly 10 runs a game.
"We've got a little grit to us, a little toughness to us, that we didn't have at the beginning of the year."
Maybe the hardest thing to do in all of sports is to make a major change to one's style.
That applies both to horses -- front-runners usually can't be retrained to stalk the pace -- and human beings.
Thomas Worthington junior tennis player Casey Cempre was known for his aggressive, full-power and all-out attack.
Thing was, it wasn't always working out.
So some time back, according to Cardinals coach Tyler Stephen, a plan was developed for a game of controlled aggression.
And it's working out big-time.
That was proven first at the Ohio Capital Conference Central Division tournament when Cempre couldn't even get a seed, but still finished second.
And proven again lately, following a run to third place in the Division I Central District tournament Saturday, May 22, at the Elysium Tennis Club, Cempre is bound for the Ohio High School Atheltic Association state championships this weekend at Ohio State's Stickney Tennis Center.
"The new Casey Cempre is here to stay," said Stephen. "We changed a few things in his game. He has learned how to control points, how to construct points. A few weeks ago, everybody knew how to stop Casey Cempre. In the last couple of weeks, he's developed variety."
No less an interested bystander than Upper Arlington coach Amos Allison has noticed the change.
"He's hitting good hard shots, not going for the win on every ball," Allison said.
"He's really wearing people down. People are waiting for him to break down and he's not breaking down, either mentally or physically."
Cempre's improved game caused Allison some grief.
After defeating Sean Yun of New Albany in the district's first round Friday, May 21, Cempre met Golden Bear Beni Benalcazar in the second.
Benalcazar has been a like bad dream to Cempre in prior meetings.
"At the Worthington Cup, Beni beat him pretty bad," said Stephen.
This time, with a trip to states on the line, Cempre did the beating.
He battled through a tough three-set match to end Benalcazar's season (5-7, 6-0, 6-2).
The next day, with a trip to OSU just about assured (only a very rare set of circumstances keeps a player out after winning the first two rounds), Cempre was matched up with Olentangy Liberty's Arren Carter, one of the top players in the state.
Carter came away with the win (6-1, 6-1), but Cempre was to turn even more heads in his final match.
Across the net was Dublin Coffman's Hiromi Nakayama, a 2009 state qualifier.
"He was 0-6 against Hiromi," Stephen said.
After Saturday and Cempre's win for third place (6-3, 6-4), you can make that 1-6.
Cempre's first-round state opponent Friday will be Jeffery Schorsch of Perrysburg.
With a win, Cempre will have to face one of the top seeds, Ethan Dunbar of Lodi Cloverleaf, in the second round.
Also competing at the district meet was Harrison Chang of Thomas Worthington. Chang's day was done when he met Nakayama in the first round (6-0, 6-0).
The way Gananna Lincoln junior Tiyona Marshall saw it, coming to bat against Upper Arlington in the bottom of the 11th inning with a Division I Central District softball title on the line wasn't really that big of a deal.
No, really.
"I figured there was no pressure," she said. "I just got up there and my goal was to put it into play. I just wanted to make a play."
She did a little more than that Thursday, May 20. With the bases full of Golden Lions and two out in the scoreless game, Marshall singled to left, bringing in Tanya Busby from third and ending a nearly three-hour long marathon played at Pickerington Central, 1-0.
Upper Arlington pitcher Audrey Plant dueled Gahanna's Kim Lennox toe-to-toe through the game (Lennox had 16 strikeouts, Plant 11), but Marshall said the UA senior gave no signs of tiring.
"I think she was on top of her game as much as Kim was," said Marshall. "I don't think she was any less of a pitcher than she was at the beginning of the game."
And, besides her all-state pitching prowess, Plant turned out to be a bit of a prophet. After defeating Mount Vernon 1-0 May 18 in a tournament semifinal where she struck out 17 and gave up only two hits, Plant called the tune of the championship bout:
UA was simply going to have to plate a whole lot more Golden Bears.
"Kim is an awesome pitcher," said Plant. "We didn't score and you can't win if you don't score."
Meanwhile, Gahanna coach Jim Campolo was praising some other Lions he thought were pretty awesome.
"Any one of our top five hitters will come through in the clutch," he declared.
Especially All-Ohio catcher Kayla Ledbetter, who received her usual share of walks from Plant.
"If there's anyone anywhere better than her, I want to see who the person is," Campolo said.
