CALEDONIA (Crawford County Now) — The rematch proved to be a much closer contest than the first game played 24 hours earlier.

Host River Valley topped Galion 6-4 in a Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference game here Thursday night. On Wednesday, the homestanding Lady Tigers were blanked by the Lady Vikings, 9-0.

“It’s kind of been the story of our season. We’re real close. We normally have one inning, but tonight we had more than one inning,” Galion head coach Calli Bauer said.

“(Kylie) Eastep is fabulous. She throws the ball hard and was hammering us inside yesterday and we just didn’t adjust. Our goal today was to adjust as much as we could and get her out of the circle, and we did that.”

Eastep, a sophomore, struck out 7 and walked 3 Galion batters in 4 and 2/3 innings. The night before she fanned 17.

The win is RV’s 17th overall and at 10-2 stays close with Ontario and Clear Fork atop the MOAC standings.

“We are improving and growing. I’m not gonna lie, coming in I was a little bit nervous. But we hit the ball. We made adjustments in warm-ups, and we talked about approaches at the plate. They followed those and did a great job,” Bauer said.

The hosts got a run in the second after a Sidney Street double to right centerfield and a single by Kamryn Fowler. Both players had two hits.

Lady Vikes head coach Emily Lindsey wasn’t surprised with the competitive game.

“I expected today would be a little bit closer. Galion is a good team overall,” she said.

“We wanted to build Kylie’s stamina up a little bit going into tournaments. I wanted to see a kind of dog fight in the infield and the outfield. Obviously I’m happy with the win, and our mentality right now is to get ready for tournament play.”

River Valley plated a pair of runs in the fourth thanks to an RBI single by Emersyn Isom and an Addi Braun double.

But Galion scored three times in the top of the fifth to knot the game at 3-3. Four hits from Cam Eckert, Kaitlyn McKee, Madelyn Schieber and Chloe Jutz did the damage.

The Lady Vikings got three more runs, including a pair in the sixth, to secure the win. A Fowler hit and a couple of Galion fielding errors put the game away.

“Our conference is really good. They all kind of give us different looks with pitchers, including one lefty (Galion’s Sara Holt). We learn something from each team, and we hope to get better,” Lindsey said.

Holt struck out 5 and walked 6 in 4 innings. Maddie Beck (2SO, 1W) pitched the final two frames.

The first-year coach said her squad has adapted to her program.

“With hitting, them listening with a new coaching staff, a new approach. I like to stick to a plan, and if that doesn’t work we go into a survive mode and into a compete mode.

“It’s more so not chasing what the other pitchers want you to chase and attacking their good stuff. Our hitting staff has done a really good job with that,” Lindsey said.

She added the cold and wet weather hasn’t affected her team.

“We always say control what you can control. How you show up and the energy that you bring you can control. It can’t be an excuse. We play in it from day one and go and do your jobs.”

River Valley hosts a sectional game next Thursday against the winner of Columbus International and Columbus East.

“The MOAC is stacked, and we’ve been playing some really good softball against teams like Clear Fork. We had a two-run loss and Shelby we were in there for a little bit and Ontario the same thing,” Bauer said.

“We’re battling against those good teams. So, I feel confident when we go into the Division V district tournament, as long as we play how we can. If we play how we did tonight, we’ll be OK. We need to clean up the base running a little bit.”

Last spring the Lady Tigers fell to Margaretta in the D-III district championship game.

“The only ones are two freshmen and one girl who wasn’t a starter on the team last year. So, they know what a post-season run means, but we have to take care of one game at a time. Tomorrow we got Marion Harding and then Northmor before we go to Huron.”

Galion is the sixth seed and plays at No. 3 seed Huron at 5 p.m. Tuesday with the winner facing top-seed Oak Harbor.

Box score

Galion               000 030 1       4        7        2

River Valley    010 212 X       6        7        2

WP: Kylie Eastep (7 SO, 3 W)

LP: Sara Holt (5 SO, 6 W)

HR: None.

Triples: (G) Kaitlyn McKee.

Doubles: (G) Madelyn Schieber, Cam Eckert; (RV) Addi Braun, Sidney Street.

Multiple hits: (G) Madelyn Schieber 3; (RV) Kamryn Fowler, Sidney Street.

Records: Galion 7-14, 3-9 MOAC; River Valley 17-4, 10-2 MOAC.

Next: Galion at Marion Harding, Friday; River Valley at Clear Fork, Tuesday.