MANSFIELD — Plymouth’s last trip to the Sweet 16 came in 2016.
Ontario’s wait has been considerably longer.
The Big Red and Warriors are the last two local teams standing as softball reaches regional play this week.
Division IV Plymouth will meet Edgerton at 2 p.m. Wednesday in Gibsonburg. Division II Ontario, making its first trip to the regional since 1986, will play Maumee at 2 p.m. Wednesday in New Riegel.
The Warriors (20-5) punched their regional ticket for the first time since the Ronald Reagan administration with a 5-0 win over Clyde in last week’s Willard district final. That win came on the heels of Ontario’s dramatic 4-2 win over Bellevue in the district semifinals — the Warriors trailed 2-0 until Taylor Mullins belted a fifth-inning grand slam.
In the district final, Joslynne Frazier hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning to break open a close game.
“I still haven’t come to the fact that we just made history here,” Frazier said afterward. “It’s crazy just to be a part of this team.”
It has been a storybook run through the postseason for Maumee. The fourth-seeded Panthers upset top-seeded Lake in the district semifinals before dispatching No. 3 Otsego 6-5 in Saturday’s Genoa district final.
Plymouth’s return to the regional came by virtue of last week’s 8-3 win over South Central in the Galion district final. The Galion district featured four Firelands Conference schools: Plymouth beat top-seeded Monroeville in the district semifinals while South Central took care of New London.
Top-seeded Edgerton advanced with an 8-2 win over second-seeded Ayersville in the Bryan district championship game. The Bulldogs are in the regional tournament for the first time since 2013.
