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Western Reserve ends season in district semifinal with 12-1 defeat to Canton Central Catholic

Staff photo / Neel Madhavan. Western Reserve's Katie Byers (8) pitches during the Blue Devils' loss to Canton Central Catholic in Monday's district semifinal.

VERNON — Canton Central Catholic’s bats proved to be too much for Western Reserve on Monday, as the 13th-seeded Crusaders defeated the fifth-seeded Blue Devils 12-1 in the Division IV Badger district semifinal.

After going down 1-2-3 in the top of the first inning, CCC’s bats finally came alive. The Crusaders finished with 14 total hits, led by Baylor Grant, who went 3-for-4, while Brigid Burke and Mae Axline each tallied three RBIs and Avery McMahon had a two-run home run in the top of the third inning to help the Crusaders break things open.

All but one player in CCC’s lineup finished with at least one hit, while seven players recorded an RBI.

“We were super disciplined,” Crusaders head coach Ashley Bartolone said. “(Western Reserve pitcher Katie Byers) was having trouble finding the zone, so you give us one good pitch and we can hit it. We fought — a lot of the girls got down 0-2 and managed to get hits. We were just very selective and very resilient.”

Western Reserve had its bats going as well, but the Blue Devils weren’t able to string together the “timely” hits they needed to convert those into runs.

Led by Byers and Caylee Selley, who each went 2-for-3 at the plate, the Blue Devils ended up finishing with seven hits.

“We knew that they could definitely hit the ball, we knew that coming in,” Western Reserve head coach Katie Serensky said. “We just had to place the ball and play some defense. Unfortunately, they hit the ball too well. They’re a very good hitting team, that’s for sure.”

Despite fielding a roster of just 10 players, Western Reserve still managed to make it to the district semifinal.

“We just stressed all year staying healthy,” Serensky said. “We gotta take care of our bodies, we gotta stay healthy. We only have 10 players, so that was huge. We all had to take a lot of time in the weight room, stretch, have therapy and take care of ourselves — that’s how we got through the season with only 10.”

The Blue Devils end up finishing the year 14-4 overall, while also taking second in the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference – Scarlet Tier behind conference champion McDonald.

“I’m extremely proud of each and every one of these young ladies,” Serensky said. “They always came ready to play. I got four amazing seniors that would show up every single day. I’ve got a bunch of young ones that came up, showed up and produced for us all throughout the season.”

With the win, CCC will now face No. 8 seed Jackson-Milton for the district championship on Wednesday back at Badger. The Bluejays defeated No. 4 seed McDonald 3-1 in the first game of Monday’s district doubleheader.

“I don’t know much about them,” Bartolone said. ” I just know that if we show up and we hit the ball the way we do, and we outhit them, make the routine plays and Violet (Ellerbrock) pitches the way she pitched today, then we’ll be okay.”

Have an interesting story? Contact Neel Madhavan by email at nmadhavan@tribtoday.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @NeelMadhavan.

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