Andrew Grimm WAIVED HOME — Weir High's Lila Boilegh is waived home to score a run against Harrison Central by third base coach Joe Aperfine.

Welcoming Harrison Central, a team that upset them in the OVAC tournament last season, the Red Riders received the message from their veteran coach loud and clear.

Weir High struck first in the bottom of the first and did not look back, earning a 7-2 bounce back victory over the Huskies.

“This was a big win for us against a team that kind of shocked us in the OVAC first round last year,” Leary said. “We came into this game after the last two days not knowing what were going to get. You look at scores around the Valley every night and there a lot of scores that might surprise people, so we cannot overlook anyone or take anything for granted.

“We got on them pretty hard (Thursday). We tried to tell them all week long we can’t overlook anyone, you can’t look too much into what happened the first time we played someone, and we have to be ready to play every day. We challenged the girls and they showed up ready to play (today).”

Andrew Grimm DELIVERY — Harrison Central pitcher Mikayla Pelegreen fires a pitch against Weir High.

The win came after a tough loss at Wheeling Park Wednesday and a disappointing loss to Edison, a team they run ruled in the first meeting, a day prior. The ability to bounce back from that and not look ahead to big game with rival Oak Glen Saturday made Leary happy.

“It was a good bounce back,” he said. “We played a couple really good teams and we were not at our best. I never make excuses, both teams outplayed us and beat us and we did not play at the level that we know we can play. I’m glad that we picked it up (Friday). Hopefully we continue to come ready to play every day.”

As she has all season, senior standout Eliza Utt led the way for the Red Riders (11-5). The returning all-state player smashed a triple, two doubles and drove in three runs at the plate while tossing a complete game with nine strikeouts and one walk in the circle.

Catcher Loganne Barton also doubled and plated three runs, while emerging freshman standout Lila Boilegh added two hits to her season season total.

Weir scored two in the bottom of the first, added three in the third and two more in the bottom of the sixth before the Huskies (10-6), who suffered their second-straight defeat, finally broke through in the top of the seventh to end Utt’s shutout bid.

Jaylin Ward provided the visitors’ offense with a two-out, two-run triple. Delaney Stull had two singles.

UP NEXT

Harrison Central: Was slated to host Bellaire for a twin bill on Saturday before a trip to Big Red on Monday.

Weir High: Was set to take on rival Oak Glen on the road Saturday morning before hosting Barnesville on Monday.

Weir High 7, Harrison Central 2

HC 0-0-0 0-0-0 2 — 2 4 1

WH 2-0-3 0-0-2 x — 7 10 0

HARRISON CENTRAL (10-6): Pelegreen (LP, 6IP, 7R, 5ER, 10H, 5K, 2BB) and Smith. Ward T, 2RBIs; Pelegreen S; Stull 2S.

WEIR HIGH (11-5): Utt (WP, CG, 2R, 2Er, 4H, 9K, 1BB) and Barton. Boilegh 2S; Utt T, 2D, 3RBIs; Weber S; Barton S, 3RBIs; Spencer S; Kirlangitis S; Artman S.