"Every team we've played, they constantly try to take the bat out of her hands. I know it's frustrating for her because she is a tremendous hitter. I think it has hurt her stats a little, but when you look at the on-base percentage .700, you just have to say, 'Wow.' "
While the Golden Bears (21-5) had plenty of chances, they left 11 baserunners stranded as Lennox work her way out of several jams.
"We were hitting it hard," said Bears coach Todd DelBoccio.
"If a hitter (hits the ball) six inches one way or the other, we get the run."
Gahanna (24-5) won the right to continue into a regional semifinal against Dresden Tri-Valley Wednesday, May 26, at 5 p.m. at Ohio State.
The winner plays the survivor of the other side of the bracket, either Grove City or Brunswick, for a state tournament berth Saturday, May 29.
The district result also means DelBoccio has to say good-bye to a group of seniors who won two straight OCC Central Division titles and last year set a school record for wins in a season.
"I'm so proud of these kids, these seniors," DelBoccio said. "What they've done in three years. They were a great bunch of kids to coach, I'm very proud of them. They were a special class."
"I have absolutely no regrets on the season," said Plant.
"It was a hard loss but everyone can say they played their hardest."
"I just got up there and my goal was to put it into play. I just wanted to make a play."
As the school year winds down so does the track and field season, but both Westerville Central teams have time remaining before the clock strikes 12.
The Central girls (62) finished fifth at the Division I, District 1 meet at Dublin Coffman that culminated with finals heats Saturday, May 22.
Gahanna (132) also won the girls draw.
Coach Ryan Borland would've liked to have seen a little higher finish.
"We were disappointed with how we did as a team," he said, "but we did have some bright spots that we were excited about going into (the regional meet) this week."
Dominique Hoskins won the 400 (59.01) and the 200 (26.0).
Amara Whaley out-jumped everyone in the pole vault (11-6).
Taylor Reneau finished fourth in the 100 (13.14) and Kristen Norris came in second in the long jump (16-4.25).
"I was really pleased with Kristen Norris and Taylor Reneau," Borland said. "Both were on the bubble as far as qualifying, but really put together good performances to move on to the regional meet."
Central's boys came in fourth place at the Division I, District 1 meet at Coffman.
The event was won by Gahanna, which tallied 120 points -- the Warhawks scored 59 points.
Trey Devereaux won the discus (152-05) and the shot put (47-10.5).
The 800-meter relay finished second (1:29.80).
Dan Steigerwald came in fourth in the 1,600 (4:31.99).
Channing Doermann came in fourth in the 200 (22.74).
Brandon Shirey came in fourth in the 3,200 (9:47.97).
All of the aforementioned athletes or events in the boys and girls competition are to compete at the regional meet at Pickerington North Wednesday and Friday, May 26 and 28.
"At this point we just want to have fun," Borland said, "and qualify as many to the state meet as we can."
Boys lacrosse
The Warhawks (13-8) saw their season come to a close in a 20-4 defeat at Worthington Kilbourne (14-5) Saturday, May 22.
Two of the goals came from Bill Calpin, while Jake Marburger and Tanner Ayle had one apiece.
Zach Lowe notched eight saves.
Central got to that match by defeating Hilliard Darby on the road 10-1, Thursday, May 20.
Calpin scored four goals, Josh Wagner and Marburger had two apiece and Asa Plant and Jalen Liggins tallied one each.
Lowe stopped five shots.
Oliver matched his personal record of 13 feet, 6 inches during the district 3 meet last Thursday at Dublin Coffman to finish third behind champion Jacob Blankenship (16-0) of Gahanna and Austin Hicks (15-6) of Olentangy.
The top four in each event in every district advanced. The top four at regional advance to state June 4-5 at Ohio State.
"Now, my best chance to make it to state is to go 16 feet," Oliver said in jest, a reference to Delaware County's top four vaulters in Olentangy Liberty's Joey Uhle and Chris Uhle, Big Walnut's Bret Myers and Hicks.
Joey Uhle (16-8) and Chris Uhle (16-7) have taken turns setting state records this season. Hicks and Myers have both cleared 15-6.
Joey Uhle won the district 2 meet with a 16-3, followed by Chris Uhle at 15-6. Myers won the district 3 meet at 15-0. In all, seven Division I competitors from central Ohio have reached at least 15-0 this season.
