SHELBY (Crawford County Now)— The 140-mile, round trip bus rides didn’t seem to matter. Nor did the game resuming roughly 64 hours after it had started.

Ada held off a furious Colonel Crawford rally here Monday morning, escaping with an 11-10 win and a Division VI district softball championship.

The game was stopped Friday night, due to heavy rains, with CC trailing 11-8 and batting with the bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the sixth inning.

“We’ve had 4 days to talk about that 8-run (second) inning,” head coach Ethan Weithman said.

“You take that away and we win. We stressed these last few weeks about things you can’t control. They stress out so much, especially with a young team, they stress out over little things.”

Saylor Holt singled to left field and scored pinch runner Harper Davis, then Paige Allen smacked one into centerfield to score Peyton Rowlinson.

There were no signs of stress for either team when play resumed under sunny skies.

Ada relief pitcher Aubrey Jordan, who came on in the fourth inning, struck out two Lady Eagles batters before Olivia Friley delivered her fifth hit of the game, a two-run double to right field that cut the Bulldogs lead to 11-10.

But that was all Jordan would give up. Ada got a single in the seventh, but sophomore Aubrey Betts shut the door recording a strikeout and pop-outs to shortstop.

“The girls responded, that’s all you can ask for. They put themselves in situations where they could still win and they’ve done that consistently most of this year,” Weithman said.

But Jordan closed out Colonel Crawford with 2 strikeouts and a flyout to rightfield to preserve the victory.

The Lady Eagles finish their season at 20-9.

Ada (24-4) plays Danville at Bellefontaine at 5 p.m., Wednesday. The Blue Devils beat Cardington 3-0 to advance.

Ada head coach Jeff Bassitt welcomed the extra rest and a dry field, despite the extra miles.

“She (Jordan) came back really strong and we felt confident coming into today. Colonel Crawford is a really good team, but we felt confident coming back to play in dry weather,” he said.

“We stayed focused and thought we could win. Our pitcher had a great year and we said, ‘Just do what you’ve been doing all year.'”

Ada appeared headed for a possible run-rule after that huge second inning. Trailing 3-0 after a Friley lead-off home run and a Paige Allen single to center to score two more, the Bulldogs showed plenty of bite.

Reese Jordan and starting pitcher Tea Griffith delivered back-to-back home runs to key that inning.

But Colonel Crawford showed determination, clawing its way back with a run in the second inning, a pair in the third and 4 in the sixth.

“We harped on them giving yourself an opportunity. With the exception of probably 2 games, they’ve done that. At the end of the day, as a coach, that’s all you can ask for,” Weithman said.

“We came in and hit Saturday after it got canceled. I made it optional. Then Sunday we came in at 6 last night and hit again. They weren’t uptight or stressing. It just wasn’t meant to be.”

Friley doubled in 2 in the third inning to cut it to 8-6. The sophomore catcher came into the tournament hitting .516.

In addition to the HR, she slammed a triple, 2 doubles and a single.

“It’s been all season with her. The best way to describe Liv is her work ethic is second to nobody. Everybody that sees her play … it’s what you don’t see that makes her so good. That kid works and works, and works and works,” Weithman said.

The senior class — Bailey Betts, Lillie Tieben, Rylie Hoepf, McKenna Potter, Paige Allen and Arabella Stratton — departed and left its mark on the program.

“I love them. They hadn’t had a winning season but one and we always got beat in sectionals. This is the most wins as a group. Twenty wins is the Crawford standard.

“That’s what they had when (Chuck) Huggins was here. Hopefully, we can keep building on this and one day, we’ll punch through. They’re a special group.”

Hoepf added 3 hits, Aubrey Betts and Allen a pair each.

The cupboard certainly isn’t bare.

“We got a lot of sophomores. The left side of the infield are freshmen (Adalyn Bond at shortstop and Kinley Hoepf at third base). Adalyn in travel played outfield predominantly. Kinley has never played third base before,” Weithman said.

Hoepf was hitting .477 and Bond .463 coming into the game.

“We had a lot of freshmen this year playing JV because we had so many kids coming back. Get them a little bit of time and if they buy into it, they’ll get their opportunities. If they don’t, they won’t.”

Box score

Ada                               080 030 0       11       7       1

Colonel Crawford      312 004 0        10     14      4

WP: Tea Griffith (2 SO, 1 W)

LP: Aubrey Betts (1 SO, 4 W)

HR: (A) Reese Jordan, Tea Griffith; (CC) Olivia Friley.

Triples: (CC) Olivia Friley.

Doubles: (A) Emily Shanks; (CC) Olivia Friley 2.

Multiple hits: (A) Aubrey Jordan; (CC) Olivia Friley 5, Rylie Hoepf 3, Aubrey Betts, Paige Allen.

Records: Ada 24-4; Colonel Crawford 20-9.

Next: Ada vs. Danville, Division VI regional final at Bellefontaine, Wednesday; Colonel Crawford season over.