Riverdale scores twice in seventh to walk-off Polar Bears

Baseball RIVERDALE 3H. NORTHERN 2MT. BLANCHARD – Riverdale's Owen Karcher led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a double and the Falcons used three straight bunts to bring in the tying and winning runs in rallying for a 3-2 win over Hardin Northern on Saturday in a season-opening baseball battle between the backyard rivals.Lincoln Cummings followed Karcher's double with a bunt and reached on a no-throw at first. After Cummings stole second, lead-off man Grady Phelps put down a bunt that scored Karcher and moved Cummings to third. Carter Vent also bunted. It was a pop-up to the pitcher, but Cummings was able to tag and score when a throw meant to double him off third was off target.Tate Weber got the win with three hitless innings of relief. He struck out five, as did starter Landon Passet.'The areas we asked the boys to execute in this season – pitching, defense and timely hitting – they did," said Riverdale coach Drew Bostic.In addition to scoring the tying run, Karcher (1B, 2B) singled in a run in the second inning for Riverdale, which is slated to host Carey today in another matchup of backyard rivals.River Guinn went the distance for Hardin Northern, allowing three runs on five hits and striking out five. Zyler Long doubled in one run and Tristan Purdy (2-1B) singled in another when Hardin Northern, coming off an 18-8 season in 2025, went up 2-1 in the fourth inning.H. Northern 000 200 0—2 6 2Riverdale 010 000 2—3 4 0WP—Weber (1-0). LP—Guinn (0-1). TOP HITTERS: (HN) Long 2B, RBI; Purdy 2-1B, RBI. (Riv) Karcher 1B, 2B, RBI; Phelps 1B, RBI.RECOREDS: Hardin Northern 0-1; Riverdale 1-0. VAN BUREN TWINBILLCOVINGTON, Ky. – Van Buren jumped to early leads in both games and held on when it mattered most in posting 9-2 and 14-6 wins over Holy Cross High School during a spring trip to Covington, Ky. on Saturday.Brady Lance, a senior catcher for the Black Knights, collected five hits in the doubleheader, including an RBI triple in a 9-2 win in the first game. Lance had three singles and drove in two runs in the 14-6 second-game victory.Carson Cripple had three hits in the opener and four overall. Trace Kisseberth drove in four runs on the day, with Lance and Finn Martin knocking in three each. Alex Homan and Isaac Bowen had RBI singles in both games.Brayden Mason was the winning pitcher in the opener, and combined with relievers Canyn Schofield and Talan Konwiczka to strike out 13 Holy Cross batters. In the second game, Brayden Gilt and Matthew Puperi allowed just two runs on seven hits and struck out eight.Van Buren, coming off a 24-3 season in 2025 that included a runner-up finish in the Blanchard Valley Conference, kicks off this week with road games at Fostoria today and at Patrick Henry on Tuesday.FIRST GAMEVan Buren 130 032 0—9 10 3Holy Cross 100 001 0—2 7 5WP—Gilts (1-0). LP—Arlinghaus. TOP HITTERS: (VB) Homan 1B, RBI; Lance 1B, 3B, RBI; Kisseberth 2B, RBI; Martin 2-1B, RBI; Bowen 1B, RBI; Cripple 3-1B, RBI. (HC) E. Hopple 1B, 2B; Arlinghaus 1B, 2B, RBI; N. Hopple 2-1B. SECOND GAMEVan Buren 212 610 2—14 10 2Holy Cross 000 600 0—6 5 1WP—Mason (1-0). LP—Hagley. TOP HITTERS: (VB) Rampe 2B, RBI; Homan 1B, RBI; Lance 3-1B, 2 RBI; Kisseberth 3 RBI; Martin 2 RBI; Bowen 1B, RBI; Wilson 1B, RBI; Cramer 3B. (HC) Tully 1B, 2 RBI; Velaquez 2-1B.RECORDS: Van Buren 2-0; Holy Cross 1-7. CAREY 6H-LOUDON 3CAREY – Carey erupted for six runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and weathered a Hopewell-Loudon rally in the seventh to beat the Chieftains 6-3 in both teams' season opener on Saturday.Louis Watkins, Carter Bame, David Hall and Benson Kloepfer all had RBI singles during the six-run fifth. That was enough offense for Garrett Hall, who allowed three runs on five hits and struck out eight in earning the win.Jack Colatruglio took the loss for H-L, but also led the Chieftains with three base hits.H-Loudon 010 000 2—2 5 1Carey 000 060 x—6 7 3WP—G. Hall (1-0). LP—Colatruglio (0-1). TOP HITTERS: (H-L) Colatruglio 3-1B. (Car) Watkins 1B, RBI; Bame 1B, RBI; D. Hall 2-1B, 2 RBI; Kloepfer 1B, 2 RBI.RECORDS: Hopewell-Loudon 0-1, Carey 1-0. L-B DOUBLEHEADERNASHVILLE,Tenn. – Jackson Knepper got the win and Kooper Leatherman the save in Liberty-Benton's 4-3 win over South Elgin, Tenn. during the Eagles spring trip south.Knepper gave up three runs on four hits and struck out five in his five innings work. Leatherman walked three but pitched two innings of hitless relief.Zach Elchert singled and scored twice for L-B, which dropped its second game of the day, 8-5, when Oakland, Tenn. scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to break a 5-5 tie. ELIDA 12LEIPSIC 2ELIDA – Elida's Jonan Snyder pitched shutout ball for four innings and helped his own cause with three hits and an RBI in leading the Bulldogs to a 12-2 win over Leipsic in Saturday's season opener for both teams.Ben Adcock (3-1B) and Gabe Miley (2-1B) both plated two runs and scored twice. Darien Jones added two hits, Colton Graham singled in two runs and Gavin Tickle had an RBI double.Colin Niese had a pair of base hits for Leipsic. ARCHBOLD 7O-GLANDORF 4ARCHBOLD – Archbold's Jace Castillo limited Ottawa-Glandorf to two runs on four hits over six innings and struck out seven in pitching the Blue Streaks to a 7-4 win over the Titans.Ethan Bowman drove in three runs and Max Burrowes knocked in two in Archbold's season opener. Hayden Aldrich and Landon Pester had two hits and an RBI each for O-G. Carson Yaeger added a two-run single for the Titans (1-1). ELMWOOD 4FR. ST. JOE 1FREMONT – Elmwood's Abraham Keiffer pitched six hitless innings and Adam Abke threw a scoreless seventh in the Royals 4-1 win over Fremont St. Joseph.Abke also singled and drove in two runs and Ryken Zeigler (2-1B) drove in two. N. BALTIMORE 12STRYKER 2NORTH BALTIMORE – North Baltimore's Drew Meggitt allowed just one hit over five innings and struck out 11 Stryker batters in the Tigers 12-2 win over the Panthers.Meggitt also lashed three singles and drove in a run. Zander South and Cooper Clark had RBI doubles for North Baltimore (1-1).Stryker starter Braley Williams struck out 10. RIDGEMONT 21VANLUE 2VANLUE – Ridgemont pitcher Jayden Sifrit limited Vanlue to just two runs and drove in six by himself in leading the Gophers to a 21-2 win over the Wildcats.Sifrit allowed one hit over four innings and struck out eight. He also doubled, singled and scored twice. Maverick Dawson had three hits, Kody Kiser had two and both scored three times.