Hot Stove baseball county championships: Buckeye too tough for Sheffield in Class F; Midview rolls in Class G

COLUMBIA STATION — One big inning doomed Sheffield on Wednesday night. Buckeye Tonio's Pizza scored eight runs in the third inning and held on for an 11-2 win against the Cardinals in the Ohio Hot Stove Class F county championshipat Columbia Park. While Sheffield's season ends at 21-2, Buckeye (23-1) will face Medina Swarm Black (21-2) in the age 13-14 state semifinals Saturday at Butler Rodman Park in Alliance. "Overall, of our 15 players, for 12 of them this is their first year in this division," Sheffield coach Adam Bilczo said. "For a young team to go 21-2 in their first year in Class F, I'm very proud of them. We wanted to win this one, of course, but Buckeye has got a lot of talent over there and I think you're probably looking at the state champions over there. It was going to take all of our effort and it just didn't go our way. But this year was fantastic, I'm very proud of these kids." Already leading 1-0 thanks to an unearned run in the second, Buckeye's first four batters reached safely on a leadoff double, two walks and a single. They all ended up scoring as Buckeye went on to score eight runs. Buckeye also got some strong pitching with nine of the first 11 Sheffield hitters striking out — including eight straight from the second through the fourth. Buckeye pitchers combined for 12 strikeouts. "Buckeye was painting corners and throwing harder than we've ever seen before," Bilczo said. "They were throwing in the low 70s, and at 55 feet that's probably going to feel like 80. They were hitting corners and we were just having trouble picking it up." Sheffield got on the board in the fourth, but Buckeye made it 11-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth. Needing a run to avoid the mercy rule, the Cardinals got just that when Jordan Colegrove led off with a double, made it to third and scored on a fielder's choice. Aydan Smith delivered a crushing shot to left for a triple and Sheffield had runners on the corners with one out, but like the inning before, the Cardinals grounded into a double play. "We wanted to avoid the 10-run rule," Bilczo said. "We wanted to try and get three an inning, but unfortunately Buckeye had a couple of double plays off of good defense. That's sports, it doesn't always go your way." Class G Midview 18, Buckeye 2 The age 11-12 county championship went the same way the regional championship went with Midview DeSimone breaking out to an early lead against Buckeye John's Rigging. Midview (24-0) scored five runs in the first and three in the fourth in building a 13-2 lead, then added five more in the fifth. Buckeye (21-3) lost to Midview 13-1 in five innings during their Class G regional final Sunday. Midview will face Firelands Red (17-6) in the state semifinals Saturday. Class H North Olmsted 15, North Ridgeville 10 North Olmsted Kessler's Insurance opened a 12-4 lead midway through the third inning in the champiomship of the 9-10 age group, but North Ridgeville Smash answered with four runs in its half of the third. North Olmsted (23-1) added another run in the fourth, and North Ridgeville (20-3) couldn't close the five-run gap any further. North Olmsted will compete in the state semifinals Saturday. Class I Fairview 8, Avon 2 Fairview Warriors Gray scored five runs in the first inning in the 7-8 class, handing Avon 3 Outs White its first loss. Fairview (20-1) stretched its lead to 6-0 before Avon (19-1) scored runs in the third and fourth innings. But a couple of insurance runs in the fifth gave Fairview all the buffer it needed. The teams will have a rematch in the state semifinals oSaturday. Fairview also brought home the championship in the Class HH (age 9) division, winning 11-9 against North Olmsted Dick's Sporting Goods. Contact Chris Sweeney at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on Twitter.