WHEELING — The Oak Glen Golden Bears are back in the OVAC championships, ready to compete for the same title that they won three years in row in 2021, ’22 and ’23, following a 7-2 OVAC 4A semifinals victory over Beaver Local inside the I-470 JB Chambers Sports Complex.

With the win, the No. 3 Golden Bears are set for a rubber match with No. 4 Harrison Central, who defeated No. 1 Weir 2-1.

“We’re really excited,” Oak Glen head coach Sherrie Garner said of the win. “The OVAC is a great place to be, this is a great Valley to grow up in and play softball. Great competition– this’ll be the third time we’ve seen Harrison Central, we split games home and away. We’re excited about it.”

The final is currently set for 7 p.m. Friday at the JB Chambers Sports Complex on field four.

In Wednesday’s action, Mattie Carney started the game and went six innings, striking out 10, before handing the ball off to Maddie Murray who held the Beavers off the scoreboard in the final frame.

Oak Glen scored in the top of the second after Riley Bruce drew a bases-loaded walk, and the Golden Bears scored again in the third with one swing of the bat from Carney, a solo home run to help her own cause.

Oak Glen tacked on one more in the fifth and put together a four-run two-out rally in the sixth– needed insurance after Beaver Local scored two runs of their own in the bottom half.

Danica Holden drew a bases-loaded walk to score one, before Murray knocked a two-run single into shallow center, and Kayla Wright yanked another hit into right-center to drive in a run.

“We had good pitching from both girls– Mattie went six innings, Murray was effective too,” Garner said. “We were able to hit against their pitchers, we had to time some things up throughout the game, but we were able to come through and get some runs.”

MORGANTOWN 9, STEUBENVILLE 3

WHEELING — The Morgantown Mohigans will have the chance to defend their OVAC 5A Championship after an upset victory over top-seeded Steubenville.

Liz Alsop was the prime suspect in Morgantown’s productive night on offense, tallying six RBI and walloping two home runs and a double to do it.

On the mound, Maddie Wisman pitched a complete outing for the Mohigans, striking out seven.

Kira Smith also drove a home run, a solo shot in the fourth inning.

Alsop’s three-run blast broke open what had been a scoreless game with one out in the third inning. Morgantown scored five more in the fourth inning thanks to Alsop and Smith.

“Bats came alive tonight, pitching was great by Maddie Wisman,” Morgantown head coach Lorri Lipscomb said. “Even though we had some defensive miscues, they picked each other up and came back strong. That’s the key.”

“They’re better than us,” Steubenville head coach Gus DiMarzio said. “They pitched better than us, they fielded better than us, they hit better than us.”

Each team tacked on one run apiece in the final frame, a sac fly from Steubenville’s Riley Zorne serving to cut into the Mohigan lead, but Morgantown would retire the following batter to advance to the 5A final, currently slated for 5 p.m. on Friday at the JB Chambers Sports Complex on field four.

“We’re excited we’re back to defend the OVAC championship, we want to make it two in a row.”

Sophia Zorne and Riley Zorne each finished with RBI for Steubenville.

Morgantown won last year’s OVAC championship 4-3 against John Marshall. The Mohigans entered that game as the four-seed in the tournament bracket as well.