WHEELING, W.Va – Home runs by twin sisters Sarah and Sydney Brown were all the offense Oak Glen needed to secure a 3-2 win over rival Weir in the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Class 4A title game. Senior pitcher Maddie McKay took care of the rest pitching a complete game, allowing two runs on four hits.
It’s the second straight OVAC Championship for Oak Glen in its third consecutive appearance in the title game.
“Absolutely excellent competition tonight,” said Oak Glen Head Coach Sherrie Garner. “The OVAC is special. It’s excellent competition and I think it’s the best conference in the country.”
All three of Oak Glen’s runs came in the third inning. After an infield single by Makayla Zoellers to lead off the inning, Sydney Brown launched a two-run homer over the left-centerfield fence to give the Golden Bears a 2-0 lead. Two batters later, twin sister Sarah clubbed a solo homer to put Oak Glen up 3-0.
Weir starting pitcher Madison Angus regrouped and settled in afterward, retiring the next seven batters. Angus allowed just one hit over the final three innings. Weir Head Coach John Leary was proud of his pitcher’s performance.
“That team is used to scoring double digits most nights. To hold them to three runs, I can’t ask any more out of her. I thought she pitched a great game,” said Leary.
Weir got on the board in the top of the fourth inning with a solo home run by senior Mallory Rosnick. The Red Riders trimmed the deficit to one in the sixth. Olivia Baker drew a lead-off walk and took advantage of an Oak Glen miscue to advance to third. An attempted pickoff throw by Oak Glen catcher Sarah Brown sailed into rightfield and rolled all the way into the corner, allowing Backer to move up two bases. Rosnick then drove in her second run of the game with a two-out single to cut the Oak Glen lead to 3-2.
However, McCay slammed the door on Weir’s hopes of a comeback, retiring the final four batters of the game.
“We hit some balls hard but we hit a lot of at’em balls tonight. Hopefully next time we find some more holes and scrape some more runs together. Our approach at the plate tonight was much better. We were more aggressive and we put a lot more balls in play,” Leary said.
“They had to make some plays, those balls were great hits,” said Garner. “The girls played behind Maddie. That’s what we tell them, you have to make outs when they’re coming to you.”
McKay allowed two runs, on four hits, and struck out seven. Angus allowed three runs on six hits and struck out six.