Photo by Kim North Harrison Central’s Kelcey Powers (3) rounds third base after clearing the bases with a three-run triple in the fourth inning Thursday against Meadowbrook in an Ohio Division IV East 1 District Final at Buckeye Trail High School in Old Washington. The Huskies, however, dropped a 17-5 decision to the Colts.

OLD WASHINGTON — Harrison Central picked the worst time to play its worst game of the season on Thursday. The second-seeded Huskies (20-9) committed eight errors and Meadowbrook made them pay for their mistakes.

The top-seeded Colts (21-6) galloped to a 9-0 advantage after two innings as Harrison Central committed five of its errors early on and captured the Ohio Division IV East 1 District Championship with a 17-5 victory in five innings on the artificial surface at Buckeye Trail’s Baker Activity Complex.

Of the nine runs, only three were earned.

“A couple of things happened early and we just couldn’t recover from it,” veteran Harrison Central head coach Darrin Young said. “We’ve got a lot of young girls playing in the district finals. The nerves and the hype along with the fact that we played a really good team.

“I tip my hat to Meadowbrook,” Young added. “They came ready to play and we made way too many mistakes. You can’t make that many mistakes against a good team like Meadowbrook.”

Trailing 10-1 in the top of the fourth, Harrison Central mounted its first — and only — threat of the game. Olivia Tonkovich blasted a triple to deep right leading off and the senior raced home on a groundout by Bailey Smith. Kamryn Crothers drew a walk before Kamryn Campbell lined a solid single to center. However, Meadowbrook’s Jordyn Vargeson charged the ball and fired a strike to second to force out Crothers. Jaylin Ward drew a walk and Kailey Banal, another senior, singled to center to load the bases.

They didn’t stay that way very long as freshman phenom Kelsey Powers, the OVAC Class 4A Player of the Year, lined a 2-1 pitch to the gap in right-center as Campbell, Ward and Banal all scored to make it 10-5.

“This group has rallied all year. They don’t know when to quit,” Young assessed. “They battle until the final out. That’s what we did today.”

However, it was too little too late and Meadowbrook tallied seven times in the bottom of the inning to pull away. Five different Colts knocked in a run each during the late outburst. Three errors aided the cause.

The Huskies fielded just three seniors among their 10 players in the starting, with a lot of underclassmen getting quality time. Besides Tonkovich and Banal, the other senior starter was pitcher Emma Skinner. Lorelei Manback and Hailey Toker rounded out the seniors.

“It’s going to take three pretty good players to replace Olivia, Kailey and Emma,” Young stressed. “They’ve been with me for four years. I can’t say enough about what they mean to this program.”

Kara Blackburn singled in Jaylin Ward with the Huskies first run.

Alexx Combs doubled twice and drove in two runs for the Colts. She also scored three times, as did Sommer Ginn and Vargeson. Chloe Callahan singled, doubled and knocked in a run, while Bethany Dickey and Vargeson each singled twice, with Dickey collecting two RBI.