NORTH ROBINSON — Teams have pitched to Colonel Crawford star Alivia Studer all season and have paid the price.

Upper Sandusky did the same thing Friday afternoon and paid the price as well.

With two on and one out in the first inning, the Rams pitched to Studer, and the Crawford centerfielder belted a three-run homer to right-center, giving the Eagles a 3-0 lead, setting the tone for Crawford’s 6-3 win over Upper Sandusky in the final of the Division III sectional.

With the win, the Eagles (19-6) advance to the district tournament in New Riegel. Crawford, which is the third seed, will face second-seeded Milan Edison on Wednesday at 6 p.m. In the night’s first game, top-seeded Huron will face fourth-seeded Crestview at 4 p.m.

Colonel Crawford coach Sarah Fraser said Studer’s opposite-field shot proves the junior is growing as a hitter. The long ball was Studer’s 15th homer of the season.

“I’m glad they do. I wouldn’t,” Fraser said of pitching to Studer. “Very rarely does she take it to the opposite field, so she’s been doing what we’ve been working on and letting it get to her, taking that outside pitch the other way. That was good for her, too.”

Upper Sandusky coach Luke Swavel said that the Rams did consider not pitching to the Crawford star.

“We really didn’t need to give her anything to hit with a base open, but we just hung one and we went out and got it,” Swavel said. “We can’t make mistakes like that against a hitter like that.”

Upper had chances to get back in the game, scoring a run in the second and one more in the third on a sacrifice fly from Jenna Kurtz.

But the Rams also put runners on third in the second and third innings and didn’t get either one in. Upper also had the bases loaded with one out in the sixth, but a double play pulled off by Crawford shortstop Allison Weithman ended the threat. Weithman snagged a line drive off the bat of Upper’s Jenna Fagan and got a runner who had strayed too far from first base.

“I thought with the bases loaded we had our chance, then we got a silly mistake at first that ran us out of an inning, so that inning was the difference right there,” Swavel said.

Swavel added that the Rams’ defense wasn’t as good as Crawford’s.

“We made some silly mistakes, base running mistakes,” Swavel said. “We made a few nice plays on the defense. Line drive to short, line drive to second. We hit two gaps in the outfield and the centerfielder made nice plays on both of them. They took away hits.

“The difference tonight was their defense against our defense. To beat a team like this, you almost need to play a flawless defensive effort and we came up short tonight.”

Colonel Crawford starter Lauren Frietchen scattered 11 hits in the game, striking out three.

“She missed some spots,” Fraser said of her starter. “I definitely think early she was struggling a little bit. I think the momentum and the runs we got her helped and she got stronger as the game we on for sure.”

Fraser agreed that her team’s defense was the difference.

“Our outfield did tremendous tonight, so defense played great,” Fraser said.

“Upper threatens all the time,” she added. “Every time they come to bat and every time, they are in the box they are a threat. For us to get through it time and time again, that just shows how good our defense did.”

Upper starter Liv Gier permitted just seven hits, only five in the final five frames.

“In tournaments, we’re not going to score a lot of runs and we’re used to scoring a lot of runs,” Fraser said. “We got the hits when we needed them and the runs when we needed them and played defense and that’s what we did.”

Box score

Upper Sandusky      011 000 1       3       11        1

Colonel Crawford    300 210 X       6         7        1

WP: Lauren Frietchen (3 SO, 2 W)

LP: Liv Gier (2 SO 3 W)

HR: (CC) Alivia Studer (3-run, first inning).

Triples: None.

Doubles: (US) Brooke Swavel.

Multiple hits: (US) Hannah Plymale 3, Brooke Swavel, Cassidy Breidenbach; (CC) Harley Thomas, Atley Crabaugh.

Records: Upper Sandusky 15-11; Colonel Crawford 19-6.

Next: Upper Sandusky at McComb, Saturday; Colonel Crawford vs. Milan Edison at New Riegel Division III district semifinal, Wednesday.