Staff photo / Preston Byers Jackson-Milton’s Macayla Thornhill throws a pitch during the Blue Jays’ district final loss to Canton Central Catholic at Badger.

VERNON — Jackson-Milton and its extended rally fell short Wednesday as the Blue Jays lost 19-9 to Canton Central Catholic in the Division IV, Northeast 2 district championship game at Badger.

The Crusaders jumped out ahead early with a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning and built their advantage to 9-1 by the middle of the third. Jackson-Milton, which scored its first run of the game on an infield error in the bottom of the first inning, cut into its deficit in the bottom of the third inning with three runs before Central Catholic extended its lead back to eight in the fourth inning.

“They got great hitters,” Jackson-Milton coach Tyler Halavick said. “They can read up the ball. Usually, a lot of times, it takes about an inning to catch on to either one of my pitchers, and they caught in the first inning. Errors were definitely an issue. I think they had a little bit of jitters. This was a bigger stage than these girls had ever been on.”

While the moment appeared to be overwhelming the Blue Jays early, as Halavick said, his team “made the stage small” soon thereafter.

Jackson-Milton began to make another dent in Central Catholic’s lead with a two-run bottom of the fourth before stringing together three more runs in the fifth inning to pull within three. Amid their rally, the Jays loudly screamed and banged on the dugout fence.

The comeback, which was aided by Grace Johnson’s three RBIs and Brena and Ivy McBeth’s pair of RBIs, was halted in the sixth inning, however, as the Crusaders retired Jackson-Milton’s lineup in order. Central Catholic’s bats then fired back up and wreaked havoc on relief pitcher Brena McBeth; the Crusaders scored seven runs in the top of the seventh to get out to their largest lead of the game, which held for a quick bottom of the seventh inning as the Blue Jays’ season came to an end.

Despite the loss, Halavick, who completed his first season coaching softball, expressed his pride in his team and how they exceeded his expectations.

“It’s a 180 flip from where they used to be, and it shows a lot to how much they’ve grown physically, how much they’ve grown mentally, how much more mature they’ve gotten. I’m just tremendously proud of the girls and what we produced this year,” he said. “I was really optimistic. I’ve been around not softball, but baseball for a while, and I saw the pieces there.”

Halavick also said that he has been converted from a baseball lifer to a big softball fan in his first season leading the Blue Jays’ softball program.

“I was baseball from five years old, all the way up until 22. Moved over to softball, and I’m sorry, baseball, but I love softball way better,” Halavick said. “I’m proud of the women they’ve turned out to be and what they’re gonna go out in the world. They’re gonna be strong and they’re going to be good producers, and they’re just going to be awesome. I’m going to be proud of them moving forward.”

Halavick and Jackson-Milton, which will be graduating four seniors, will aim to build on the 2024 Blue Jays’ successes.

“We’ve got to be humble, get our nose on the grindstone again and do what we did this preseason and just work hard to get here again,” he said.

As the Badger district champion, Central Catholic now advances to the Division IV Berea regional, where the Crusaders will play the winner of Southern vs. Mogadore on May 22 at the Roehm Athletic Complex.

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