NORTH RIDGEVILLE — Ten champions were crowned in Classes H, G and F as the Lorain district portion of the Ohio Hot Stove tournament continued Sunday. Each of the 10 champions advances to a regional semifinal, beginning Saturday.

In addition, five teams in Classes EE and E won first-round regional games and advanced to regional semifinals, also starting Saturday.

The North Ridgeville Rockers won one of the Class G (ages 11-12) title games 8-7 in their last at-bat after they had held the upper hand over the Medina Indians for most of the game.

In Class F (ages 13-14), Brett Helton of the Firelands Scorpions was a walk away from a perfect game as the Scorpions came away with a 10-0 mercy-rule victory over North Olmsted Prime Care in 5½ innings.

Valley City Miller Farms kept its perfect season alive with a 9-2 win over Litchfield Roetzel Construction in another Class F title game.

In another Class G game, Oberlin Cole Accounting saw its season come to an end following the team’s 12-2 mercy-rule loss to the Medina Lightning. And in Class EE (ages 15-16), the Medina Snappers came away with a 14-5 win over Vermilion American Legion.

Kisel saves day for Rockers

Chad Kisel’s single to right field with nobody out in the bottom of the seventh inning brought Michael Halligan home with the winning run as the North Ridgeville Rockers advanced to regional play with a 22-1 record. Halligan had reached on an error to lead off the inning and promptly stole second.

“This district championship feels really great,” said Kisel. “When my bat made contact with the pitch, I had a good feeling that I was getting the winning hit.”

The Rockers threatened to win the game in the sixth after the Medina Indians had fought back to tie the game at 7. But two of the Rockers were tagged out in rundowns to set up the exciting finish.

Rockers relief pitcher Shane Erny also set up the dramatic conclusion as he struck out the side in the top of the seventh inning.

“We did what was expected of us,” said Rockers manager Will Dowell. “We were a district runner-up last season and our first goal this season is to make it to the state Final Four.

“I got a little nervous when Medina tied the game. But we came back with our ace reliever. I was comfortable with his pitching and knew that he would put us in a position to win.”

“I was upset at the way Medina came back and tied the game,” said Erny. “Fortunately, we got the hits when we had to and also made the defensive plays that we needed.”

Helton shines for Scorpions

Helton struck out 13 for his third no-hitter of the season for the Firelands Scorpions (23-1).

“Brett was very dominant as he kept ahead in the count,” said Scorpions manager James Helton, the pitcher’s father. “He started most of the batters off with his fastball and developed his off-speed pitches from there.

“It was really nice to see how he responded in a game like this with all of its pressure. One loss and you go home.”

Joe Hyster and Kyle Kurtz were the hitting stars for the Scorpions. Hyster cracked a home run and a double and had three RBIs. Kurtz finished with a home run and two singles and also had three RBIs.

Chris DeWitt added two triples to the Firelands scorebook, while Helton had four singles in four at-bats.

Dudgeon, Miller pace Valley City

Valley City Miller Farms starting pitcher Dennis Dudgeon went 61/3 innings and struck out nine to give the team its 24th win without a loss.

Jeff Miller smacked a triple, a double and two singles and had three RBIs.

“This is a friendly little rivalry for these two teams,” said Miller Farms manager Jeff Miller. “The boys go to school together. However, this was our first game of the season against each other. We’re a younger team but opted to play up in a higher bracket.

“We got some good hitting and our defense played well in support of our pitchers.”

Bad innings haunt Oberlin, Vermilion

Oberlin Cole Accounting surrendered seven runs in the bottom of the first inning and couldn’t catch up in its loss to the Medina Lightning.

The Lightning held an 11-1 lead after four innings before Oberlin pushed across a second run in the top of the fifth. Medina tacked on a 12th run in the bottom of the fifth with no one out to record its mercy-rule win.

“The bad first inning obviously hurt us,” said Oberlin manager Willis Williams. “It essentially put us out of the game. We made too many defensive mistakes and couldn’t get going after that.”

Dante LaRiccia and Jaelin Moore each had a double and one RBI for Cole Accounting.

A couple of bad innings also were thorns in the side of the Vermilion American Legion team.

“We had a couple bad innings, especially the fourth and fifth innings,” said Vermilion coach Tom Skahen. “You can see the result of those bad innings. We let them get ahead and we couldn’t come back.”

Matt Scholl and Chris Myers each had a double for Vermilion.

Sunday’s scores

Class H (AGES 9-10)
District championships
Lorain Cardinals 4, Keystone Strike Out 2
Midview North Cavanaugh 13, North Olmsted Paulin Eagles 3
Vermilion Aramys 12, Grafton Mezcal 5

Class G (AGES 11-12)
District championships
Medina Yellow Jackets 15, Columbia Air-O-Mulch 6
Medina Lightning 12, Oberlin Cole Accounting 2
North Ridgeville Rockers 8, Medina Indians 7

Class F (AGES 13-14)
District championships
Valley City Miller Farms 9, Litchfield Roetzel Construction 2
New London Red Eagles 13, Olmsted Falls Blue 0
Belden Amish Swings & Things 5, LaGrange/Keystone Wildcats 4
Firelands Scorpions 10, North Olmsted Prime Care 0

Class EE (AGES 15-16)
First-round regional
Wellington American Legion 11, Medina Nationals 1
Medina Snappers 14, Vermilion American Legion 5

Class E (AGES 15-18)
First-round regional
Rootstown 13, Southeast J Russell 5
Tasker Bulldogs 10, Canton Brewers 2
Columbia Red Wagon 6, Kent Cardinals 5

Contact Jerry Henson at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

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