FOUR RBI NIGHT … Averyann Fisher doubled twice and knocked in four runs as Bryan cruised past Rossford.
PHOTOS BY RENEA KESSLER / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
DISTRICT SEMIS … Bryan’s Amiyah Langham takes a cut in the Golden Bears’ district semifinal win over Rossford. VIEW 50 PHOTOS OF THIS CONTEST FOR FREE AT WWW.THEVILLAGEREPORTER.COM
By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
SYLVANIA (May 19, 2026) — Bryan’s Division IV district semifinal victory was utterly the same recipe that has cooked up 20 straight wins for the Golden Bears this season.
Averyann Fisher got the Golden Bears going in the first inning with a huge base hit. Bryan took advantage of three Rossford errors in the first two innings to run out to a big lead.
Then there was pitcher Thea Staten, well, doing Thea Staten things, such as striking out the last eight Bulldogs that went to the plate.
Mix it all together, stir it up, bake and let it rise to a 10-0 win that boosts Bryan into a district final matchup with Clyde at Sylvania Northview on Friday.
“We have unfinished business from a few years back,” Bryan coach Hilary Staten said about what the Golden Bears’ ultimate goal would be.
“We have a number of goals in front of us here. We are going to keep approaching them one game at a time and one goal at a time.”
The Bulldogs’ Rileigh Cunningham led off the game with a solid single to center, but for the following 15 outs, Staten was nearly unhittable, striking out 13 and walking one.
Offensively, Bryan opened up the whole can of spice in the first two innings.
The Bears loaded the bases in the bottom of the first on a walk, a Josey Arnold single and a hit batter when the lightning and rain came, delaying the contest for 65 minutes.
When the skies cleared, Fisher found herself at the plate, lacing a 3-2 pitch to right for a two-run single.
Another run raced home when the ball was misplayed to put Bryan up 3-0. “I loved her approach,” Staten said of Fisher’s key at-bat. “She knew she had to move the runners, they gave her a couple of options and she came through for us big.”
A wild pitch and Reese Ruffer’s infield hit plated two more in a five-run first.
Bryan didn’t stop there, and with Rossford giving them an aid in the kitchen, the Golden Bears tacked on four more runs in the second.
Amiyah Langham reached on an error, then one out later, Staten’s fly ball to deep right was dropped for a three-base error that brought Langham home.
Fisher followed with a run-producing double in the gap to push the margin to 7-0.
With the bases loaded, Jozie Cordy’s ground ball that was heading into left field struck a Bryan base runner for the second out of the inning, and also caused the runner at third to return to that base.
No matter, though, as Mylie Vollmer rifled a two-run single to right to open a 9-0 gap. “There are still plenty of things we can sharpen up on,” Staten said. We’ll just fine-tune some of those things we did today, but we are happy with the outcome.”
Ruffer put the icing on the cake in the fourth when she led off with a triple up the right-center gap and came home for the 10th run on Gisele Kidston’s bunt single.
Staten retired the side on strikes in the fifth to put the cherry on top of the Bears’ 20th consecutive victory. Rossford bows out of the tournament with a 10-11 record.
RHS 000 00 – 0 1 1
BHS 540 1x – 10 11 0
WP-Thea Staten (IP-5, R-0, H-1, K-13, BB-1)
LP-Lucy Rodriguez (IP-4, R-10, H-11, K-5, BB-3)
LEADING HITTERS: (Bryan) Reese Ruffer – single, triple, RBI; Averyann Fisher – 2 doubles, 4 RBIs; Thea Staten – triple, RBI; Mylie Vollmer – single, 2 RBIs. (Rossford) – 1 single.