"My goal this season was to qualify for regionals," Oliver said. "My goal for my high school career is to break the school record of 14-9 (set by Steve Cyrus in 1987). I really thought I needed a 14-0 to advance from district, but I got through. It was a great feeling, especially after no-heighting last year."
Teammate Matt Swisher finished fifth with a 13-0, which was one foot better than his personal record.
"It's a heartbreaker to see him finish fifth," coach Greg White said. "But Bobby and Matt still have a year left. The great thing about Bobby making it to regional is that he won't be intimidated by the competition or the situation because he trains with those guys every Sunday."
In addition to Swisher, scoring last Thursday but not advancing to the regional was senior Kameron Holloway, who was seventh (19-8 3/4) in the long jump.
The running finals were last Saturday after prelims were last Tuesday.
Holloway was one of only two boys who advanced to the running finals. He qualified in both the 100 meters (11.56 seconds) and 400 (52.23), but was edged from the 200 final when he finished ninth (23.33) in a semifinal.
"He's been training for the district 400 all season and the school record of 49.9 is driving him," White said. "It's unfortunate he shut things down in qualifying when he went 50.85. I don't think he realized he was that close."
Also advancing to a final was Kyle Edwards who turned in a personal-record 2:03 in the 800.
Seniors Michael Corbett and Cortlynd Steele had rough days, as did the Pacers' relays. Corbett did not advance to the final in the 100 (11.68) as Holloway claimed the final qualifying spot. Corbett also did not advance to the semifinals in the 200 (24.39).
Steele was ninth in his heat in the 800 (2:07.63), as Central Crossing's Kyle Dyer (2:06.32) took the eighth and final qualifying spot in the race. In the OCC-Capital Division meet on May 15 at Hilliard Bradley, Steele was third in 2:02.1.
White said he changed the sprint relay lineups because he did not think Holloway, Corbett and Steele could find that fourth sprinter who would help them reach regional. So he let those seniors choose their events and gave other athletes experience in the relays. The times reflected that, as the 400 and 800 relays had the slowest times in the field.
The boys team finished seventh (40 points) in the league meet. Watkins Memorial won (184) and was followed by Big Walnut (137), New Albany (109), Olentangy Orange (71), Bradley (52), Mount Vernon (41), the Pacers and Franklin Heights (24). Oliver was runner-up in the pole vault (13-6), and Holloway was third in the 400 (51.17).
•The girls team did not have any regional qualifiers from last Thursday's field events, although Rebekah Younkin placed eighth in the shot put (30-11 1/2).
The Pacers also struggled last Tuesday. Only Tayler Reid, Emily Mengerink and the 1,600 relay advanced to the running finals. Reid had the eighth-fastest time (1:03.57) in the 400 and Mengerink had the fastest of 16 qualifying times (2:27.14) in the 800. The 1,600 relay of Kristin Yannacey, Reid, Tangi Hamilton and Mengerink had the fifth-best qualifying time (4:14.92).
"It was an interesting night," coach Andy Graham said.
The girls team finished last (25) in the league meet behind champion Watkins Memorial (145.5), New Albany (138), Mount Vernon (82.5), Orange (82), Big Walnut (72), Franklin Heights (62) and Bradley (56).
Mengerink was fourth in the 800 (2:24.58). The 1,600 relay of Yannacey, Reid, Hamilton and Mengerink was runner-up in 4:09.81.
•Senior Robert Homan competed in singles during the Division I district boys tennis tournament last Friday and Saturday at Hilliard Davidson.
The top four players, as well as the top four doubles teams, advanced to the state meet Friday and Saturday at Ohio State.
"Anything else that happens from this point on is just gravy," Homan said. "I reached my goal and that actually will take some pressure off of me. My goal was to qualify for district because I thought I could do it before now. But with this being my senior year, I just had to reach that goal."
Homan advanced to district by finishing fourth in the sectional on May 15 at Davidson. He qualified for his sectional placement matches by going 3-0 in the first day of the sectional May 13 at Davidson.
Homan lost his semifinal to top-seeded Hiromi Nakayam of Dublin Coffman 6-0, 6-0, then fell to Weston Niermeyer of St. Charles 6-4, 6-0 in his third-place match.
"The first kid was just too good," Homan said. "I played OK in the first set against (Niermeyer), but I just felt really drained and it caught up to me in the second set."
