NEW RIEGEL — Colonel Crawford couldn’t solve the riddle that is Edison’s Kira Appeman.
Armed with an arsenal of off-speed pitches, Appeman limited the Eagles to four hits in the Chargers’ 3-0 win in the Division III district semifinals at New Riegel High School.
No. 2 seed Edison (17-6) will play Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division rival Huron for the district title at noon Saturday at New Riegel. The top-seeded Tigers ousted Crestview 4-2 in Wednesday’s early game.
Appeman kept the Eagles (19-7) off-balance all afternoon. She retired the first nine batters she faced and didn’t encounter any real danger until the fourth, when Crawford loaded the bases with two out.
“We were way out in front of the ball,” Colonel Crawford coach Sarah Fraser said. “We just didn’t get that one big hit.”
Colonel Crawford starter Lauren Frietchen matched Appeman pitch-for-pitch through three innings before encountering trouble of her own in the bottom of the fourth. Edison’s Mallory Perkins led off the inning with a single before being lifted for courtesy runner Aliyah Caporini. Deana Blatnik followed with a triple to right, plating Caporini with the game’s first run. Blatnik was lifted for pinch runner Emma Crabtree, who would score on a single by Olivia Vitaz. The Chargers appeared to score a third run in the inning, but the three-man umpiring crew took the run off the board after ruling Vitaz had interfered with Colonel Crawford’s Allison Weithman while Weithman was trying to field a ball at short.
“That could have been a big play in the game, but we played through it,” Edison coach Troy Keegan said. “Our defense kept them off the board.”
Crawford’s best chance to score came in the fourth when Weithman led off with a single and moved to second on Kaylyn Risner’s single, bringing slugger Alivia Studer to the plate. Studer, who has belted 17 home runs this season, popped up to short before Harley Thomas walked to load the bases. Jocelyn Shade then hit a ball between third and short but Edison shortstop Reagan King ranged to her right and threw to Vitaz at third for the force out.
The Chargers added an insurance run in the sixth when King singled and eventually scored on a Crawford throwing error.
“That’s obviously not the way we wanted to go out,” Fraser said. “Edison is always a great ball team. They got the hits when we didn’t and it just went their way tonight.”
