ONTARIO — It has a new name and a new address, but the competition should be as fierce as ever.
The Mid-Ohio Spring Classic, formerly known as the Wendy’s Spring Classic, will make its debut at Marshall Park this weekend in the 31st edition of Ohio high school softball’s showcase event.
Of the 20 teams in the field, eight were ranked in the first Ohio High School Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association state poll and four played in last year’s state tournament, including defending Division I runner-up Anthony Wayne and two-time reigning Division IV state champ Strasburg.
“There are some heavy hitters and that’s the way we like it,” tournament director John Davis said. “We’ve got some of the best teams in the state coming in.”
Mother Nature has been especially unkind to the tournament the past two years. Only 19 of 66 scheduled games were played in 2022 and 2023 and storms wiped out the full schedule of Saturday games both years.
The move to the artificial surfaces at Marshall Park from the natural fields at Ashland’s Brookside Park diamond and the Brookside West complex should at least partially mitigate the problem.
The MVD Sports Ohio Invitational, another longtime Ashland-area staple, was played at Marshall Park last weekend and while Friday’s games were washed out, tournament personnel were able to get the fields in shape for Saturday’s games.
“In years past, the entire weekend would have been lost,” Davis said. “We got the games in on Saturday. It was a little soft in the outfield but it got better as the day went on.
“That was the reason we moved the tournament from Ashland to Marshall Park. If we can get it to stop raining, we should be able to play.”
This year’s Mid-Ohio Spring Classic includes local entrants Ontario, Ashland, Hillsdale, Loudonville and Danville. Ontario, Ashland and Loudonville are in the eight-team Red Pool, while Hillsdale and Danville are in the White Pool.
Action heats up Friday afternoon with 10 games on the schedule.
Ashland will play Massillon Perry on Field 2, while Ontario will meet Marlington on Field 4 and Loudonville takes on Lebanon on Field 1. Those games are scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
The late round of Friday games, which are slated to begin at 6:30 p.m., includes Hillsdale taking on Upper Sandusky on Field 2 and Danville battling Portsmouth Notre Dame on Field 4.
State-ranked teams in this year’s field include Anthony Wayne (Division I, No. 3), Amherst Steele (Division I, No. 7), Lebanon (Division I, No. 9), Hilliard Bradley (Division I, No. 10), Triway (Division III, No. 4), Strasburg (Division IV, No. 1), Portsmouth Notre Dame (Division IV, No. 4) and Danville (Division IV, No. 5).
“Anthony Wayne is ranked 11th in the country in the USA Today poll,” Davis said. “We want to bring the best competition we can and we want to schedule as best we can so teams are seeing new competition.
“Teams that already are scheduled to play each other don’t play each other in the tournament.”
This year’s field is made up entirely of Ohio teams. In its heyday, the tournament drew teams from all across the eastern part of the country.
“Even before COVID hit, we were losing games to weather,” Davis said. “We had teams coming from New Jersey and they were driving all the way here only to get rained out.
“By making the move to Marshall Park, it’s going to make it more appealing to those out-of-state teams.”