By:

Ted Sarneso


Sunday, May 25, 2025 | 11:01 AM

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The goal for the Chartiers Valley softball team every year is playing into June.

In the past four seasons, the team made it to the semifinal round of the WPIAL playoffs and qualified for the state playoffs.

This year, the team came up inches shy of making it five years in a row.

“We fought to the end,” said Colts coach Chris Lloyd. “We had bases loaded with a chance to tie the game, and it came down to a diving play.”

With Chartiers Valley trailing by three in the top of the seventh inning with the bases loaded, sophomore third baseman Alana Woods came up to bat and roped a line drive that was on its way to splitting the gap when Penn-Trafford outfielder Giuliana Youngo made a spectacular diving catch to end the rally.

“She made one heck of a play,” said Lloyd. “If she didn’t catch that, we definitely would have tied the game.”

As it was, Chartiers Valley (12-7) saw its season end in a 14-11 loss to the top-seeded Warriors in the Class 5A quarterfinals. It was a tough one for the Colts players to take.

“They were pretty upset,” Lloyd said. “Penn-Trafford’s pitcher wasn’t hit all year, and we put up 18 hits on her, so we played pretty well offensively. Defensively, we had a couple of miscues that gave them some life and extra runs throughout the game.”

“The game started out rough for us,” said senior pitcher Taylor Walsh. “We knew they were going to be tough competition, but we weren’t going to back down to them. Everyone was ready to go. We just fell short.”

The Penn-Trafford game was a snapshot of the Colts’ season, as the players carried a never-quit mentality throughout.

The year began rocky for a team that expected to hit well and had four players committed to playing at the college level.

The Colts started with a pair of shutout losses, 4-0 to Neshannock and 13-0 at Plum. They beat Beaver, 10-4, and Blackhawk, 5-2, but were held in check in an 11-1 loss to South Park to open the year 2-3.

Then the rain began to fall and for the next two weeks, the Colts didn’t play a game but spent all their time in the gym working on their hitting.

“Those losses at the beginning of the year kept us pretty humble,” said senior second baseman Annabelle Helt.

The biggest thing Lloyd saw from his team during its two weeks without games was how the players came together as a group.

“I said attitudes are contagious, are yours worth catching?” Lloyd said. “I told them they needed to be ready, to bring everything they had and support and be there for each other. They grew as one.”

“We hang out with each other outside of softball every day, and I think if you are close off the field, it’s easy to play with and for one another,” said senior pitcher and center fielder Delaney O’Connor.

Once the weather cleared, Chartiers Valley got off to a five-game winning streak against section opponents, and the offense ignited to the tune of 60 total runs scored in those contests.

From there, the team won four of its last seven and was set to face Plum in the first round of the playoffs.

Lloyd reminded his players that in their loss to the Mustangs at the start of the year, they were playing at Plum, where the fences went out to about 170 feet. But in the playoffs on a neutral field, the fences would be 30 feet farther back.

“We had nothing to lose going into the game,” said Lloyd. “The first time we faced them, we threw outside a lot. In the playoff game, Taylor pitched very well, threw a lot of her stuff in on their hands, and we took their bats away from them.”

“I knew I had to go out there, be myself and trust my fielders,” said Walsh. “I gave my all in the circle, and we played a good collective game.”

Lily Duffill, a Penn State commit, smashed a two-run home run and the Colts came away with a 2-1 win.

“We knew going into that game we were the underdogs,” Duffill said. “Nobody thought we would win, and we said we were going to prove everyone wrong.”

Duffill finished her year with an average of .574 with 37 hits, 26 RBIs, eight home runs, five stolen bases and 27 runs scored.

Her production dipped a bit this year as teams took the bat out of her hands and she walked close to 20 times.

“She probably got upset, but she never showed it,” said Lloyd. “She found other ways to help the team and to score. She led the team in stolen bases.”

“I mentally matured,” Duffill said. “I got used to dealing with things that weren’t in my comfort zone, learned how to be more comfortable with things I normally didn’t like or wanted.”

It was up to the rest of the lineup, which included four new position players, to pick up Duffill.

Sophomore Ava Dunlap took over at first base and became the team’s five hitter, batting behind Duffill. She finished with an average of .338 with 22 hits and 16 RBIs and was second team all-section.

Chloe Tenney, another sophomore, played a lot of right field and was subbed by her twin sister Alyssa later in games. She finished the year with a .364 average.

