OLIVESBURG — Galion head coach Calli Bauer said earlier this week that her team tended to take a couple of innings to get warmed up and she wished that would change.

That happened here Friday night as No. 6 seed Galion started quickly and was in control the entire way to win a Division III softball sectional final over No. 2 Crestview, 10-5.

“At the beginning of the season, we made a lot of errors on defense and didn’t play how we thought we could have played,” Bauer said.

“That first game against Crestview is a game we have never talked about as a team because it wasn’t us. Today, it was us. We prepared very hard for their pitcher and defensively, we have been solid as we have been all year.”

It marks Galion’s first trip to the district round since 2019. They take on fifth-seed Milan Edison at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Shelby High School. Edison topped Upper Sandusky 14-11 Friday night for a sectional title.

Galion banged out 12 hits, to go along with 13 in the sectional semifinal win over Colonel Crawford on Tuesday.

Kaitlyn McKee led off with a double to right field and scored after a Kortnie Ganshorn bunt and an infield error. The Lady Tigers added a second run on a Madelyn Schieber ground out to go up 2-0.

The slow start doomed the Lady Cougars and propelled Galion to the win.

“They had the kind of start that we were hoping for. I kinda wish we got the choice whether we wanted to bat first or not because I really feel confident that we would have been better off getting first swings and trying to jump on it. But that first inning, we made our mistakes and they seemed to compound,” Crestview head coach Scott Durbin said.

Crestview is 17-7 with one regular season game remaining, which is a Saturday date with Mapleton for a Firelands Conference title.

Galion took over in the third inning, adding four more runs for a 6-0 lead.

CeCe Campbell ripped an RBI double before a walk loaded the bases. Destiny Blue beat out an infield single, Adalyn Perry drew a bases-loaded walk and Elliott Freyman added an RBI groundout.

Bauer complimented the Lady Cougars, whom they split with on April 20.

“When we first saw Chesnie Patton, we tipped our cap to her. She has crazy spin, hits spots well and throws the ball hard. We worked a lot after that game on our approaches at the plate and it just clicked today,” she said.

“Our league (MOAC) prepares us to see pitching like this in the tournament. It was nice to make those adjustments early and take that part out of the game.”

Crestview scored a pair in the fourth inning as Kalee Hamman and Maddie Grant drove in runs to take it 6-2.

Patton took the loss despite seven strikeouts and just one walk.

Madison Beck got the win with a six-strikeout, one-walk performance. She yielded eight hits, but only one extra-base hit, that being a double by PJ Endicott in the sixth.

In that inning Crestview managed to plate three runs thanks to Endicott, and hits by Patton, Hamman, and Carlee Crider.

But Campbell, who had doubled twice previously, took a 1-1 pitch, and planted it over the fence in the sixth inning to make it a 9-2 contest. She drove in three runs.

Ava Ball had doubled to open the inning before Cameron Eckert singled.

“My first at-bat, I struggled and popped out to the pitcher. She got me. I told myself that she wasn’t going to get me again and I jumped on my pitch each time. I was ready to go from the first pitch and I had two doubles off of first-pitch swings,” Campbell said.

“Tonight, right from the get-go, that was my team. We were all together and never got down.”

Campbell’s work ethic is stellar, Bauer pointed out.

“That was one of her best swings of the year. That kid works as hard as anyone I know. She was out at 10 p.m. hitting with her dad and this afternoon, our bus left at 2:30 p.m. and she was hitting when I showed up. She is a great leader, and she led this team today.”

The Cougars lose just one senior in shortstop Sophie Durbin, the coach’s daughter.

“I think she raised the standard which is a great thing. She raised the bar on what it takes to be a player in this program,” Durbin said. “I think her teammates noticed that and followed that. It is going to be different, but hopefully we will see the example she set over the next few years.”

After a strong start and a road win against a quality opponent, Bauer and her team turn their sights to Wednesday’s district semifinal game against Edison (19-3).

“Our approaches have gotten so much better. They’re buying into the program and I’m loving it. In the dugout we have a toddler potty. When something goes wrong, we say we flush it. We just gotta keep working hard and believing in us,” she said.

Box score

Division III sectional final

Galion 10, Ashland Crestview 5 

Galion           204  003 1      10      12       1

Crestview     000  203 0        5        8        2

WP: Madison Beck (6 SO, 1 W)

LP: Chesnie Patton (7 SO, 1 W)

HR: (G) CeCe Campbell (2-run, sixth inning).

Triples: None.

Doubles: (G) CeCe Campbell 2, Kaitlyn McKee, Ava Ball; (C) P.J. Endicott.

Multiple hits: (G) CeCe Campbell 3, Cameron Eckert, Adalyn Perry, Ava Ball; (C) P.J. Endicott, Carlee Crider.

Records: Galion 11-12; Crestview 17-7.

Next: Galion vs. Milan Edison, at Shelby Division III district semifinal, Wednesday 6 p.m.; Crestview at Mapleton, Saturday.