CALEDONIA — Allison Weithman put on a clinic in hitting and fielding in leading Colonel Crawford to a 7-5 win over River Valley in non-league softball action Thursday evening.

The junior had 5 hits, including a triple and drove in a pair of runs.

“Tonight was Allison Weithman. That’s Allison to a T. She’s been struggling as of late, and she is more hard on herself than anyone is,” Lady Eagles head coach Sarah Fraser said.

Weithman had singles in the first, second, fourth and sixth innings and added the triple in the seventh.

“She was determined today. Something lit a fire under her rear, and she went and got it done today,” Fraser said.

In addition to a hot bat, Weithman recorded 5 putouts and made solid plays at shortstop, including snagging a line drive and doubling up a Viking base runner at third to end the first inning.

Plating a run in each inning, the visitors kept the lead despite two-run innings in the third and fifth by River Valley.

“That was our goal, every time we went out. Just put one on the board and that was huge for us.”

The game was played in a steady wind under sunny skies and 80 degrees.

“It seems like everywhere we’ve gone since Hillsdale we have played in terrible, terrible wind so I would hope they would have learned to adjust by now,” Fraser said.

“There were some miscues here and there, but these are teen-age kids and they’re not going to be perfect. I liked how they responded after they got hits and errors.”

River Valley cut it to 3-2 in the third when Delaney Myers and Lanie Wooten cracked back-to-back doubles and Crawford committed an outfield error.

Veteran coach Phil Shepler, in his 16th season at RV, said defense was the difference.

“I think two very good teams, first of all. Colonel Crawford is solid on defense, and I felt like our defense let us down tonight. We’ve made some mistakes all year.

“We didn’t cover the bunts well. We’ve done it in practice over and over and over and we still didn’t cover it tonight. We botched a rundown that we’ve done over and over in practice,” Shepler said.

“It’s hard to swallow. My philosophy has always been if you don’t do it in practice, you can’t expect the kids to do it in a game. It’s frustrating.”

Both teams had 10 hits.

Madison Cobb smacked two doubles and a single for Colonel Crawford. Myers had a pair of two-baggers for River Valley.

“We hit the ball decent. Some of my hitters are in some slumps and we can’t seem to get out of it. Take nothing away from Crawford. They’re a good team and fundamentally they played well on defense,” Shepler said.

The Lady Vikings return to league play against Shelby next week.

“We split with Ontario. Shelby still has to beat us and beat them. MOAC is a tough conference. You have to bring your A-game every day or you go home losing.”

The Lady Eagles, meanwhile, are in a three-way tie for first with Carey and Upper Sandusky.

“Tonight is exactly why we put them (RV) on the schedule. They are a phenomenal team and great preparation for tournament time,” Fraser said. “We knew coming in they had to play, and they did. I’m so, so proud of the girls.”

Fraser sees Colonel Crawford (11-5 overall) improving at this point in the season.

“We’re starting to be a bit more comfortable. At the beginning of the year, we were so terrified of making errors. We felt like we had to get a hit every time up.

“We talked with our 5 and 6 captains and let them know the pressure you feel is huge and told them, ‘You can’t do it all. Let these young girls come along.’ The more we learn, the more they will get comfortable. Slowly but surely, we are.”

Sophomore pitcher Aubrey Zizzo got the win, with one strikeout and one walk. She is 6-3 on the season.

“I’m really proud of that girl. For not pitching for a year and a half and she’s getting better every single game. We keep a close eye on her pitch count and almost every game she’s thrown less than the game before, and that’s huge for her health wise and stamina wise,” Fraser said.

“She works at it. You can tell she’s getting better every game.”

Box score

Colonel Crawford    111 111 1      7      10       1

River Valley               002 020 1      5      10       3

WP: Aubrey Zizzo (1 SO, 1 W)

LP: Riley Hamm (6 SO, 1 W)

HR: None.

Triples: (CC) Allison Weithman.

Doubles: (CC) Madison Cobb 2; (RV) Delaney Myers 2.

Multiple hits: (CC) Allison Weithman 5, Madison Cobb 3; (RV) Delaney Myers, Delaney Hamm, Sidney Street. .

Records: Colonel Crawford 11-5; River Valley 11-4.

Next: Colonel Crawford at Wynford, Tuesday; River Valley at Shelby, Tuesday.