“Chloe did a great job rolling the lineup over by getting on base and was one of our top hitters,” said Lloyd. “It was great to see Ava to play varsity as a sophomore and step up the way she did.”

Woods started at third base and picked up her hitting as the season went on. She ended the year with a .295 average, collected 18 hits and drove in 12 runs. Fellow sophomore Morgan Vaughan played shortstop and was the team’s flex.

One big surprise came in Gianna Scalise, who as a freshman was the team’s designated player. Her first game was against West Allegheny and she hit a home run. She slashed a couple of triples during the year, including one against Penn-Trafford.

“She got off on the right foot,” said Lloyd. “She wasn’t scared or nervous, went up to the plate swinging every time. Hopefully she’ll continue to improve as her high school career goes on.”

“It was hard to replace the seniors from last year,” said O’Connor. “The underclassmen played very well, and I’m so proud of them. I don’t think we would have made it as far as we did if they didn’t step up.”

The veteran players also took it upon themselves to help guide the younger players and were eager to take them under their wings.

“I was the only returning player in the infield,” said Helt. “I felt I had to step up and help them when it came to certain situations. Morgan and Alana got better as the season went along, and they’ll do better next year as they continue to improve.”

The Colts also came away with a lot of recognition at the end of the season.

Duffill was named player of the year, Walsh, Helt and senior Delaney O’Connor were all selected as first team all-section and Lloyd was coach of the year.

“I was surprised,” Lloyd said. “It’s good to be recognized by all the other coaches, but if it wasn’t for the girls and how they played, I wouldn’t be coach of the year. That’s all on them.”

As the team shakes off its playoff loss, the players will look to next year where they will be without their top two pitchers, as both Walsh and O’Connor are graduating.

Walsh, who is off to Wheeling University to study exercise science, was 9-6 this year with 72 strikeouts. O’Connor, who is headed to Robert Morris to study actuarial science, was 3-1 with a 2.10 ERA and 32 strikeouts. Helt will leave a void at second base, as she is headed to Pitt-Johnstown in the fall and will study biology.

“It’ll be hard losing those three,” Lloyd said.

There is plenty of young talent that can help get the Colts back to the playoffs. Chloe Tenney is expected to take over one of the pitching spots and Duffill is excited to work with her.

“She is an outstanding pitcher,” Duffill said. “She doesn’t have a lot of velocity right now, but the spin she’s able to put on the ball is amazing.”

“Our young girls got a lot of playing time this year between varsity and JV,” said Lloyd. “They know what to expect going into next year. We’ll be one of the top teams in our section, and we’ll look to make some noise in the playoffs.”

With any luck, Chartiers Valley will be playing well into June next season.

Tags: Chartiers Valley

Weather knocked back some tournament games through the early part of the week, but the rain couldn’t stop all of the action.

Anna and Edgewood each opened tournament play with walk-off thrillers on Thursday. Roman Smith drove in the winning run for Edgewood in a 6-5 win versus Kins in Division II. Anna’s Carson Pleiman scored the game-winning run on a passed ball to advance 4-3 versus Miami East in D-V action.

Butler cruised past Trotwood 29-0 in D-III on Wednesday. Hunter Richardson struck out nine and drove in three to lead the way.

In D-IV, No. 11 Springfield Shawnee upset No. 2 Bethel 4-1 on Wednesday. Braves senior Joey Ross struck out five and pitched out of a bases-loaded jam to earn the win and freshman Cayden Rodgers tossed three innings of scoreless relief.

In D-VII action, Louis Magoto threw a five-inning no-hitter with 11 strikeouts to help Minster advance.

This week the GWOC has a handful of familiar matchups lined up Tuesday. In D-I, top-seed Springboro will open tournament play versus Springfield, Fairmont and Wayne will face off, as well as Beavercreek and Centerville. In D-II Northmont will meet Miamisburg.

Lakota West, which won 20 games for the first time since 2017, will meet Middletown on Tuesday.

If the weather holds, Thursday and Friday will have a huge slate of district final games.

Softball Tournament

D-I: Fairmont, Centerville and Lebanon became district champions on Thursday, while Springboro finished as district runner-up.

Jaylin Turner tossed a no-hitter and Hannah Perdue and Carlee Netherton each homered to help Fairmont advance. The Firebirds will face Oak Hills on Wednesday.

Centerville defeated Lakota West 8-1 with Natalie Carr going 3-for-3 with a home run to lead the way. The Elks advance to face Mason on Wednesday.

