Best of the Week: Lisiecki brothers make D-I district in boys tennis for Marion Harding

PICKERINGTON — The brother tandem of Alexander and Sebastian Lisiecki are still playing boys tennis.

The Marion Harding doubles team finished as the Division I sectional runners-up at Pickerington Central and will continue with district play Wednesday at 9 a.m. at Upper Arlington. They are now two wins away from earning a state berth.

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Seeded No. 1, the Lisieckis got the tournament started with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Gahanna Lincoln, then moved on with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Olentangy Berlin. They got into the sectional finals with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Watkins Memorial, then fell in the championship match to Gabe Arbona and Brandon Heil of DeSales 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.

They will now face Luka Young and Aiden Palcheck of Worthington Kilbourne with the winner getting either Upper Arlington's Luca Sivilotti and Williams Rigney-Carroll or New Albany's Ben Bilenko and Tyler Thomas. The district semifinals and finals will be Saturday at Upper Arlington.

Last year, Alexander and older brother Mateusz also went to the district tournament as a doubles team, losing their opener 6-0, 6-4.

More Boys Tennis

● No other Marion Harding player won a sectional match at Pickerington Central.

● Pleasant's Cael Bower fared the best of Marion County players in the Division II sectional. Competing at Columbus Academy, Bower won a pair of matches, while teammate Landon Severns won one match.

● River Valley competed at the D-II sectional at the Columbus School for Girls, and Mason Self won a singles match as did the doubles team of Zeke Klenzman and Chase Osborne.

● In a regular season match, Harding blanked Pleasant 5-0 as the Lisieckis and Cameron Williams took singles matches in straight sets as did Andres Rosas/Evan Birt and Carter Rawlins/Brody Cahill.

Softball

● Ridgedale earned a spot into Tuesday's district tournament where it will play at top-seed Danville at 5 p.m. The No. 7 seed Rockets run-ruled No. 5 seed Berne Union 12-2 in a sectional final pushed back a day due to rain. Alexis Burton paced Ridgedale with a home run and two singles for five RBIs, while Brenda Scott doubled and singled, and Lilly Ruth singled three times. Taylor Bouahom had two singles, and Kenzie Delaney scored three times. Delaney also pitched a two-hitter with 11 strikeouts.

● Marion Harding only needed five innings to dispatch Delaware Christian 11-1 in the regular season. Janaiye Braddy twirled a one-hitter with a walk and eight strikeouts. Destiny Brown tripled and doubled, while Abbie Hoertz, Braddy, Lily Santiago, Kameron Biederman and Rylee McKinniss all doubled. Biederman scored three times.

● In 4-3 Harding loss to Tiffin Columbian, Hoertz gave up six hits and a walk with six strikeouts. Addyson Myers had two singles and Raina Smith a double for the Presidents.

Baseball

● Highland earned its share of a sixth straight league championship with a 3-0 win over Ontario. Kort Sears finished with a three-hitter, striking out seven and walking two, only allowing two runners beyond second base to get the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference title. He got out of a bases-loaded situation in the sixth inning with a strikeout and ground out. Sears, Hayden Kline and Jace Brooks all singled twice in the game.

● In a 5-4 win over Gahanna, the Scots trailed 4-2 in the seventh but rallied. Kline laid down a game-winning bunt for Highland

● Cardington cruised to a 16-2 win over Delaware Christian as Merek McClure and Cameron Haines combined over five innings to give up two hits, four walks and seven strikeouts. A.J. Hall went 3-for-3 with three runs and three RBIs, while Wyatt Wade singled twice and scored three times, and Wyatt Denney scored three times.

● Cardington earned an 11-6 win over Worthington Christian with Wade allowing six hits and five walks with nine strikeouts. Hall tripled and doubled for four RBIs, while McClure doubled and singled, and Fisher Schuman singled twice. In an 8-6 win over Lucas, Wade scored three times, and Denton Garrison doubled. James Fiant, Hall and McClure combined to give up nine hits and three walks with six strikeouts.

