The Cougars entered last Thursday's OCC-Central Division game against Dublin Coffman looking to bounce back from 1-0 losses to Thomas Worthington on April 29 and Hilliard Darby last Monday.

Westland, which was 10-6 overall and 5-3 in the OCC before last Thursday, will play host to Watterson in the first round Monday. The 12th-seeded Cougars lost to Watterson 10-5 on April 18 as they committed 12 errors.

"Watterson always has a decent team," North said. "I'm concerned about that, but I'm not concerned about our team. Our kids will rebound."

The winner will face Lancaster or 11th-seeded Olentangy on Wednesday. Westland will play host to Thomas in a rescheduled game Tuesday.

North said the defense and pitching have been solid down the stretch of the regular season. Brandi Rees allowed two hits against Thomas and three against Darby.

The Cougars, however, combined for just six hits in the two games.

"We're playing great defense," North said. "We're struggling right now hitting the ball. We're not putting anything back-to-back with people on base. It's frustrating, but at the same time if we can continue to play like we're playing on the defensive end then hopefully the bats will come around."

•The baseball team will open the Division I district tournament Monday at Whetstone. The Braves were 11-6 before playing Franklin Heights last Thursday. The Cougars were 7-12 overall and 0-10 in the OCC-Central before playing Worthington Kilbourne last Thursday.

"Whetstone is a consistent team," coach David Daniels said. "If you win 11 and only lose six you're playing good baseball most of the time."

The winner will visit fourth-seeded Dublin Scioto on Wednesday. The Irish were 17-2 before playing Westerville South last Thursday.

"Scioto is pretty stacked this year," Daniels said. "They have a real good team and they play hard."

Westland lost to Grove City 12-0 in five innings in the South-Western Classic on April 29, Hilliard Darby 7-0 last Monday and Central Crossing 10-1 last Tuesday. A game against Central Crossing scheduled for last Wednesday was postponed because of bad weather.

Lucas Pencek was the winning pitcher as Westland opened the South-Western Classic with an 8-0 win against Franklin Heights.

"It's always nice to win," Daniels said. "We should play like that all the time. Our boys have played some good baseball games this year, but then we've had some real stinkers, too. We've been really inconsistent."

•The boys and girls track and field teams will compete in the OCC-Central meet at Upper Arlington on Thursday and Saturday.

"I hope the girls compete and do their best," coach Tim Eckard said. "The boys beat Kilbourne and Upper Arlington during the regular season, so I hope we would be middle of the pack based on our dual-meet performances. We always stress to try to do better and get personal-bests. The end of the year is a good time to give your best performance, so we hope those kids give their best performance in the league meet."

The boys team, which competed in the Teays Valley Invitational last Saturday, beat UA 78-49 last Tuesday. One of the highlights was freshman Zach Hall winning the discus (113 feet, 4 inches).

The Cougars finished 12th (1) in the Anthony Wilson Invitational at Franklin Heights on May 2 behind first-place Franklin Heights (76).

The girls team fell to UA 94-32 and finished ninth (17.75) in the Anthony Wilson Invitational behind first-place Groveport (92).

Against UA, winners included Beth Altfillisch in the shot put (28-2 3/4), Jackie Barnhart in the discus (88-10), Allison Thomas in the high jump (4-8) and Courtney Francis in the long jump (14-8).

•The boys tennis team was 4-10 overall and 0-6 in the OCC-Central before playing Darby last Thursday.

The Cougars, who competed in the OCC-Central tournament at Hilliard Davidson last Saturday, will play host to Ready on Tuesday and compete in the Division I sectional at Darby on Friday.

Westland defeated Franklin Heights 5-0 on April 29 and Watkins Memorial 4-1 last Monday, and lost to Central Crossing 3-2 last Tuesday.

Against Franklin Heights, winners were David Griffith at first singles 6-3, 6-3, Allan Hinch at second singles 6-2, 6-0, Tyler Thomas at third singles by forfeit, Troy Fleischman and Scottie Haslam at first doubles 6-0, 6-0 and Jesse Kraft and Colin McCarty at second doubles 6-4, 6-3.

Against Watkins Memorial, winners were Griffith at first singles 6-3, 7-5, Hinch at second singles 5-2, 6-3, Andy Van at third singles 6-4, 6-4 and Fleischman and Haslam at first doubles 2-6, 7-5, 7-6.

"I thought we had a good match against Watkins," coach Dan Witteman said. "That was a good win. We're making progress and I'm getting some guys experience."