Sophia Sheidler struck out 15, passing 500 career strikeouts, and drove in a run to lead Lebanon in a 2-1 win versus Lakota East. The Warriors will take on Marysville on Wednesday.

D-II: Northmont, Troy and Edgewood each opened tournament play with wins.

D-III: Audrey Bean doubled, homered and drove in three to help Piqua upset Tippecanoe on Wednesday.

D-IV: Ivee Rastatter hit her 16th home run on the season in an 18-2 win versus Brookville on Tuesday.

D-V: Northwestern, Springfield Shawnee and Miami East each advanced to regionals on Thursday. Anna was eliminated Monday but senior Liz Staudter finished her career in style, hitting a home run in her final at-bat.

D-VI: Emma Will blasted a pair of homers to help Fort Recovery get by Tri-County North 10-9 on Wednesday.

D-VII: Covington cruised into the Regional tournament with a 25-1 win versus Felicity-Franklin on Thursday. Jayda McClure tallied a double, two triples and a home run in the win.

Coaching News

Minster’s Larry Topp announced his retirement at the end of the track season after 40 years as the school’s track & field and cross country coach. Topp was voted into the Ohio Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches Hall of Fame in 2024. Previously Topp was named the OATCCC coach of the year and received honors as the National Federation of State High School Associations state coach of the year and national track & field coach of the year in 2021 after guiding the Minster boys track team to a Division III state championship.

Fort Loramie’s Brad Turner is also stepping away from coaching the softball team after 18 years. With 291 career victories, Turner leaves as the winningest coach in school history.

A few other coaches passed milestones last week. In softball, Northmont’s Kris Mangen recorded her 600th career victory on Wednesday and Lebanon’s Brian Kindell reached the 500 career win mark on Monday. Bellbrook baseball coach Jon Venter celebrated his 100th career victory last Friday.

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In their very first season as varsity baseball program, the Billings Central Rams have climbed the mountain and earned a state title to bring back to the Magic City.

Central narrowly defeated Belgrade 4-3 in the championship game on Saturday evening to wrap up the 2025 all-class state baseball tournament in Hamilton.

The Rams scored all four of their runs in the bottom of the first inning, which ended up being just enough to get the job done. Belgrade still trailed 4-0 entering their final at-bat in the seventh inning. The Panthers were able to scratch across three runs in the frame but the potential tying run was thrown out at third base to end the game.

Oliver Prill and Howie Martin combined on the mound to keep the Belgrade bats at bay. Prill threw four no-hit innings with three walks allowed, while Martin finished the job by tossing the final three innings and limiting the Panthers to three runs on two hits with four walks and three strikeouts.

Billings Central, the No. 3 seed from the East, wraps up a magical weekend of action which included an extra innings walk off homer by Oliver Prill on Friday, defeating their crosstown rivals Billings West.

“Those last two (games) were some of the funnest games I’ve played in my life, just coming down to the end,” said Martin. “And it’s a credit to our culture too. It’s our ninth state championship as a school this year and our culture’s second to none. And that’s a credit to our leadership as well.”

In every game they played at the tournament, Central was the underdog according to seeds: Defeating Columbia Falls (the No. 1 seed from the North) 6-2, knocking off Billings West (the No. 2 seed from the East) 4-2 in eight innings and finally clawing past Belgrade (the No. 1 seed from the Central division) 4-3.

“I actually have a Bible verse on my cleats, it says Proverbs 27:17, and it’s ‘as iron sharpens iron, so I shall sharpen you.’ And I think that’s just a big deal,” said sophomore Matteo Harris who was the winning pitcher of record against Columbia Falls and also drove in three runs in that opening game. “I mean, we played in arguably the toughest division, right? I mean, we got West and Skyview. They both came out here to state with us and we ended up beating West. That was kind of the iron sharpens iron, right? I mean, we played them all season lost to both of ’em twice. I think that’s a big deal because it just really brought us together as a team.”

The future for the Central Rams is as bright as they come, with zero seniors on this year’s roster.

“Having all juniors, sophomores, and great freshmen… great freshmen.” said Oliver Prill. “We can all play bottom, top to bottom of the lineup, bench two, everyone can play. And it’s just exciting to see what we can do next year and the years to come.”

Billings Central is now the third program to win a high school baseball state title since the sport just recently become a sanctioned activity. The Rams join the 2023 Polson Pirates and 2024 Florence Falcons as the first programs to bring home a state championship from the diamond.