•The boys lacrosse team downed first-year Marysville 15-3 in a play-in game in the Club Division state tournament last Thursday.
The Pacers advanced to play a first-round game last Saturday against Fairfield.
Delaware, which beat Marysville 12-0 on April 21 during the regular season, led 11-2 at halftime and coasted. The Pacers improved to 7-4 before playing Westerville Central last Friday.
"We are playing aggressive defense throughout the field," coach Dick Sanfillipo said. "Our defensive poles are locking down, our midfield is playing strong and we're just making it difficult for teams to transition. I like our aggressiveness and hustle, but we need to shore up things on ground balls and improve our catching."
Griffin Kinney scored three goals. Phoenix Neitzelt, Dom Sanfillipo, Josh Bender, Charlie Darrough and Brian Johnson all added two goals each. Andrew Meiser and Paul Golden also scored and Michael Duffy made 10 saves.
Not only did the Big Walnut High School boys track and field team have to walk away from the OCC-Capital Division meet without the league championship, it had to accept the fact that its record was no longer unblemished.
The Golden Eagles had won every meet in which they competed this season until the league meet May 15 at Hilliard Bradley. There, they scored 137 points to finish a distant second behind champion Watkins Memorial (184). New Albany was third with 109, followed by Olentangy Orange (71), Bradley (52), Mount Vernon (41), Delaware (40) and Franklin Heights (24).
"As a team, it was a disappointing day for us," coach Eric Myers said. "The guys were focused all year on (winning the OCC title) and they poured their hearts into it. A lot of kids had solid performances. I told them they have nothing to hang their heads about. It's tough to swallow, but we had a good meet. And we're 68-1. That's pretty darn good."
Big Walnut, which was seeking its first OCC title since 2003, won five events - the most of any team. Watkins Memorial and New Albany each won four events and Orange finished first in one event.
"Watkins (Memorial) has some real strong hurdlers," Myers said. "They hurt us bad in those two events and they put it to us in the two throws."
Two Golden Eagles walked away with two individual league titles, as Bret Myers won the pole vault in 14 feet and the 400 meters in 49.85 seconds and Jordan Whitner finished first in the 100 (11.24) and 200 (22.63).
Big Walnut's other first-place finish was turned in by the 400 relay of Caleb Garcia, Lucas Garcia, Joey Johnson and Cody Leitner (44.01).
"Jordan had a great meet. He scored 30 points," coach Myers said. "Bret also had a great meet, scoring 29 points. Both have been solid for us all year."
Whitner's twin brother, Jason, competed in the meet after missing most of the season with a hamstring injury, but his return was short-lived, as he aggravated the injury while running on the 800 relay, which placed third (1:31.86).
"He ran the third leg and tweaked his hamstring about 50, 60 meters in, and we dropped from first to third," coach Myers said. "He's done for the year. He's disappointed. He's only competed in three meets all year."
The girls team scored 72 points in the OCC-Capital meet to place fifth, behind Watkins Memorial (145.5), New Albany (138), Mount Vernon (82.5) and Orange (82) and ahead of Franklin Heights (62), Bradley (56) and Delaware (25).
"Our team score doesn't show this, but we had a really, really good meet," coach Joe Evener said. "Eight girls set personal records and two relays had season bests. The girls worked so hard and performed so hard, and that's all I can ask from them."
The Golden Eagles last won the OCC-Capital championship in 2004.
"Our team relies on our depth and scoring across the board, and this week we weren't able to do that," Evener said. "Our secondary points were basically nonexistent. But I'm proud of the girls. In the OCC-Capital, the competition is second to none, but we didn't shy away from the competition. We didn't let it intimidate us."
The Golden Eagles did not win any events. Placing second were Leah Thomas in the 100 (12.95) and the 800 relay of Rachael Missman, Chelsea DeLay, Lauren Ustaszewski and Brea Medlock (1:47.4). Finishing third were Julia Evans in the 300 hurdles (48.2) and long jump (16-1), Bethany Bogantz in the 800 (program-record 2:24.18) and the 400 relay of Missman, Callie Carioti, Ustaszewski and Evans (51.56).
Kevin Brown waited 398 meters for an opening. As the anchor of Lancaster's 1,600-meter relay team, Brown was the Gales' last chance at catching Gahanna Lincoln at Saturday's Ohio Capital Conference-Ohio Division championships.
