Maddie Proud put the Beavers ahead with a 3-run double before Annalise Davis worked out of trouble over the final two innings.
AKRON, Ohio — At long last, Painesville Township has a state champion.
Riverside High School secured a hard-fought victory over Mount Vernon with a score of 8-6 in Akron, earning the OHSAA Division II softball championship title. Despite trailing 5-2, the Beavers managed to turn the game around by scoring five runs in the fifth inning. They held off Mount Vernon’s late-game pushes to secure the win.
This triumph marks the first state championship in the history of Painesville Riverside, making it a significant milestone for the school, regardless of the sport. Prior to this event, no team from Riverside had reached the final four in any Ohio high school competition.
The turning point in the game came when Maddie Proud of Riverside (28-4) hit a crucial double, bringing in runs that broke the 5-5 tie. Earlier in the game, Maddy Kevern and Olivia Powell contributed with consecutive doubles that leveled the score.
Proud finished the game with four RBIs, making up for a pair of errors in the field. Kevern also belted a fourth-inning homer that cut the deficit to two.
But despite coughing up the lead, Mount Vernon (27-4) would not go quietly, as Hailey Rudrick plated a run with a double in the sixth. The Jackets then brought the go-ahead run to the plate, but right fielder Brooklyn Kleps snagged Grace Bates’ foul ball in right, ending the threat.
In the circle all afternoon was Annalise Davis, whose two-run home run the day before provided all the offense that was needed in her own complete-game shutout victory over Perry. Going the distance again, she wasn’t nearly as sharp (11 hits, three walks, four earned runs allowed), but still managed six strikeouts across seven gutsy innings. With the tying run up in the final frame, she got Rylee Myers to ground out to Powell at third, setting off a chorus of cheers at Firestone Stadium.
Though the Beavers were relative newcomers to the month of June, they certainly played like season vets, breezing through the district and regional brackets by a combined score of 43-3. They also became the first Lake County school to win an Ohio softball championship since the tournament was established in 1978.
The Yellow Jackets, who hadn’t lost a game since April, came up just short of what would’ve been their first state title.
