3 Valley teams triumph at state

June 5, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

The Mahoning Valley is awash in gold.

Three area squads brought state championship trophies back Saturday to highlight one of the best spring weekends for high school teams in recent memory.

Poland claimed its first state softball championship at Firestone Park in Akron. The Bulldogs, behind junior pitcher Erin Gabriel’s one-hitter, defeated LaGrange Keystone 4-0 to win the Division II title.

A few hours earlier, Champion won the fourth state crown in school history with an 11-2 victory over Baltimore Liberty Union in the Division III championship.

The Flashes broke open a close game behind pitcher Lindsay Swipas and shortstop Tawny Rogers, who set a championship game record with three triples.

In Columbus, McDonald used individual championships by Matthias Tayala and Miles Dunlap to win the Division III boys track and field championship.

All told, seven area athletes won eight individual track and field championships.

Also on Saturday, Springfield’s baseball team finished as state runner-up for the second time in three seasons.