ATHENS — It was a day that required extreme patience and mental wherewithal for the softball teams from Dover and Sheridan, who waited a year for their Division III district final rematch to finally get underway.
A showdown that was supposed to be played on May 21 at Ohio University was moved to Logan High School by the Southeast District due to multiple rain events, only to be postponed again on May 22.
They finally made it to Logan for a 2:30 p.m. start on March 23, a trip of two hours as the crow flies from Dover, only to see a 15-minute downpour in the moments following Tri-Valley’s win against Chillicothe Unioto saturate the dirt infield and lead to yet another cancelation — after the teams sat for an hour awaiting a decision.
The game was then moved back to OU, where a projected 6 p.m. first pitch following the Division V district final between Piketon and Frankfort Adena finally got started at 7:45. Shockingly, it was a weather delay that caused it.
When the carnage ended, unbeaten Dover showed its championship mettle with a 6-0 win that cinched another regional bid.
Sheridan (20-8) posted its 10th straight 20-win season, but saw another tournament run end a win short of the Sweet 16.
A win worth the wait
Dover went 10 days between games, then spent more time sitting around and riding the bus than playing on game day. No one was pleased, as evidenced by the paltry, subdued crowd in attendance.
But while Sheridan committed five errors, grew increasingly frustrated with perceived missed calls and dealt with a bout of sickness from top pitcher Megan Ranck — she still managed to go the distance and get a hit — Dover maintained its edge.
Locked in a scoreless gridlock through three innings, sophomore Arianna Immel doubled, stole third and scored on a ground ball to drawn-in first baseman Kennedy Grosse. It broke the ice.
Dover added an unearned run in the fifth, then plated two more in the sixth after a misplayed ball in center field on Sophie Bantum’s single.
At 4-0 in the sixth, the conclusion was all but written.
“It was a long day and we knew what we were getting into with them,” Sheridan coach Mark Paxton said. “There is no doubt. They’re No. 1 in the state for a reason.
“It’s one of those things where you have to play clean, and maybe once you make a mistake or two, you start press even a little bit more,” Paxton added. “That’s not what you need to do.”
Dover coach Hannah Duff was proud of how her team handled the down time, especially from a focus perspective.
“Well, we had a lot of pep talks,” Duff said. “A lot of them. They’ve been ready to play. It has been 10 days since we’ve played a softball game. They were itching, and I am just extremely proud of the way they have handled the 10 days of practice that we have had. … They showed up every single day and showed up ready today.”.
Lint sisters stymie Generals’ small ball
Kara Lint is a bona fide ace pitcher who is no stranger to splitting time — she and Ohio State signee Jenna Molk did it throughout the 2026 postseason on their way to a state championship. Both pitched in the 1-0 win against the Generals in the 2025 district finals.
It was no small coincidence that Duff has stayed true to the script in their attempt to repeat, using Kara and hard-throwing kid sister Abby as a two-headed strikeout machine. They had 324 in 149 1/3 innings — Abby pitched 77 innings and Kara 72 1/3 — entering the district finals.
Fully aware of the swing-and-miss statistics, Paxton resorted to bunting at every turn, despite his team hitting four homers in the semifinals.
Consider it a nod of respect.
“Against a team like that, that is striking out as many as they do, they don’t field as many balls as most teams do,” Paxton said. “So, you’re trying to get them to field, trying to make some things happen out there. But its tough when you get down three.”
Lakelyn Haas had two bunt singles, but Dover played error-free and made every close defensive play in the infield, especially in the first four innings. It held Sheridan to four hits, three on bunts.
Catcher Maggie Bantum, the offensive hero of the 2025 game, also threw out courtesy runner Adee Fleegle trying to steal after Ranck reached with a lead-off single in the second.
They key to the bunt defense was third baseman Immel, whose ability to charge, make accurate throws and communicate with teammates allowed the Lints to stay back. She had a pair of assists and holds a .958 fielding percentage.
“She knows I prefer the third baseman to take charge on those bunts,” Duff said. “We had some mishaps, but they were still being aggressive and that kind of stuff is going to happen. … And the way that they played the small ball, I was extremely impressed with how they defended it.”
‘Eating it up’
Dover (24-0) next gets a regional rematch with Bloom-Carroll (22-4) at 2 p.m. on May 27 — just three days away — at Berne Union High School, an all-turf facility about 15 minutes east of Lancaster off U.S. 33. in Sugar Grove.
Tri-Valley (16-11), which slugged its way past Unioto, 11-5, in its district final, gets Plain City Jonathan Alder (16-11) in the game after Dover-B-C. The finals are set for 5 p.m. on May 29.
Duff said the feeling is different with this team. No longer is the thought of playing for a state championship a hope — it’s a real possibility.
“Last year’s team was just kind of like, ‘we know we can, but we’ve never done it before,'” Duff said. “This team, they have something motivating them and they know they have a target on their backs. They are just eating it up.”
sblackbu@usatodayco.com; X: @SamBlackburnTR
This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Dover shuts out error-plagued Sheridan again in district final rematch
Reporting by Sam Blackburn, Zanesville Times Recorder / Zanesville Times Recorder
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
