TOP OF THE CROP
SOFTBALL
1: North Ridgeville 23-3
2: Amherst 19-9
3: Keystone 23-6
4: Elyria Catholic 16-8
5: Avon 19-8
6: Brookside 14-7
7: North Olmsted 17-6
8: Midview 11-10
9: Elyria 8-13
10: Firelands 14-10
Watch list: Lorain (13-3), Wellington (12-13), Westlake (15-10)
Crop comments: A lot of talent departed from the 2022 season. However, up-and-coming players and returning standouts return for the upcoming 2023 season. Expect conference races in the Lorain County League, Great Lakes Conference and Southwestern Conference to be full of drama and go down to the wire. North Ridgeville and Amherst are the defending SWC co-champs, but Avon doesn’t look like a team to be slept on either. Keystone brings back second-team All-Ohioan Hannah Gurich and replaces Lily Cassell with Delaney Peters, who has a lot of raw talent inside the circle. On the other hand, Brookside’s looking to reload with a solid core of seniors. It will be interesting to see how the defense adjusts to the departure of pitcher Leah Musall. Elyria Catholic seems to be the favorite to win back-to-back GLC championships. The Panthers will be without co-Lorain County Ms. Softball award winner Annika Bredel, but numerous young talents who showed out from the year prior will come back. The best part about the Panthers is a lot of them are still underclassmen. North Olmsted appears to be Elyria Catholic’s biggest competition in the GLC West.
Note: Records are from 2022.
![By TOM WITHERS Connor Wong homered twice, Rafael Devers connected in his return to Boston’s lineup and the banged-up Red Sox got another solid pitching effort in an 8-0 win over the Guardians on Wednesday night. Wong hit leadoff homers in the second and sixth innings off Carlos Carrasco (1-2). He added an RBI single in the ninth and had four hits. Devers missed the previous five games with a bone bruise in his knee. After testing his knee by scoring on a double in the first, he homered in the fifth and the Red Sox piled up a season-high […]](https://www.morningjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/TNH-L-BBA-Guardians-0424-01.jpg?w=525 "By TOM WITHERS Connor Wong homered twice, Rafael Devers connected in his return to Boston’s lineup and the banged-up Red Sox got another solid pitching effort in an 8-0 win over the Guardians on Wednesday night. Wong hit leadoff homers in the second and sixth innings off Carlos Carrasco (1-2). He added an RBI single in the ninth and had four hits. Devers missed the previous five games with a bone bruise in his knee. After testing his knee by scoring on a double in the first, he homered in the fifth and the Red Sox piled up a season-high […]")