So when Tyler Chandler, Gahanna's anchor, appeared to slow just ahead of the finish line Saturday, Brown pounced.
"I knew the kid," Brown said. "I knew he would try to showboat his way across the line, and I just told myself 'If he gives up and I don't give up, I'm going to cross the line before he does.'"
The last-second kick allowed Lancaster to sneak past the Golden Lions by seven-hundreths of a second and claim victory in the event.
The victory also sent the Gales to a second-place finish behind Pickerington North in the final team standings. Lancaster edged third-place Gahanna by a point.
"We're on top of the world," Brown said. "We're so much better than last year. It's been such a turnaround. It's been great."
The thrilling finished capped what had been a solid two-day competition by the Gales. Lancaster had a 10-point lead against Gahanna after Thursday's field event finals and preliminaries.
Nathan Cheek, Derek Kline and Kevin Miller combined to take the top three spots in the shot put Thursday, and Cheek continued his success in the discus Saturday. His toss of 148 feet, 11 inches was good for first place. Kline took fourth (134-10).
"We were looking to score a lot of points in the throws," Cheek said. "We've got a pretty solid team this year, a lot better than in the past few years, so we're going for it all."
On the track, Pickerington North dominated while Lancaster and Gahanna battled for second place.
The Gales' Brannon Kidder had a hand in three wins during the course of the two-day meet. He anchored the winning 3,200 relay team, ran the third leg on the 1,600 relay team and won the 1,600 run.
He set an OCC-Ohio championship meet record in the 1,600 after finishing in 4:15.71. He also finished second in the 800 (1:55.25) behind Gahanna's Harry McFann.
"He's a pleasure to coach," Gales coach Jeff Koksal said. "There's two parts to being coachable. One is being willing to listen, and the other is the ability to execute. Once we set out a plan for him, whether it's his training plan or his race plan, he's able to execute that plan."
A handful of second-place finishes helped Lancaster keep pace with the Lions all day. Brown was second in the 400, Nolan Flowers in the 110 hurdles, Stephen Hood in the 300 hurdles and the 400 relay team of Nathan Carpenter, Connor Smith, Flowers and Raheem Kerens took second.
"It's a plus and a minus, but I believe the three best teams in the region are here in the OCC-Ohio," Koksal said. "There will be some other teams that will dispute that, but I was proud of the way our guys competed. We fought hard, and we scored at or above where I thought we would in every event.
"We have three more weeks left, and that's a good feeling. To be sitting here in this position with the possibility of having several guys running for three more weeks, it's nice."
LANCASTER GIRLS TAKE FIFTH
The Gales' girls track team finished exactly where coach John Zishka thought they would. Lancaster wasn't strong enough to overtake powers Gahanna, Reynoldsburg and Pickerington Central, but the Gales managed respectable finishes in a handful of events.
"Fifth is about where I put us," Zishka said. "The kids did well to meet expectations there."
Karissa Conrad took second in both the 100 hurdles (16.03) and the 300 hurdles (44.20).
"She was obviously the athlete of our meet (Saturday)," Zishka said. "She made four finals and scored in all of those. Her time in the 300 (hurdles) is getting up there on our all-time list."
Zishka was encouraged by several personal bests set by individuals and relay teams. Jeylan Turkoglu topped her personal record in the 1,600 by 10 seconds, and the 400, 800 and 1,600 relay teams each set seasonal bests Saturday.
"The kids understand that it's time to step up, and top to bottom, I think they did that," Zishka said.
It was almost as if the local prep tennis players had to take the postman's oath in order to compete in the Ohio Capital Conference Cardinal Division tournament at Olentangy Saturday, May 8.
Luckily there wasn't rain, sleet, snow or hail, but there was wind, and plenty of it, along with a near-freezing wind chill.
The task for Westerville Central didn't change, however.
In a league flush with great talent from both Olentangy Liberty and Dublin Jerome, the Warhawks were in a position to maintain a third-place standing, and that they did.
"The conditions were tough," Central coach Brian Arnett said. "It was cold and windy and it didn't change all day.
"We were really happy with how things went, though. We started the day in third and the goal was to stay there, so we were happy to do that."
The event, combined with the regular-season dual matches, settled the final standings, which saw Jerome (77) edge out Liberty (76) for first place.
The 'Hawks totaled 49 points and were third, while Scioto (42), Westerville South (34), Olentangy (21), Westerville North (16) and Marysville (8) rounded out the scoring.
