A high school sports reporter who worked for my local newspaper when I was in high school was known for his phrase, “off to make someone a hero.”

His name was Jim Sweet and while he never knew it, he had an enormous influence on how I approached my job throughout the early parts of my journalism career.

Jim always did it the right way. He emphasized the local athletes and made them feel like superheroes. I remember the first time my picture was in the paper and when I was quoted for an article. That was the feeling I wanted to pass on to the athletes I covered. I wanted to give them their glory.

Over the past two weeks, we’ve had plenty of superheroes in the news as two softball teams, one baseball team, two individual track athletes and a relay team brought state championships back to the Mahoning Valley.

It’s been quite the spring and these athletes deserve their flowers.

It started with Lowellville senior Michael Ballone, who is a future Youngstown State University Penguin, as he climbed atop the podium at the University of Dayton after capturing the Division III 300-meter hurdles event with a personal-best time of 37.34 seconds.

Second-place finisher Trevor Vogt, of Colonel Crawford, came in at 38 seconds.

Ballone was also a part of Lowellville’s 4×400 relay team that brought home a state championship. Along with senior Matt Lucido and sophomores Drew Modelski and Josh Pazel, the Rockets blew away their competition, clocking a time of 3:19.19. The team from Marion Local placed second with a time of 3:21.35 and the Springfield team of seniors Dylan Sheely and Sean Guerriero and juniors Isaac LaMorticella and Aiden Appel earned a third-place finish with a time of 3:25.56.

With 35 team points, Lowellville earned a runner-up finish behind Marion Local who tallied 51 points.

Maplewood High School senior Caleigh Richards also went out on top in her final state track meet, capturing her third 3200-meter state title with a time of 10:47.52. She also placed second in the 1600-meter race with a personal best time of 4:55.31. It brings an end to an extraordinary high school career that saw her win seven individual state titles, which will leave her as one of the best distance runners in county and state history.

On the softball diamond, Austintown Fitch won its second straight OHSAA Division I state title with a 4-0 victory over Watkins Memorial to finish the season 23-1. Canfield defeated Bryan 4-0 in the Division II state championship to finish their season with a 27-3 record. Both teams put on spectacular performances throughout the season and were more than deserving to hoist trophies at Akron’s Firestone Stadium.

The Falcons only suffered one loss all season long, a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Canfield after they earned a 5-0 victory over the Cardinals in their season opener.

The Cardinals before finishing their season on a 13-game winning streak lost back-to-back games in late April.

Both teams were led by outstanding pitchers as well. Austintown’s Sydnie Watts, a junior who was recently named the Ohio Gatorade Player of the Year, struck out 273 batters, only allowed eight earned runs, threw five no-hitters and three perfect games and tallied a 0.44 ERA.

Canfield’s Malena Toth threw six no-hitters, two perfect games, 14 shutouts, struck out 297 hitters and tallied a 0.61 ERA while pitching 148.2 innings. In the final game of her high school career, Toth struck out 10 and allowed two hits.

The West Branch baseball team capped off the spring high school sports season this past weekend with a thrilling 3-2 win over Hamilton Badin, a team that hadn’t allowed a run in the postseason, to capture the OHSAA Division II state championship, the first in program history, at Akron’s Canal Park.

The Warriors went 29-6 this season and outscored their opponents 211-98. It was a group of players that head coach Rick Mulinix said he thought could be special years ago, and it turns out he was right.

The Mahoning Valley was adorned with champions throughout the spring and the past two weeks have been a prime example of the type of talent that resides here in the area.

They all deserve to be superheroes.

Have an interesting story? Email Greg Macafee at gmacafee@tribtoday.com or follow him on X

Macafee

@greg macafee.