SHELBY — Margaretta coach Ray Neal had a plan coming into his team’s battle with Wynford: Stop Wynford star Grant McGuire.

After all, McGuire led the Northern 10 Conference by a wide margin in home runs (7) and RBI (41), It was something Neal wasn’t going to allow.

“We knew we were going to play Wynford after Friday of last week, so for Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, we talked that we were not going to let Grant McGuire beat us,” Neal said.

Well, the plan didn’t work.

McGuire belted a three-run home run to left in the first inning, giving the Royals the early lead, before adding a single and a run in the third.

And Royals’ pitcher Spencer Miller fired five shut0ut innings before being removed. But he came back in the seventh, getting the last two hitters to save his own win.

Wynford built a 7-0 lead after five innings then held off a Margaretta charge in the final two innings to beat the Polar Bears, 7-5 in the semifinal of the Division III district tournament Thursday.

With the win, the Royals (20-8) will face Oak Harbor for the district crown on Saturday at 5 p.m. at Shelby High School. Margaretta ends its season at 13-15.

The 20-8 season has been remarkable, considering that the team began its season with a 1-3 record before winning 19 of its final 19 of 24 games.

According to Wynford coach Tom Smith, the Royals flipped the script by getting off to a very fast start.

“We’ve always been playing from behind, so I felt really good when we finally actually jumped out on somebody,” Smith said. “That was a pretty good start.”

Wynford jumped quickly in the first inning off talented Margaretta starter Sean Reardon.

Miller opened the game with a double to left before Kaiden Blair bunted for a single.

That set the stage for McGuire.

The Wynford star swung and missed a fastball to open the at-bat, but he didn’t miss again, driving the next pitch deep over the left field fence, giving the Royals a 3-0 lead.

“To (McGuire’s) credit, we made a mistake on a pitch in the first inning, and he put it where Grant McGuire can put it,” Neal said.

“We talked about walking him every time, but we didn’t do that, obviously. The second time up he got a base hit, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a sac fly,” he added.

McGuire felt that the big blow was important for the Royals.

“I was looking for it,” McGuire said. “I was just late on the fastball on the first pitch, so, I don’t know why he didn’t throw another one but then he threw another one and I was ready for it.”

McGuire also singled and scored for the Royals in the third, giving Wynford a 4-0 lead at that point.

“We talk about it all the time in practice, we work on it all the time in practice, we don’t always need big hits to score runs; just get the smaller ones. Speed kills as well,” McGuire said.

“We lost in the district semis (the last two) years, and we were just ready to get over it,” he added.

Wynford added a run in the fourth when Landon Miller doubled down the right field line and scored on a Spencer Miller single.

The Royals increased the lead to 7-0 in the fifth. McGuire was hit by a pitch, before Drew Johnson tripled to right, scoring McGuire. Landon Miller bunted for a single, scoring Johnson.

“We gave them some runs from their fifth, sixth seventh guys and maybe we didn’t make a play we should have made,” Neal said. “We also had a couple of innings where we had a chance to score some runs with two outs and we didn’t get the big hit. Give their kids credit.”

Spencer Miller cruised through the first five innings on the hill, scattering six hits. Smith replaced him with Johnson in the sixth, but the Polar Bears came storming back, scoring three times in the sixth on a three-run double to right by Tyson Bailey.

In the seventh, doubles from Bren Smith and Kellen Moore led to two runs, cutting the lead to 7-5.

Smith put Miller back in the game with one out and got the next two hitters to end the game.

“We fell apart there late in the game,” Smith said. “Spencer got a win and a save in the same game, so that’s pretty cool. Spencer pitched great.”

Smith felt his team came into the game relaxed and played that way.

“We just tried to be relaxed,” Smith said. “We felt good coming in. This group is relaxed. Before the game I made the comment, the guys were like ‘I’m going to go to the bathroom,’ They just stayed relaxed. We had a couple of guys get a little tight late but before the game they were really loose.”

Box score

Margaretta    000 003 2       5    11     0

Wynford        301 120 X       7    10      1

WP: Spencer Miller (0 SO, 0 W)

LP: Sean Reardon (8 SO, 0 W)

HR: (W) Grant McGuire (3-run, first inning).

Triples: (W) Drew Johnson.

Doubles: (M) Bren Smith, Kellen Moore, Tyson Bailey; (W) Spencer Miller, Landon Miller.

Multiple hits: (M) Bren Smith, Kellen Moore, Ben Millis, Memphis McKenzie; (W) Spencer Miller, Grant McGuire, Landon Miller.

Records: Margaretta 13-15; Wynford 20-8.

Next: Margaretta season over; Wynford vs. Oak Harbor at Shelby Division III district final, Saturday.