Bears battle past Beavers to advance in 4A

BIG BLAST — Oak Glen’s Mattie Carney is greeted by teammates after hitting a homer against Beaver Local. – Nick Henthorn

WHEELING — The Oak Glen Golden Bears are back in the OVAC championships, ready to compete for the same title that they won three years in row in 2021, ’22 and ’23, following a 7-2 OVAC 4A semifinals victory over Beaver Local inside the I-470 JB Chambers Sports Complex.

With the win, the No. 3 Golden Bears are set for a rubber match with No. 4 Harrison Central, who defeated No. 1 Weir 2-1.

“We’re really excited,” Oak Glen head coach Sherrie Garner said of the win. “The OVAC is a great place to be, this is a great Valley to grow up in and play softball. Great competition- this’ll be the third time we’ve seen Harrison Central, we split games home and away. We’re excited about it.”

The final is currently set for 7 p.m. Friday at the JB Chambers Sports Complex on field four.

In Wednesday’s action, Mattie Carney started the game and went six innings, striking out 10, before handing the ball off to Maddie Murray who held the Beavers off the scoreboard in the final frame.

MAKING CONTACT — Oak Glen’s Addie Smith connects with a pitch against Beaver Local on Wednesday in the OVAC semifinals. – Andrew Grimm

Oak Glen scored in the top of the second after Riley Bruce drew a bases-loaded walk, and the Golden Bears scored again in the third with one swing of the bat from Carney, a solo home run to help her own cause.

Oak Glen tacked on one more in the fifth and put together a four-run two-out rally in the sixth- needed insurance after Beaver Local scored two runs of their own in the bottom half.

Danica Holden drew a bases-loaded walk to score one, before Murray knocked a two-run single into shallow center, and Kayla Wright yanked another hit into right-center to drive in a run.

“We had good pitching from both girls- Mattie went six innings, Murray was effective too,” Garner said. “We were able to hit against their pitchers, we had to time some things up throughout the game, but we were able to come through and get some runs.”

OVAC 4A Semifinals

Oak Glen 7, Beaver Local 2

Oak Gl 011 014 0 – 7 7 0

Beaver 000 002 0 – 2 8 0

OG- Carney wp (10K, 0BB), Murray (7) (0K, 0BB) and Heath. Wright D, 2rbi; Carney HR, S, SB, rbi; Smith S; Holden rbi; Murray 2S, 2rbi; Hartung S.

BL- Thurik lp (0K, 4BB), Call (3) (7K, 2BB), Hoppel (6) (1K, 0BB) and Curtis. Thurik D, S; Call S; Curtis 2S, rbi; Duncan S, rbi; Wright 2S.

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