Late hit helps Riverside softball defeat North Canton Hoover in OHSAA district final

MENTOR —  Both high school softball teams were able to generate opportunities in the Mentor Division I district final

Unfortunately for the Hoover Vikings , it was Riverside making the most of one on Wednesday . Senior Milana McCaleb hit a bases-loaded triple with two outs and scored on an error on the same play in the top of the sixth inning to give Riverside a 6-2 win over the Vikings.

The big hit by McCaleb helped give Riverside its first district championship since 2007.

"She has been working all year on her slap hitting," Riverside head coach Bill Ross said. "I'm so proud of her for stepping up and getting that hit. It's always great to see your seniors come through in moments like that."

McCaleb was 2-for-2 with an infield single and two walks to lead the way for the Beavers. Both teams struggled to come up with key hits at times. Riverside stranded six runners while Hoover left 10 runners on base.

"It was just a case of the better team winning today," Hoover head coach Jerry Goodpasture said. "Both teams were able to get a lot of runners on but we just couldn't take advantage of the opportunities we had. Overall, it was a good year for us. Expectations are always high so losing at this point is a little disappointing for us. I'm sure the girls would have liked to have played longer."

Sophomore Emilia Fankhauser drove in both runs for Hoover with a two-out, bases-loaded single in the the third. Fankhauser was 2-for-3 with a double. Ella Letosky and Delaney Shannon each went 3-for-4 for Hoover. Letosky had three singles and Shannon had two singles and a double.

"We gained a lot of valuable experience this year," Goodpasture said. "This was a resilient group. They had some come-from-behind wins this season. We also had a lot of young players. A lot of the girls on the team were sophomores so I would say the outlook for us in the future is good."

Riverside advances to play the winner of the Lake-Walsh Jesuit game in a regional semifinal next week at Youngstown State. The Lake-Walsh Jesuit game at Massillon was suspended by rain and resumes Thursday at 5 p.m.

"This is a huge moment for us," Ross said. "The district tournament is always hard to get out of. It's harder than ever now with teams like Hoover coming up here now. It's a big accomplishment to reach the regional tournament."

Reach Cliff at cliff.hickman@cantonrep.com

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This article originally appeared on The Repository: Late hit helps Riverside softball defeat North Canton Hoover in OHSAA district final