Williamsburg High School and hitting machine Eli Jones (0) sprinted to a third consecutive SBAAC National Division baseball title but fell short of a first district title in nearly 70 years.
West Clermont High School’s Jordan Geiger watches the flight of the ball during a Division I regional semifinal against Archbishop Moeller. The Wolves’ magical season came to an end against Moeller, which would go on to win the Division I state baseball championship.
Bethel-Tate High School’s Brady Sterbling approaches the finish line in the Division II girls 3,200-meter final during the Ohio High School Athletic Association State Track and Field Tournament. Sterbling finished sixth in the race.
Near-greatness.
That was the fate for the top area Clermont County teams in spring sports in 2023: Great regular seasons, then near-misses in their pursuit of what has been elusive state tournament glory.
The Williamsburg and West Clermont baseball teams know it. So, too, do the Milford softball team and Bethel-Tate girls track and field squad.
All had about as much success as they could hope for during the regular season.
Maybe no more than the Williamsburg High School baseball team. After a slow start that saw the team go 2-3 against stiff out-of-state competition in late March, the Wildcats went undefeated in April and reeled off 16 consecutive wins, most in lopsided fashion.
Williamsburg finished a perfect 10-0 in league play en route to its third consecutive Southern Buckeye Athletic and Academic Conference National Division title, and the team was 20-5 overall heading into the postseason, having won 18 of its last 20 games.
The Division III Wildcats were equally as dominant in their first two playoff games, winning both by 10 runs – the first time Williamsburg won two postseason games since 2014. But the team’s bid to reach the district title game and ultimately win its first district title in nearly 70 years came to a halt in a 7-3 loss to Waynesville High School at the Williamsburg field.
The West Clermont High School baseball team didn’t have a double-digit win streak this season. But twice the Wolves strung together eight consecutive victories, including when it counted most – toward the end of the season. Unfortunately, they couldn’t extend that latter streak, though.
The Division I Wolves tied for first in the Eastern Cincinnati Conference at 14-4 – their first such title in school history – and were 19-8 overall entering the postseason. Unlike Williamsburg, West Clermont had to grind for a good many of its wins, and that was the case in the playoffs, too, where it won three games by a combined five runs to extend that winning streak to eight.
It would end there, though, as the Wolves fell to perennial power Archbishop Moeller, 10-4, in the regional semifinals in early June. Moeller would go on to win the Division I state championship the next week.
Milford High School enjoyed similar success on the softball side of the ECC, also tying for the league title (17-1) – its eighth in the last nine seasons. It won 14 of its last 15 regular-season games, and including the postseason, won 11 in a row.
The Division I Lady Eagles won their first two playoff games in convincing fashion. Then, trailing 2-1 as they batted – potentially for the final time of the season – in the seventh inning, junior Kaitlyn Flynn hit a three-run home run and Isabella Zimmerman followed with a solo homer, giving the Lady Eagles a dramatic 5-2 victory and their first district title since 2004.
Unfortunately, the Lady Eagles’ magical season would end in the regional semifinals – a 7-0 loss to Fairfield High School.
Area county teams New Richmond High School, Clermont Northeastern High School and Williamsburg made it to their respective district softball title games before falling. Clermont Northeastern had won the SBAAC National Division regular season at 11-1, with Williamsburg third at 8-4. New Richmond tied with Western Brown High School for first at 9-1 in the SBAAC American Division. (An area county team hasn’t won a state title since Williamsburg softball in 2017.)
Among area county teams, the Bethel-Tate High School girls track team appeared most poised for greatness at the state level.
During the regular season, the Lady Tigers won five of their seven meets, setting six school records in the process. Then, at the SBAAC meet, they won an astounding 11 events, led by the usual contingent of Tabbi Courts, Hayden Shields and Brady Sterbling, who each won multiple events seemingly every time they competed in 2023.
Courts (high jump), Shields (100 meters) and Sterbling (3,200) would qualify in Division II for the Ohio High School Athletic Association State Track and Field Tournament, along with the Lady Tigers’ 4×100 relay team (Courts and Shields ran legs on the relay, too). Sterbling, a sophomore, would be the lone placer for the Lady Tigers, finishing sixth.
“Overall, this was an incredible year of track and field at Bethel-Tate,” B-T coach Shane Mays said. “In 2024, we return the majority of both our girls and boys teams. As a result, our Lady Tigers will continue to be a force to reckon with while our boys team looks to make some noise.”