Martins Ferry’s Maddie Lucas (12) raises her arms in jubilation as her cousin, shortstop Gracie Lucas, left, and second baseman Makayla Cole rush towards her after the final out Monday in the OVAC Class 3A championship game against Wheeling Central. Maddie Lucas struck out seven, walked none and scattered two doubles in the Purple Riders’ 1-0 victory.

ELM GROVE — Maddie Lucas and Giana Chirpas have been playing softball together for quite some time. Monday the sophomore duo teamed to power Martins Ferry (20-3) to the OVAC Tom Bechtel Class 3A championship.

Lucas did yeoman’s work inside the circle, striking out seven, walking none and permitting a pair of doubles, while Chirpas, her batterymate, belted a solo homer to account for the game’s lone run in the top seed’s 1-0 triumph over No. 3 Wheeling Central (17-7) on Lisa’s Field at the I-470 J.B. Chambers Sports Complex in a game that took a mere 1-hour, 4-minutes to play.

“This one is sweet,” Martins Ferry head coach Jerry Magistro said. “I’ve won these before, but your last one (win) is always the sweetest. I’m happy for these girls and my coaches. Not many people realize the work that this group has put in to be able to do this today. I can’t say enough about all of them.”

In last year’s championship game, a 9-1 loss to Wheeling Central, Lucas didn’t have her best stuff early on, but she made sure that wasn’t going to happen again.

“I used last year as my motivation for today. I’ve been waiting an entire year for this game,” Lucas said. “My goal today was to throw a first-pitch strike and get ahead of the hitters. I was pretty successful in doing that.”

Indeed she did. The right-hander went ahead 0-1 on 20 of the 23 Maroon Knights she faced.

After giving up a two-out double to right by Maddie Miehle in the first inning, Lucas retired the next 15 batters she faced until Morgan Miehle doubled to the gap in right-center with two outs in the sixth. She finished the game with a comebacker which she threw to Averi Hughes at first to ignite a joyous celebration.

“This win feels a lot sweeter after losing to them in last year’s final. I think we’ve all grown as a team.” Lucas said. Lucas also collected two singles.

The championship was the fifth for the Purple Riders overall, and the second since Magistro took over. He won several Class A titles with St. John Central.

“She was dominant today,” Magistro said of Lucas. “This was no doubt her best game of the season because it came against a really good team in Wheeling Central.”

Lucas threw 80 pitches, of which 60 were strikes. She only went to three balls on one batter – that being the last one she faced.

“I love catching her,” Chirpas said of Lucas. “She is very mature in the circle. She pitches very well. I just love catching her.”

With the two well-coached squads embattled in a scoreless deadlock, one swing of the bat changed that in a heartbeat. With the count 1-2 on Chirpas, she took a Josie Frizzell offering over the fence in deep left-center with one out.

“Whatever works works. Honestly, I was just looking for anything close with two strikes,” Chirpas said. “I just wanted to get the barrel (of the bat) on it. I did and it just happened to go over the fence.”

The moment was a little sweeter for Magistro as he watched his granddaughter round the bases after her 12th homer of the season.

“She works so hard. I’m so happy for her. She deserves it because teams pitch around her so much,” he noted. “When she gets a hold of the ball, you can see what she can do.”

Frizzell pitched well enough to win. The Seton Hill signee struck out six, walked one and gave up just three hits. She needed just 71 pitches – 52 strikes – in her six innings of work.

“I don’t think either team made an error. I think we played a good game defensively, they just got one more hit and run than we did,” Wheeling Central head coach Buck Davidson said. “I can’t take anything away from my team. They played a good game.

“Now we have to get ready for Tyler Consolidated,” he said of Tuesday’s W.Va. Class AA sectional tournament opponent. “It stinks that we couldn’t defend our title today, but our season starts tomorrow. We have to regroup and be ready to play.”

Lucas was also aided by several defensive gems in the outfield. Ella Mamone ran down a drive down the right field line by Maddie Miehle in the fourth and Samantha Goodard made a great catch in right-center – off the bat of Maddie Miehle again – to start the seventh. Mamone then tracked down a fly ball to deep right by Erin Maxwell for the second out in the seventh before Frizzell’s bouncer back to Lucas.