Central placed third in all but one of the draws, including No. 1 singles player Luke Buchanan, second singles player Blake Byrns, third singles player Max Hart and first doubles tandem Tallib Karaze and Alex Farabaugh.
"We kind of fell in where, for the most part, it did during the league season," Arnett said. "It was clear throughout the season that Liberty and Jerome were kind of head and shoulders above the rest of the league.
"We went in hoping to hold off Scioto and everything went pretty much the way we hoped it would."
While Central was busy holding off the Irish, South put itself into position to finish ahead of Scioto in the tournament -- the Irish topped the Wildcats in the final standings, however.
Ian Harrah placed fourth in second singles, while James Petit and Graham Russell teamed up to come in fourth in first doubles.
Bryan McKenzie came in fifth.
"I thought he played pretty well," coach John Fill said. "He lost four and two to Buchanan and hung in there after that."
North's Kevin Baum and Blake Brewer won a doubles match at the league tournament.
Meanwhile, local teams are going from league competition to postseason play this week, with Central set to compete in a Division I sectional at Upper Arlington Thursday, May 13, and Saturday, May 15.
Arnett plans to play his regular lineup in the competition.
"We're playing it straight-up and (Buchanan) is the No. 2 seed in our sectional," he explained. "We decided to play our regular lineup and I like our draws. We have some chances to hopefully get some guys to the district tournament."
South is to compete in a sectional at Pickerington Central May 13 and 15, and Fill plans to tinker with his lineup a bit.
McKenzie will join Graham to play doubles, while Petit and Harrah will form a doubles combo.
Keith McBride, Spencer Morris and Alex Potts will all compete in the singles draw.
Fill feels McKenzie and Graham have the best shot to advance to the district tournament by playing as a doubles team.
"If they play well they could run up against a team from Lancaster," Fill explained. "If they play well, they could see the fourth-seeded team from Pickerington Central. I think they have a chance to advance if they play well."
North is to play its sectional action at Hilliard Darby May 13 and 15.
Coach C.J. Simmons plans to combine Daniel Branaghan with Dakota Regan to play doubles at the sectional.
"They've been wanting to play together all season, so they're both looking forward to playing doubles together," Simmons said. "They get a bye in the first round and they're excited to play together."
"It was clear throughout the season that Liberty and Jerome were kind of head and shoulders above the rest of the league. We went in hoping to hold off Scioto and everything went pretty much the way we hoped it would."
The Gahanna Lincoln High School boys tennis team did exactly what it set out to do last Saturday on its home courts, winning all three singles titles at the OCC-Ohio Division tournament to defend its league championship.
The Lions, who went 7-0 in OCC-Ohio dual matches, finished the league tournament with 67 points to edge runner-up Pickerington Central (6-1, 58) for the title. Pickerington North (5-2, 43) finished third, followed by Grove City (4-3, 25), Reynoldsburg (2-5, 24), Newark (2-5, 20), Lancaster (2-5, 17) and Groveport (0-7, 14).
According to sophomore Stephen Cheng, the league tournament won't mean anything when the Lions compete in the Division I sectional tournament today and Saturday at Hilliard Davidson.
The top four finishers in singles and doubles advance to the district tournament May 21-22 at Davidson.
"To be honest, the OCC tournament doesn't really help me for the sectionals, because I played singles at the OCC and will play doubles in the postseason," said Cheng, who is seeded third in doubles with freshman Canyon Teague. "It's a different mindset because you're playing with a partner."
At the OCC tournament, the Lions didn't give up a set on any of the singles courts. Junior Jesse Shivener repeated as the first singles champion, defeating Central's Chase Thomas 6-1, 6-2 in the final. Teague won the second singles title with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Central's Dallas Stang in the final, and Cheng captured his second league title by beating Central's Ross Dinan 6-2, 6-1 in the final at third singles.
What may have tilted the tournament in Gahanna's favor was the play of senior Weston Hebert and sophomore Daniel Emoff at first doubles. The two surprised Central's Alex Fischbach and Marshall LeVett 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a semifinal before losing to North's Sam Prewitt and Dylan Bhaerman 6-1, 6-0 in the final. Sophomore Sam Raybuck and senior Demetrius Stevenson lost to Central's Mason Roese and Jacob DeVore 6-3, 6-2 to place second at second doubles.
