Cinderella story ends for Northwest High School softball in OHSAA district final vs Buckeye

CANTON — The magic carpet ride through the OHSAA Division II tournament for the Northwest softball team finally came to an end on Thursday at the Willig Softball Complex. Senior Caroline Metzger managed to cast one final spell for Northwest before the show came to an end in the 7-2 loss to Buckeye.

Metzger launched a home run over the deepest part of the center field wall to lead off the top of the seventh inning in her final high school at-bat. Metzger received the ball along with her district runner-up medal after the game.

"When she was rounding third base she looked at me and said, 'it's a good way to go out,'" Northwest head coach Megan Levengood said. "I couldn't agree with her more. It's the type of thing she has done for us all season. She's going on to play for Mount Union next year and I'm sure she has more big hits in her future."

Metzger and the four other Northwest seniors certainly made the most of their final high school tournament run. Despite being a No. 14 seed, Northwest upset No. 4-seeded St. Vincent-St. Mary and No. 5 Coventry on the way to reaching the district finals.

"It was a great run," Levengood said. "It speaks a lot to the character of the kids as well as the quality of our conference. Three of us were playing today (as fellow PAC-7 members Tuslaw and Triway played in district finals elsewhere). Manchester probably would have also been playing today had they not had to play Tuslaw. Playing against those teams all season really got us ready for the tournament. These girls were battle tested by the time they got here."

Metzger was 1-for-3 with the solo home run. Lily Lyons was 2-for-3 with two singles and an RBI for Northwest.

"This was such a fun group of kids," Levengood said. "That's what I'm going to remember the most. All the laughs we had together. We always had such a good time. It was such a joy to be around them. It's just the little things like the girls making TikTok videos before practice that come to mind."

No. 2-seeded Buckeye advanced behind the arm of freshman pitcher Lilly Young. Young struck out eight of the first nine batters she faced and struck out 12 total. She allowed just five hits.

"Let me just say that I had no issue putting this game in the hands of a freshman," Buckeye head coach Howie Calame said. "She's pitched in a lot of big games over the last summer before she started her varsity career and she has come through more often than not when she has started for us. She did great for us today."

Bella Melillo was 2-for-4 with two singles and two RBIs for the Bucks. Madison Lichty was 2-for-3 with a single, a double and an RBI. Buckeye managed to score three unearned runs off of Northwest throwing errors.

Buckeye advances to play South Range in a regional semifinal at Nordonia High School at a date and time to be determined. South Range defeated Columbiana 13-3 on Thursday to advance.

"There is no better feeling than this right now," Calame said. "After getting married or having kids, this is near the top of the list. These girls have worked hard and they deserve to have this moment right now."

Reach Cliff at cliff.hickman@cantonrep.com

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This article originally appeared on The Repository: Medina Buckeye softball beats Northwest in OHSAA district final