After winning state titles last year, the Columbus St. Francis DeSales girls lacrosse and Portsmouth Notre Dame softball teams remained dominant in their respective sports this spring, repeating as Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) champions.
DeSales set scoring records in defeating Bay Village 21-9 at Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus on Sunday, June 7, winning its third consecutive OHSAA Division II championship. The Stallions’ Campbell Heald scored seven goals in the title matchup for the second straight year.
Two days earlier, Ava Rush pitched a two-hit shutout. Leadoff batter Jaysa Bryant had three hits and scored the game’s first run as Notre Dame beat Cortland Maplewood 3-0 at Firestone Stadium in Akron for the Division VII softball crown.
Heald’s performance for DeSales completed a remarkable four-year career in which she scored 317 goals and had 273 assists for 590 points, including 108 goals and 90 assists this year. Heald’s career point total is second in Ohio high school history only to that of Caroline Ling of Springboro, who had 719 points from 2021 to 2024.
“She’s a very special player,” DeSales coach Joe Finotti said of Heald, who will attend Brown University in the fall. “She’s very coachable with just an extraordinary drive to be successful, and she competes just as hard in practice as she does in games. That’s something in her that’s just wired for excellence. It makes everyone else who plays with her that much better.”
DeSales scored the first two goals against Bay Village and never trailed, leading 7-2 after one quarter, 12-5 at halftime and 15-7 after three, with the continuously running clock rule invoked after the Stallions went up 20-8 midway through the fourth.
Anna Bogan had four goals, Mary Claire Willison three, Caroline Cross two and Cortney Kelley, Lexie Whorton, Lillie Bogan, Marin Kamerick and Dylan Hendershot one apiece. DeSales led 34-17 in shots on goal.
The 21 goals broke the record of 20 in a game set by the school’s boys team in 2022. The Stallions’ 429 goals this season shattered the state mark of 401 set by Olentangy Liberty in 2023.
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DeSales finished 22-1 for the second straight year, with losses coming against Upper Arlington, the Division I runner-up. DeSales is 61-7 over its past three state championship seasons. Finotti has been head coach there for past 15 years, also winning state titles in 2016 and 2019.
“There was probably more pressure on this team than any of the others because they had the bull’s-eye on their backs as two-time champions,” he said. “Its strength was in having a bunch of seniors whose experience helped them deal with the pressure and allowed them to stay consistent and have fun.”
DeSales posted playoff victories over Bellbrook, Bexley, Columbus Academy and Lima Senior and had its toughest test in the state semifinals in a 14-13 decision against Cincinnati Mariemont. “I’ve always said my teams play gritty softball and that was especially true on that day,” Finotti said. “They dug deep and played an incredible game.”
Bogan, who will be attending Clemson in the fall, added scoring punch with 50 goals this year and 192 for her career. Besides Heald and Bogan, other seniors who will be playing for NCAA Division I teams next year are Cross (Butler), Whorton (Cincinnati) and goalkeeper Dani Wymer, who was injured all season and will play for Ashland in 2027.
Two juniors who will return next year already have made Division I commitments – Willison to Butler and Giada Valentine to Florida Southern. Finotti said returning juniors Reagan Fackler and Molly See, sophomore Courtney Kelley and freshman Lillie Bogan also will be part of the team’s core in 2027.
Notre Dame’s victory over Maplewood ended an incredible two-year run in which the Titans finished 56-8 (28-5 this year) and outscored their opponents 95-9 on tournament play (50-6 this year).
The team’s four seniors – shortstop Alayia Soard, catcher Kate Entler, Lyndsey Schaefer at first base and Maycee Ford in center field – provided plenty of power in the second through fifth spots in the batting order respectively.
Bryant, a junior and an All-Ohio basketball player, joined the team this year and filled both the leadoff spot in the batting order and the right field position held on the 2025 championship team by Maddie Entler, now playing for the University of Charleston, West Virginia.
“She fit in smoothly and her athletic ability was a great addition to a team which had a core group of seniors who knew what it was like to play big games. They knew from the start that they had the potential to go as far as they did last year,” said coach Shad Ford, whose teams have made it at least to the regional finals, one step from the state’s final four, in each of his five seasons at Notre Dame.
“Because they knew what it’s like to win a state championship, those four, starting from the first practice, focused on the ultimate result more than any of my other teams,” he said. “They talked about a repeat early in the year and got everyone else to gear up for it.
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“We also scheduled games against a lot of bigger schools in the Columbus area and the large county schools in eastern Kentucky to prepare for a postseason run. Our four losses came against Springfield Kenton Ridge, Circleville Logan Elm and twice to Greenup County, Kentucky – all much bigger schools, but we learned as much by playing them as we probably would have if we stuck to a small-school schedule.”
The Titans finished 10-0 in the Southern Ohio Conference and 22-5 in the regular season, posting playoff victories over Mowrystown Whiteoak (18-0), Portsmouth Clay (10-0), Strasburg-Franklin (7-2) and Bowerston Conotton Valley (3-2) to send them to Akron and the state semifinals, where they eliminated Sycamore Mohawk 9-2.
“We had our eyes on Strasburg as a possible opponent in the regional round all year,” Ford said. “Once we beat them, we knew we had a real shot at the ultimate.”
In the championship game, the Titans scored in classic “small ball” fashion. Bryant led off the game with a single, stole second, advanced to third on a groundout by Kate Entler and scored on a double by Schaefer, who advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored from there to make it 2-0. In the third, Soard reached base on a fielder’s choice, moved to third on Entler’s single and scored on the second wild pitch by Addison Marker, who struck out 13.
“Our last two teams are the first to win on-field state championships for the school. (The 1967 and 1970 football teams finished first in coaches’ polls before the on-field state championships started in 1972.) And the four seniors on this team made it to four regional finals, which is quite an accomplishment,” Ford said.
“Those four are just pillars, great leaders. They’re irreplaceable, but we’ll find a way to battle through and regroup for next year. Bryant will be back, Ava Rush will return to pitch and her sister Bella, both juniors, will be at second base, with sophomores Audrey Bach in left field and Kennedy Lyon at third.”
“Also, I can’t say enough about our fans,” Rush said. “Probably 700 made the four-hour drive to Akron again this year for the championship games, most of them by car rather than in busloads, and having them cheer us made a huge difference.
“Being in a Catholic school makes a big difference to the players. Father (Michael) Fulton (parochial vicar at St. John Paul II Scioto Catholic Parish) blessed us just before we got on the bus to Akron. Father (Stephen) Smith (the pastor) did the same last year, and we pray before every game and three times a day in school.”
Soard, who will attend Ball State next year, is the one player on the team who has signed to play with a Division I college team next year. She testified to the impact being Catholic had on the team, saying, “It is just a blessing. Honestly, we can’t thank God enough. Just being able to glorify him on the field by winning two state championships is an unexpected feeling and shows that hard work pays off.”