"This is what they have been shooting for all season," coach Chris Schwinnen said. "We had three major goals this year - to win the OCC, to do well in the OTCA tournament and to do well in the sectionals and districts - and we accomplished the first one."
Gahanna is trying to end a five-year drought of not being represented at the state tournament. Its last state qualifier was David Koppel in singles in 2005.
The Lions will be competing with players from Davidson, Dublin Coffman and St. Charles at the sectional site.
Shivener was seeded second in singles, behind Coffman's Hiromi Nakayama, a state qualifier a year ago, and ahead of St. Charles' Weston Niermeyer and Olentangy Orange's Doug Ganim. He will play Hilliard Bradley's Andy Van or Northland's Austin Miller in the second round after having a first-round bye.
Teague and Cheng, who were seeded third behind Davidson's Ben McClarren and Trent Searfoss and Coffman's Pranav Magal and Daiki Kumasegawa and ahead of St. Charles' Jack Toscano and Grant Dolven, will face Olentangy's Alex Petrak and Adam Piccin or St. Charles' Michael Susa and Stuart Swartz in the second round after having a first-round bye. Hebert and Emoff also have a first-round bye and will face Toscano and Dolven or Olentangy's Kyle Oleksiw and Lars Vangen in the second round.
Cheng handled the switch from singles to doubles last year without much problem, advancing to district with graduate Will Raybuck last season. The duo lost to New Albany's Riyad Bennoui and John Buell 6-4, 6-0 in the first round.
Cheng said he feels more prepared to play doubles this season, as he and Teague played doubles together in the offseason.
"It takes a while to build a connection with your partner, especially if you haven't played together before," Cheng said. "But our connection is really strong."
Sam Raybuck will face Olentangy's Simon Hollerbauer in the first round and Stevenson will play St. Charles' Kevin Smoot in a play-in round.
Schwinnen said the pursuit of the OCC-Ohio championship taught his players what can happen when they focus on a goal.
"Winning the league will boost our confidence," he said. "We went into the OCC tournament with Central right on our heels and did what we needed to do."
Members of the Olentangy Liberty High School baseball team celebrated near the pitcher's mound at Westerville South on May 5 an accomplishment that seemed unlikely two weeks before.
Liberty had lost seven of 11 games and fallen to 5-4 in league play, but the Patriots never gave up hope.
Thanks to a 17-6 win over South in five innings, the Patriots won their final five league games to tie Dublin Coffman and Dublin Jerome for the OCC-Cardinal Division title at 10-4.
"Our coaches kept telling us to stay focused because we weren't out of it," said Michael O'Neill, who had a grand slam in the win over South. "We knew we were going to have to catch some breaks but that we could still do it."
The biggest of those breaks came May 3 when Jerome beat Scioto 13-3 in six innings to give all three teams four losses. Then, on May 5, Liberty beat Westerville Central 12-2 in five innings and Scioto beat Marysville 12-4.
The Patriots won a share of their second consecutive OCC title and their third in program history. After the three-team tie, South was fourth in the league at 8-6, followed by Marysville at 7-7, Westerville North at 5-9, Central at 4-10 and Olentangy at 2-12.
"This was strange because the other two times we were just trying to hold onto a title instead of going out and winning it," coach Matt Lattig said. "We just kept grinding and kept going. We knew we had to come out and be aggressive. This season has been a battle."
Even though the Patriots began the postseason last Wednesday, O'Neill said his team had had two playoff games prior to the official start of the tournament.
"Our coaches came back from the tournament draw (May 2) and they showed a bracket that included the games against (Westerville) Central (9-3 win on May 3) and South," said O'Neill, a Michigan signee. "We're 2-0 on that bracket and we have to keep going and work it hard if we want to get to 3-0 and beyond."
Liberty never trailed in the league finale, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning. They also scored five in the third and eight in the fourth, capped by O'Neill's grand slam.
The Patriots were seeded seventh and had a first-round bye for the postseason tournament. The second-round winner will plays third-seeded Pickerington Central or Teays Valley in district semifinal on Tuesday at Grove City. Pickerington Central was 18-7 and Teays Valley was 12-16 before playing last Wednesday.
"We started out at 8-0 and then I think we got complacent as a team," O'Neill said. "We lost a couple of games and reality kind of set in. We have to go out and stay focused the rest of the way."
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