Bridgeport catcher Danielle Hollingshead and pitcher Brooklynn Ruble embrace after recording the final out in Saturday’s OVAC Class 2A final in Elm Grove. Also pictured is Briana Conaway, who is the third baseman.

ELM GROVE — Dominant pitching. Rock-solid defense and timely hitting. Those three aspects of softball are the keys to victory.

Bridgeport utilized all of them to its advantage Saturday afternoon at an overcast J. B. Chambers I-470 Youth Sports Complex to capture the school’s first Ohio Valley Athletic Conference championship since 1991. The second-seeded Bulldogs (10-2) took out No. 1 Toronto, 2-0, on Ben’s Field in the OVAC Tom Bechtel Class 2A championship contest before a nice gathering despite the chilly temperatures.

“It’s been a long time but these girls have worked hard from day one,” second-year Bridgeport head coach Donnie Cash praised. “Our motto was being all-in, trusting and believing in each other, backing each other and finishing. We didn’t finish many games last year and it resulted in a ton of one-run losses.

“This year we’ve handled adversity a lot and that has made us that much better.”

The visitors didn’t waste anytime in jumping ahead as senior Shelby Matheny slugged a 3-2 pitch into the left field corner that easily chased Angie Sommer home from second. Sommer had drawn a one-out walk before stealing second.

“It was good to get a good start. We talked at the school about jumping ahead and making Toronto play our game,” Cash noted. “That’s what we did. That was a huge hit by one of our senior leaders.”

Matheny said she wasn’t really looking for a certain pitch.

“I just wanted to make contact. I swung and was lucky enough to hit it where I did,” Matheny said.

With the lead, ace Brooklynn Ruble, who fanned 14 and walked just one and yielded a mere two harmless singles, was allowed to pitch her game, and did she ever. The junior fireballer struck out 14 Red Knights, including six of the first seven before yielding a soft single to left by Sam Swearingen with one out in the third. After another punchout, Ruble issued her lone walk of the game to leadoff hitter Shannon Reed, who then took second uncontested. Ruble’s eighth K ended the threat.

Toronto also threatened in the fifth when Madison Sapp singled sharply to center leading off and Jenna Leasure was hit-by-a-pitch while trying to bunt. A foul out and strikeout looking after failing to get a bunt down preceded a shot to second to end the inning.

“I just concentrated and threw strikes,” Ruble explained of her escape from damage.

“The play of the game, in my opinion, came when Toronto had runners on second and third with one out,” Cash explained. “They tried to bunt and the ball rolled in front of the plate. (Our catcher) Danielle (Hollingshead) let it roll foul instead of picking it up. In the heat of the moment some girls might’ve picked that ball up and try to make a play. We ended up striking that batter out and then got a grounder right at Angie at second to get out of it.”

Toronto head coach Steve Trifonoff was left shaking his head.

“We had our chances there in the third and fifth innings,” he recalled after watching his squad lose for the second consecutive year in the title tilt. “In the fifth we had second and third with no outs, but then our leadoff hitter hit a shot right at their second baseman with two outs. That’s the way it goes.”

Toronto’s Jamie Anderson was the tough-luck loser as she struck out eight and walked a pair.

“She walked those two batters and those are the two runs Bridgeport scored,” Trifonoff added.

“I told the girls the big part of our season is still to come,” Trifonoff said of the postseason. “I’m sure we’ll see them (Bridgeport) again. We’re 1-1 right now. Hopefully, we get another shot at them.”

Bridgeport added an insurance marker in the sixth when Hollingshead doubled to deep left-center. The two-bagger scored Briana Conaway with a throw.

Cash knows his team has a lot of work left to do.

“We’re playing very good right now, but with Brooklynn inside the circle … she’s been a stud for us this season,” Cash added. “We told her in the preseason that she was going to have to carry the workload. She has responded and responded and responded.

“I’m happy where we are and I’m excited and let the girls enjoy it, but the season is not over. The (sectional) tournament draw is tomorrow (today) and we’ve got makeup games all, so we can’t get all fat and happy. We need to continue to play better and get ready for the postseason.”

Hollingshead had two of Bridgeport’s six hits. Somer had a double.