CLEVELAND, Ohio — With one of the biggest bats in Northeast Ohio and strongest arms from inside the circle, North Ridgeville’s Autumn Behlke saw her team to deep playoff runs in each of her high school seasons.

Coach Amy McMillan wondered after an 13-1 district championship win last month against Avon what Behlke’s career would have looked like had her freshman year not been nixed by the cancellation of spring sports in 2020.

“She lost her freshman year to COVID,” McMillan said. “Since then, she’s been grooving, grooving and grooving.”

Behlke split time as North Ridgeville’s pitcher with Katie Barnhart for two years before the role solely fell on her this year as a senior, as just one of three starters with senior center fielder Allie Chinchar and sophomore right fielder Naomi Bottomlee.

For North Ridgeville to win a third straight Southwestern Conference championship and its third straight OHSAA Division I district crown, Behlke and the Rangers needed to deal with a mostly new infield.

They did.

“We’re young,” McMillan said. “We graduated quite a few girls last year. I think some people maybe doubted us. These girls didn’t let that bother them.”

Behlke, a Youngstown State recruit, is the cleveland.com Softball Player of the Year for the 2023 season for that accomplishment. She led North Ridgeville in the pitching circle and at the plate as the Rangers’ No. 3 hitter.

Meet the full all-area team below, led by Behlke:

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Autumn Behlke, North Ridgeville

Year: Senior

Position: Pitcher

About Behlke: She ended her senior season with a 1.21 earned-run average and hit above .500 with seven home runs, 30 RBI and 25 runs. Behlke exceeded 200 strikeouts on the season in the district championship, which was just North Ridgeville’s 20th game of the season. To top it, Behlke won Lorain County’s Miss Softball.

PITCHER

Anna Wise, Brecksville-Broadview Heights

Year: Junior

About Wise: An All-Ohio first-team pick by the state coaches association, Wise led the Bees to another Suburban League championship in the National Conference. She exceeded 200 strikeouts with a 0.80 ERA. Additionally, she drove in a team-high 54 RBI at the plate with a .605 batting average.

Second team: Mallory Herwerden, Berea-Midpark, sr.; McKennah Metzger, Aurora, jr.

CATCHER

Kylie Gorsuch, Green

Year: Senior

About Gorsuch: Another All-Ohio first-teamer, Gorsuch helped Green to a Federal League title. She also came up with big plays behind the plate and in front of it with her bat. With fellow senior Avery Robinson in the circle, another All-Ohio pick, Green had arguably the top battery combination in Northeast Ohio. Gorsuch drove in 26 runs, including six home runs, and struck out only four times with 11 walks. She batted .500 with a .575 on-base percentage, 1.542 OPS and .967 slugging percentage.

Second team: Emma Ody, Avon, sr.; Lexi Gray, Tallmadge, jr.

INFIELDERS

Sydney Becks, Tallmadge

Year: Junior

About Becks: Tallmadge made it to the state semifinals for the first time since 2014 with Becks leading the Blue Devils’ blistering offense. She hit a team-high .585 with 31 hits, 13 RBI and 23 runs entering the Division II state semifinals and played third base.

Sammy Gingras, Copley

Year: Senior

About Gingras: She set Copley’s single-season (13) and career (29) home runs records, hitting .520 as a senior with six home runs, 30 runs and 29 RBI. Gingras also had a .596 OBP and 1.516 OPS with a .920 slugging percentage. The state coaches gave Gingras an All-Ohio second-team nod in Division II.

Hannah Gurich, Keystone

Year: Junior

About Gurich: Keystone got back to regionals in Division III after a rare miss last season (the Wildcats have 35 district titles in the last 39 years). Gurich led the defense from the hot corner, including big plays in Keystone’s 1-0 win against Jeromesville Hillsdale for a district championship. The Wildcats won 23 games, and Gurich batted .425 with 32 runs, four home runs and 28 RBI.

Sienna Tepley, Walsh Jesuit

Year: Junior

About Tepley: Walsh Jesuit it deeper than any other area Division I team, reaching the regional finals at Youngstown State against powerhouse Austintown Fitch. Walsh overcame an injury to junior Minnesota recruit Natalie Susa at pitcher and turned to sophomore McKenna McGee to make that run. Tepley led the defense and hit high in the order for the Warriors, earning All-Ohio second team. Tepley batted .481 with a .556 OBP, 1.054 OPS and .531 slugging percentage. She scored a team-high 31 runs with 15 steals, also leading the Warriors while converting all 15 attempts.

Second team: Savannah Dixon, Elyria Catholic, jr.; Mia Maddamma, North Royalton, sr.; Shea Malone, West Geauga, sr.; Megan Schmidt, Field, sr.

OUTFIELDERS

Kristen Kelley, Amherst

Year: Junior

About Kelley: An All-Ohio honorable mention pick in Division I, Kelley hit .429 with a .478 OBP, .655 slugging percentage and 1.133 OPS. She scored 26 times and drove in 22 runs with three home runs. Only junior pitcher Lacie Stottlemire produced better numbers at the plate for the Comets, who were one of five teams from the Southwestern Conference to reach a Division I district final.

Sam Peterkoski, Berea-Midpark

Year: Senior

About Peterkoski: The Titans won a share of the SWC title with North Ridgeville and their first district championship in program history. Peterkoski played an integral part in the Berea-Midpark lineup to support Akron-bound pitcher Mallory Herwerden and earned an All-Ohio second-team nod.

Kaleigh Urbanowicz, Brecksville-Broadview Heights

Year: Senior

About Urbanowicz: With that void in the offense, following the graduation of center fielder and 2022 cleveland.com Player of the Year Chelsea Mack to Kentucky, Urbanowicz became the catalyst for Brecksville’s offense. She scored a team-high 49 runs with 45 steals and a .505 batting average.

Second team: Destiny Ruggiero, Akron Springfield, jr.; Kate Kujawski, St. Vincent-St. Mary, sr.; Sophie Retton, Aurora, so.

COACH OF THE YEAR

Brittany Lightel, Tallmadge

About Lightel: Tallmadge won its eighth state championship in program history with a 9-0 win against Canfield in the Division II title game. Only Akron Springfield, Warren Champion and Strasburg-Franklin, which won its ninth crown this year to tie those two, have taken home more state championship hardware. For Tallmadge, though, this year’s title marked its first since 1998. Lightel, a 2011 graduate of the school, played on a final four team in 2009. Her team broke through this year with an offense that tore through opposing pitching and outscored seven opponents 89-13 in the postseason. Berea-Midpark coach Myranda Rowland also was a finalist for this award, leading her program to its first district championship in Division I and an SWC co-championship.

Contact sports reporter Matt Goul on Twitter (@mgoul) or email (mgoul@cleveland.com).