● Northmor's Drew Hammond and Grant Bentley teamed for a four-hitter, striking out seven and walking five, but the Golden Knights fell to East Knox 3-0 as they were limited to four hits. The Knights bounced back for a 12-1 win over Central Crossing where Bentley doubled and singled twice for four RBIs, and Hammond had two singles, while Jack Bowdre had three singles. Trevor Brubaker threw a two-hitter with three walks and four strikeouts.

● Northmor managed only five hits, but Bowdre had the game-winning RBI, scoring Garrett Harvey in a 1-0 win over Colonel Crawford. Bentley allowed two hits and no walks with eight strikeouts.

● Elgin's Jacob Isler hit an RBI double to tie the game and Mitchell Askew followed with an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning for a 3-2 win over Wynford. Isler had two doubles and a single for two RBIs, while Brody Wood and Donaven Stith also doubled. Isler earned the win in pitching the final two innings, giving up a hit. Quinten Harrison pitched the first five innings, walking four, giving up five hits and striking out six.

● Trey Morgan had two singles and Askew a double in Elgin's 7-0 loss to Delaware Hayes. The Comets trailed 4-2 in the sixth inning, but scored six runs in each of the final two frames for a 14-4 win over Cardington. Corbin Jones pitched the first six innings for Elgin and scattered seven hits with no walks and seven strikeouts. Also for Elgin, Stith had a double and single for three RBIs; Stephen Castillo-Carey had three singles; and Isler and Askew had two singles. For Cardington, Schuman had three singles; Hall, Garrison and Denney had two singles; and Wade doubled.

● North Union's Mason Bright and Drew Schmidt combined for a five-hitter with two walks and five strikeouts in a 6-2 win over Kenton. Caden Potts hit two doubles; Tyler Krebehenne hit a double and single; Bright, Miles Marlette and Conner Lassiter hit doubles; and Schmidt hit two singles. In an 11-0 loss to Buckeye Valley, the Wildcats were held to one hit.

● Clear Fork pitched a one-hitter in a 13-0 win over River Valley.

Coaches and statisticians are encouraged to send results to the Marion Star's Rob McCurdy at rmccurdy@gannett.com, 419-610-0998, X @McMotorsport and Instagram @rob_mccurdy_star.

Marion Star Boys Best of the Week Performer Poll, vote:

● Voting for this week's poll can be done through MarionStar.com and its app until early Sunday morning. The nominees are below:

● Marion Harding's Alexander and Sebastian Lisiecki were Division I sectional runners-up in doubles tennis and the area's lone district qualifiers.

● Highland baseball's Kort Sears threw a three-hitter with two walks and seven strikeouts, plus hit two singles in a shutout win over Ontario to clinch at least a piece of the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference title.

● River Valley's Cooper Miller set the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference record by winning the pole vault in 14-10.25.

● Pleasant's Hudson Warner won the long jump at 21-5.5 and was third in the 110-meter hurdles and 300 hurdles at the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference Track and Field Championships.

● Mount Gilead's Logan High won the 100 meters in 11.26 and the 200 meters in 22.82 at the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference Track and Field Championships.

● North Union's Tyler Huff won the 3200 meters in 10:27.66 and was third in the 1600 at the Central Buckeye Conference Track and Field Championships.

● Ridgedale's Brogan Weston won the 3200 meters in 10:42.56 and the 1600 in 4:47.59 at the Northwest Central Conference Track and Field Championships.

● In last week's poll, Highland baseball's Zach Church, who threw a three-hitter with nine strikeouts and a walk plus hit a triple and drove in three runs in a win over Clear Fork, earned 301 of 703 votes (43 percent) to win it. Other boys nominees were Cardington baseball's Wyatt Denney, Northmor track's Cowin Becker, Pleasant track's Nick Swartz and Marion Harding baseball's Ray J Scott-Harbolt.

This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Best of the Week: Lisiecki brothers make D-I district in boys tennis for Marion Harding