LEXINGTON — They no longer play in the same conference, but Lexington and Clear Fork are hardly strangers when it comes to high school softball.
There are no secrets between these backyard rivals — especially this season.
Top-seeded Lady Lex and the second-seeded Colts will duke it out at 5 p.m. Thursday for the Division II Willard district title. It will be the fourth meeting between the two teams since March.
Lex and Clear Fork scrimmaged in the preseason, then opened the regular season against one other. They met again at the MVD Softball Invitational at Ontario’s Marshall Park in April.
Lexington has won all three meetings between the former Ohio Cardinal Conference combatants, but the two regular season games were decided by a combined three runs. Lexington beat Clear Fork 8-7 in Lexington on March 29 and 11-9 at the MVD Invite.
“We’ve played Clear Fork three times already,” Lexington coach Todd Galownia said after Lady Lex dispatched Ontario 7-1 in the first game of Tuesday’s district semifinal doubleheader. “They’re going to be really good. We’ve got to come ready to go.
“We’re excited about it.”
Lady Lex (25-2) won 21 straight to open the season before dropping back-to-back OCC games to New Philadelphia and Mount Vernon earlier this month. Lexington has won four straight since then.
The Colts (17-7) are back in Division II after reaching the Division III district semifinals last year. Clear Fork advanced with a 2-1 win over No. 4 Norwalk in Tuesday’s late game as freshman pitcher Miley Shafer gave up just three hits and struck out eight. Shafer.
“(Lexington) is a tough team,” Shafer said when asked about a fourth meeting. “They’re a really, really good team.”
Shafer, who pitched in both regular season meeting against Lexington, said there were lessons to be learned from this losses.
“We have to (prevent) a mental mistake from turning into three,” Shafer said. “If we make a bad mistake, we can’t let it turn into more.”
The Colts will likely face Makaree Chapman in Thursday’s district title game. Lady Lex’s hard-throwing left-hander limited Ontario to four hits Tuesday.
Makaree is a good pitcher,” Shafer said.
Both coaches expect another close game.
“I think we both know what we’re getting into,” Clear Fork coach Chris Clapper said.