By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

Aurora’s sights were set on a third straight regional appearance.

Unfortunately for the Greenmen, they fell short in a 9-6 loss to Chardon on Friday in a Division III, Northeast 1 district-championship showdown at Austintown Fitch.

“Chardon has good pitching, we knew they can hit,” head coach Sam Petrash said. “They’re highly respected in our district. We knew it’s was going to be a good game. We were looking forward to it.”

The loss closed out another spectacular season for Aurora, which won the Suburban League championship in thrilling fashion in a 10-8 victory over Highland that was sealed on a walk-off home run in the eighth inning by Reese Witting.

It was the program’s sixth straight league title. During the span, Aurora has posted a stunning 75-7 league record. For the season, the Greenmen finished with a 23-5 record.

As for the postseason, they advanced to the district-title game by way of a 9-2 district-semifinal win May 19 at home over Kenston.

Pacing Aurora’s 12-hit attack were senior leftfielder — and leadoff hitter — Abby Dalessandro, who doubled, singled twice, knocked in a run and scored three times and senior centerfielder Lailah Bohanan, who doubled three times and drove in three runs.

“Abby and Lailah are special hitters,” Petrash said. “Both of them are contact hitters with power. They’re going to put the ball in play.”

Senior second baseman Charlotte Sorma contributed two crucial sacrifice bunts. She had an RBI and scored two runs.

Freshman Abbie Ferree started on the hill and went the distance, giving up eight hits.

“Abbie was fantastic hitting her spots and making her pitches,” said Petrash. “When she hits her spots, it’s real easy to call her game.”

Aurora qualified for the district semifinal on May 14 with a 16-0 rout at home over Cleveland Heights Beaumont in a sectional game that was called after 4.5 innings due to the 10-run rule.

It was an offensive blitzkrieg for the Greenmen, who had 20 hits, at least one by every starter.

“Our bench players came in and hit the ball well too,” the coach said. “It gave us a good opportunity to get a lot of players in the game.”

Bohanan doubled, singled three times, knocked in three runs and scored three times, Dalessandro had two doubles, a single, an RBI and three runs and sophomore catcher smacked a two-run homer.

Sophomore Ruby Sorma (Charlotte’s sister) started on the mound and went three innings, yielding two hits while striking out five and walking three.

Ferree went the rest of the way, fanning two.