By Gary Ogle
gogle@wbcowqel.com
The inning that wouldn’t end brought an end to the Colonel Crawford softball team’s tournament run on Tuesday afternoon. The Lady Eagles dropped a 12-3 decision to Pembervillle Eastwood in a Division III regional semifinal at Findlay High School.
Colonel Crawford took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Sydney Studer launched a solo home run over the left field fence. That stood up until the bottom of the third when Alissa Ray hit a two-run blast to put Eastwood up 2-1.
Colonel Crawford regained the lead one-half inning later when Karli Kurtzman singled and Studer walked. With two outs the Eastwood first baseman couldn’t hold on to a low throw and both Kurtzman and Studer scored to put Colonel Crawford up 3-2.
But then came the fifth when Eastwood sent 14 batters to the plate and took advantage of six hits and three Colonel Crawford errors to score 10 runs. Doubles by Carleigh Coffield and Hannah Owen accounted for five of the runs and four more touched home plate when Ashley Hitchcock ripped a grand slam to left.
Hitchcock threw a three-hitter at Colonel Crawford. Besides Studer’s homer and Kurtzman’s single, Kerri Reynolds ended her career at Colonel Crawford with a base hit. Hithccock struck out 13 and walked two.
Studer struck out seven and walked two while giving up nine hits.
Colonel Crawford is now 20-6 with a make-up game remaining against Carey that will determine second place in the N10 standings. Eastwood improves to 27-3 and will face either Cardington-Lincoln or Coldwater in Saturday’s regional championship game.