Owens, Dix, Buhro help Owens to title

The Owens Community College softball team won the NJCAA Region XII Division III championship after defeating Delta College, 11-2 and 10-2, in a best of three game format. 

During the second win over Delta, Eastwood sophomore second baseman/shortstop Hannah Owens (Eastwood) was 2-for-4 with three RBIs. In the first win, Owens hit a double and walked, scoring once.

The team could have advanced to the eight team NJCAA D III National Title playoff at Carrier Park in Syracuse, New York, but that will not happen. Owens became aware of an enrollment change for one of its softball student-athletes on May 18. The college says it immediately disclosed the student’s enrollment change to the NJCAA. The program was subsequently notified Wednesday that as a result of this change, Owens is no longer eligible to participate in the national tournament.  

The last time Owens softball advanced to the National Tournament was 2011. The Express are 15-5 on the season.

Also playing for Owens are freshmen pitcher/infielders Sydni Buhro (Woodmore) and Elizabeth Dix (Eastwood). 

Owens is batting .560 (28 for 50) with nine doubles, one home run, 23 RBIs, a .600 on-base percentage and .800 slugging percentage. Dix is batting .444 (12 for 27) with two doubles, two triples, eight RBIs, a .483 OBP and .667 slugging.

During a 29-6 win over Clark State this season, Owens was 3-for-5 with two RBIs and a walk, scoring four times and Dix was 2-for-3 with a triple and an RBI. Buhro pitched two innings in that game, striking out one and allowing no hits and two earned runs plus she had a hit in her only at-bat. In the circle, Buhro has appeared in four games and is 1-0 in 9.1 innings pitched. She has struck out seven, walked seven and allowed 11 hits and eight runs for a 6.00 ERA.

Owens swept top honors from the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference, led by Player of the Year Hayley Kanzig, co-Pitcher of the Year Autumn Brososky and Coach of the Year Chuck Brososky. Owens also had four student-athletes voted to the 2021 All-OCCAC Team, these include Brososky, pitcher/shortstop/right field (Ida, Mich.); Kanzig, pitcher/first base (Shelby):· Alexis Orner, shortstop and catcher (Springfield): and Valerie Swope, outfielder (Rossford)

 “These players have put in a lot of hard work to get to this point and deserve their recognition. To be named Coach of the Year says a lot about the makeup of this team and how much fun they are to coach,” said Brososky.