Grove City Messenger - June 26th, 2022

PAGE 2 - GROVE CITY MESSENGER - June 26, 2022
SEASON
Continued from page 1
season if any number of them are not met.
Take, for instance, their season-ending loss last year to
Lancaster High School.
It was the district championship final and the
Greyhounds had not been in this position since 2017.
Although evenly matched, they were confident they were
going to pull off a win against the Golden Gales but lost 2-
1 in an 11-inning thriller.
“We felt like we should have won that game,” said
Ritlinger-Nirider. “We should have won that game.”
He said the loss left a “bad taste” in their mouth, and it
propelled them to do better, to be better, this season. With
an even more competitive schedule — they played multiple
powerhouse schools from the south — they managed to be
just that.
The first team accomplishment of the season was winning
the conference and reaching that 20 game-win
threshold. Then came a rematch with the Golden Gales in
the Division I district championship game. It may have
taken them two days to do it (inclement weather delayed
the regularly scheduled game) but they came away with a
2-0 win in eight innings, propelling them to the Ohio High
School Athletic Association’s regional semi-finals for the
first time since 2014.
What followed, said Ritlinger-Nirider, was a “whirlwind”
of nail-biting games and up-and-down emotions that
saw them defeat Hilliard Darby 2-0 on June 3 and last
year’s Division I state champion New Albany 2-0 the following
day.
And then the school was back in the state tournament
final four for the first time since back-to-back seasons in
2011 and 2012.
Ritlinger-Nirider was at the game in 2012 when the #1
ranked Greyhounds met the #2 ranked Cincinnati
Archbishop Moeller at Huntington Park in Columbus. He
said he remembers a crowd packed with fans of the
Crimson and Blue, the feeling of overwhelming sadness
when they lost 3-2, and a burgeoning determination that
he would avenge the loss and send his beloved team to the
finals when he was old enough to play the high school
level.
While it was definitely a team effort, the Greyhounds
did beat an upstart Mason High School 4-1 on June 10 at
Canal Park in Akron and made it to their first Division I
state championship final.
“It was a very special moment in our school’s history, in
our program’s history and to our community,” said
Alexander. “We have had some fantastic teams that
have come along through the years but no one in
our storied history has made it this far.
“But that’s baseball for you. It’s a game of skill,
Food Truck Festival and Shop Hop
The Heart of Grove City will host its Food Truck
Festival and Shop Hop from 4 to 9 p.m. July 1. Patrons
COMMUNITY CENTER
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While there is still some work to be completed, village
officials were able to give Jones and his group of
inquisitive friends an answer to their most pressing
question.
“The Vaughn E. Hairston Southwest Community
Center is open to the youth and the public as of (June
15),” said Barnes.
According to Barnes, the community center was
able to open this summer primarily due to grant funding
provided by the Franklin County Department of
Job and Family Services. He said the county has designated
the community center as a “Ready to Earn”
worksite for teenagers seeking employment and they
will serve as camp counselors for daytime youth programming.
“We are excited to be able to partner with the county
commissioners and St. Stephen’s Community House
to not only provide our youth with some much needed
summer programming, but our community with access
to the center as well.”
The Southwest Community Center will be open
during the weekday and the hours of availability will
be divided among age groups.
Senior citizens will have access to the facility from
7 a.m. to 11 a.m.; youth ages 7-17 will have access to
the facility from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a free lunch provided
daily; and those with ages that fall in-between
those groups will have access to the facility from 5 p.m.
to 7 p.m.
Use of the facility will be free throughout the month
of June but it will transition to a monthly fee starting
on July 1, 2022. Barnes said the fee schedule will be
$25 for all seniors and young adults who reside in the
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a game of inches and ultimately a game of luck. And sometimes
you don’t have that luck and sometimes you do and
it runs out.”
Unfortunately, he said, that is exactly what happened
when the team met Sylvania Northview in the final game,
losing to the Wildcats 6-1 on June 11.
“Our game is small ball and they played it against us
and they played it better than us,” said Alexander. “That’s
just the way it goes sometimes.”
After the loss, the players were plagued by what if’s and
all of their pride in the team’s accomplishments and the
individual accolades were tossed to the wayside. They didn’t
remember that they met all three of their seasonal
goals and they certainly didn’t bask in the knowledge that
they made it to the regionals, the semi-finals or their challenging
division’s final game.
Eventually, those great memories and all of the good
feelings attached to them started to filter back in, so much
so that they can now acknowledge the history that was
made — sort of.
“I think we’re starting to wrap our heads around it but
it is still settling in,” said Ritlinger-Nirider.
Alexander said when it finally does, they ought to be
proud of what they did as a team this season.
“We scrapped all year, we met and surpassed our goals,
and we played the game the right way,” he said. “You can’t
ask for anything more.”
community events
can enjoy an evening strolling and shopping in the historic
Grove City Town Center. Visit the Heart of Grove
City website, heartofgrovecity.org, for additional information.
village; $30 for young adults who do not reside in the
village; $15 for non-resident youth; and $10 for youth
who live in the village.
Although the general public will now be able to
access the facility, what the center can offer in terms
of organized programming is currently limited to the
daytime youth programming portion. For instance, the
fitness center will be open for solo or buddy-partner
training but there are no scheduled group workout sessions
led by an instructor at this time.
Much to the disappointment of the children (and
some adults) in attendance, the indoor swimming pool
will also be unavailable as it needs upgrades related to
the pumping system. There is also the question as to
whether it could be adequately staffed due to the
nationwide shortage of lifeguards.
Barnes said while village officials know the
Southwest Community Center still has a ways to go
before it can be fully operational, they are pleased to
have it open to the general public in some capacity
again.
“It has taken us a little while but we are getting
there,” he said.
In other news, Barnes said the village is accepting
applications for youth (especially those who live in
Urbancrest) between the ages of 14-18 to work as daytime
youth counselors at the site through the “Ready
to Earn” program. Inquiries can be made in-person
during normal business hours at the village administrative
office, located at 3357 Central Ave., or by calling
(614) 875-1279. The program will run through the
beginning of August.