WELLINGTON — Ohio Action Images of Oberlin rolled to a Class D three-peat and Lorain County teams won three of four championships Saturday as the OGSO state tournament concluded at Community Park.

Oberlin’s Kelly Eberhardt fired a 15-strikeout three-hitter as Action Images mercy-ruled Randolph, 10-0, in the Class D final for players 18 and under. She and catcher Angela Daugherty have been teammates for four seasons during which Action Images won the last three state titles and finished second to South Amherst in 2005.

In Class C (14-and-under), undefeated Keystone Ford Builders scored the eventual game-winner in the sixth inning and hung on to win the championship 3-2 over New London. Britt Bowers scored Keystone’s third run when Kailey Summers singled her home in the sixth. And in Class B (12-and-under), unbeaten Midview Royal Sports took an early lead on Mogadore then rolled to an 11-2 victory. Midview got a 5-for-5 hitting spree from Amanda Beursken and a 14-strikeout two-hitter from Kim Stone. Both Keystone and Midview finished the season 21-0.

The only non-Lorain County champion was Windham True Value, which mercy-ruled South Amherst 14-1 in the Class A (10-and-under) title game. South Amherst was held hitless.

Class D

Ohio Action Images (17-1) erupted for three runs in the third inning after Daugherty reached on a fielder’s choice and Amelia Reid walked. Tiara Patton followed Reid with a two-out double to center that sent Daugherty and Reid running home. Patton then scored on second baseman Alyssa Garcia’s second straight single.

Garcia had three hits to lead the Oberlin attack. Daugherty hit two singles.

“We were very nervous coming into the game, but after a couple innings we started to loosen up a little bit and started playing our best ball,” Garcia said. “I realized it was our last game of the season, so I just went up there, relaxed and tried to have fun.”

It was the end of high school-level softball for Daugherty, catcher for Oberlin’s Phoenix for four years.

“I knew this was going to be a big season, because I was one of the oldest girls and I wanted to follow in my sister’s footsteps,” said Daugherty. The reference was to pitcher Brittany Daugherty who played on the previous two championship teams.

“It’s been a good four years and (Rick Twining) is the best coach I’ve ever had,” said Eberhardt, who struck out eight of the first nine batters she faced. “My curve was working pretty well, and so was my rise, but I didn’t throw any changeups that worked very well. I just hit my spots well, I think.”

“The thing that’s special about this bunch is they still enjoy playing,” said Twining, still wet from having been given a celebratory dousing with a cooler of ice and water. “They’re so excited to play. Including the high school season, we have almost 50 games behind us and they still want to play. They still enjoy the game.”

Class C

Taylor Ford and Anne Marie Kirchen each hit two singles and Erin Pond belted a double to lead the Keystone offense. Pitcher Caitlin Minney struck out six New London batters.

Keystone took a 2-0 lead in the third. Ford started the rally with a single, then stole second. Al Broschk sacrificed her to third and Pond followed with her double, sending Ford home. Pond then came around on Kirchen’s single. Bowers’ walk in the sixth set the table for Summers’ game-winning heroics.

“This was a good battle,” Keystone coach Steve Bowers said. “They answered us back. They didn’t fold and that’s exactly what we expected from them. We stuck with what we knew. We knew our defense would keep us in it. We would like to have had a few more runs, because generally our bats are stronger. Against a team like this, you have to take what you can get.”

Class B

Midview’s Buersken was unstoppable at the plate. She blasted two triples, two singles and a double as Royal Sports and Fitness routed Mogadore. On top of that, catcher Lexi Smith hit three singles, Kate Thomas hit two singles and a triple and Stone hit two singles and a double.

“We feel really good and we’re glad to finally be state champions,” Buersken said. “We’ve come here (to state) three times and this is the first one we’ve won.”

Midview was state runner-up last summer.

“We were pretty confident,” she said of the team’s pre-game outlook. “We were cheering and being as loud as we could just to pump up the team.”

Coach Matt Thomas said he felt his team might win after he lost the coin toss to determine the home and visiting teams.

“We lost all three coin tosses in the tournament,” he said. “So I thought that was kind of an omen.”

Midview was also the visiting team in the district tournament.

Contact Bob Daniels at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

OGSO State Finals

Class D (18-under)

Oberlin Ohio Action Images 10, Randolph 0 (6 innings)

Class C (14-under)

Keystone Ford Builders 3, New London 2

Class B (12-under)

Midview Royal Sports and Fitness 11, Mogadore 2

Class A (10-under)

Windham True Value 14, South Amherst 1 (5 innings)

Consolation Round

Class D

Midview 7, Lorain 0 (forfeit)

Class C

Garrettsville 7, Ravenna 0 (forfeit)

Class B

Medina Heat 9, West Branch 2

Class A

Wellington Li’l Bullies 8, West Branch 7

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