CRESTLINE — Usually, the team that makes the fewest mistakes wins a softball game.

Monday, that team was Wynford.

The Royals (5-12) took advantage of five Crestline errors and downed the Bulldogs, 7-4, in a Division IV sectional semifinal tournament game.

With the win, the Royals move to the sectional final and will travel to Mohawk on Thursday at 5 p.m. Crestline fell to 7-11 on the season.

Going to Mohawk was part of the plan of Wynford coach Jamee Burke, who said that, because the Royals were the ninth seed to seventh for the Bulldogs, she had the first choice of who she got to play.

“We actually got to pick the route we wanted,” Burke said. “For me, if we got Crestline and Mohawk, that was our best route. Our last game, we went 10-13 with Mohawk. We gave up eight unearned runs.

“If we hit the ball and take care of things, that’s the best tournament path for us. As a ninth seed, well, that’s not very good. We got to choose the path we wanted, and we felt this was the best path.”

The Royals took a 3-0 lead then watched as the Bulldogs tied the game at 4-4 after three before coming back strong late in the game.

“From the start of the season until now, we’ve done nothing but improve,” Crestline coach Patti Huber said. “We came back and tied the game, and just made some mental mistakes and we didn’t get some timely hits when we needed them. Overall, this was a great game for us.”

The Royals took advantage of a pair of Crestline errors and a run-scoring single by Kearsten Hulsmeyer to take a 3-0 lead in the first inning.

After Crestline scored in the bottom of the first on a Brianna Briggs double and an Alandra Tesso single, Wynford added a run to the lead, making it 4-1 in the second on an error, a wild pitch and a ground ball.

Crestline scored twice in the bottom of the second on two errors and an Emma Kirby single, then tied the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the third.

From there, Wynford scored once in the fourth on a Madie Wagner run-scoring single and twice in the sixth on run-scoring singles from Hannah Messmer and Wagner.

Messmer scattered five hits in a complete-game effort.

“(Crestline) hit the ball hard. Kudos to them,” Burke said. “(Desi) Naveja can smack the ball and we knew that coming in, so we made the plays we needed to make. If we had an error, we made the play right after that.

“I thought (Hannah) threw the ball very well today. She hit the corners where I wanted her to hit and mixing speeds. She got her drop ball working again. When it’s warmer, that’s a good pitch for her. We really haven’t had a chance to utilize it this season, so we were able to take advantage of that and that really helped us out.”

Briggs also pitched well for the Bulldogs, permitting just five hits, but only three of the runs she gave up were earned.

“(Briggs) started the season only playing first base for us,” Huber said. “We lost our pitcher from last year and she stepped up as a senior and said she wanted to pitch. And she has done a great job.”

Huber said that her seniors have had a great career.

“Great leadership,” Huber said. “They come to practice and work hard. I couldn’t ask for anything more. The kids love playing softball, so they come out to win and have fun. It shouldn’t be hard.”

Box score

Wynford    310 102 0       7     5    3

Crestline    121 000 0      4     5     5

WP: Hannah Messmer (4 SO, 0 W)

LP: Brianna Briggs (1 SO, 4 W)

HR: None

Triples: None.

Doubles: (C) Brianna Briggs, Alandra Tesso.

Multiple hits: (W) Madie Wagner, Kearston Hulsmeyer; (C) Emma Kirby.

Records: Wynford 5-12; Crestline 7-11.

Next: Upper Sandusky at Wynford, Tuesday; Crestline at Ridgemont, Tuesday.