The top-seeded Purple Riders used a pair of big innings in eliminating seventh-seeded Edison, 15-5, high atop the Purple City in a Division III, sectional tournament co-final.

With the lop-sided victory, Martins Ferry (18-1) advances to the district semifinals for the first time under third-year head coach Jerry Magistro. It will meet fourth-seeded Garaway, which ousted Fort Frye, 10-0, also on Thursday. That contest will be played Monday at 5 p.m. on the artificial surface at Harrison Central High School in Cadiz.

“I’m so proud of these girls. We just need to keep doing what we are doing,” Magistro, who improved to 41-6 in his two seasons at the helm. His first season was wiped out due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

“Being the top seed for the second year in a row means a lot to these girls,” Magistro continued. “They take a lot of pride in that No. 1 seeding.

“I know Garaway is always tough, so we just need to keep playing our style of ball.”

The Wildcats (11-16) struck first when Alayna Meadows sent an 0-1 offering from Clark over the fence in right-center with one out in the top of the second.

Martins Ferry used a three-run third to go up 3-1 as Danielle Lude drove in a run with a sacrifice fly; Clark followed with a run-scoring single; and Lauren McFarland’s infield single plated the third tally.

Edison posted four runs in the top of the fourth in chasing Clark from the circle. Audrey Scott doubled in the first run and Mychi Stewart singled in the second, making it 4-3. Kelsie Gillespie relieved and surrendered a run-producing double to Becka Evans as the lead grew to 5-3.

However, that would be all the damage Edison could do against Gillespie, who earned the win with a trio of strikeouts and no walks.

“They were timing me up and hitting me. I think I was hitting my spots, but they just timed me up,” Clark said of her time inside the circle. “We battled back and my bat was helping tonight.”

Clark said after the Purple Riders lost in the first round last year as the top seed, they are on a mission this season.

“I’m going to miss this team. We’re trying to make it last as long as we can.”

The Purple Riders added half-a-dozen runs in the bottom of the fourth as Hunter Pollock’s two-run blast to right-center tied the game with one out and set the stage for the play of the game.

After the second out was recorded, Clark reached on an error and Taylor Bell was hit by a pitch for the second time in the game. Lauren McFarland struck out on a pitch in the dirt and the ball rolled away as McFarland hustled down the line to load the bases. Nevaeh Hall drilled a 1-0 pitch off the fence in left as Clark and Bell crossed the plate. Pinch runner Riley Doyle would race home on Ella McFarland’s infield hit, and courtesy runner Sydney Koller would hustle around when the ball was mishandled, giving the hosts a 9-5 advantage.

“That was huge. It wasn’t so bad that they tied the game at 5, it was with two outs that we made an error, hit a batter and then had the dropped third strike which would’ve been the third out,” veteran Edison head coach Spencer Bendle recalled. “That set the table for them to score some more.

“Give Martins Ferry credit, they hit the ball with two outs,” Bendle noted. “They aren’t 18-1 for no reason.

“We didn’t play clean defensively and our pitching wasn’t as sharp as it needed to be and when you have those two things happening against a team that hits the ball as well as Martins Ferry does, bad things are going to happen,” Bendle said. “That’s what happened today.”

Clark tripled home Lude with two outs in the fifth to up the count to 10-5 and a five-run fifth ended things.

With the score 12-5 and the bases loaded, Clark lined a shot to center that scored two runs. When the ball got away from the centerfielder, Magistro waved Lude home and she scored without a throw.

While the Purple Riders collected 10 hits, it was the bottom two spots in the order that came up big. Eve Agnew, the No. 8 hitter, walked three times, twice starting big innings. She scored three runs. Kaylynn Zinn and Gillespie each scored once from the nine hole.

“The bottom of our order has always come through for us,” Magistro noted. “We had some big hits today. These girls can hit.”

Clark led the hitting attack with a pair of singles and a triple to drive in four runs. Hall rapped a pair of doubles to account for two runs and Pollock had a base-loaded walk for a third run batted in. All told, the top three batters combined for seven RBI as Lude added a pair.

Magistro said that Clark is a gamer.

“She’s an all-around player. She can pitch. She can play first base and third base, and today she played in the outfield,” he noted. “No matter where you play her, she can play.”

“That’s a good team. They’ve played a lot of good teams and beaten a lot of good teams,” Magistro said of Edison. “They are well-coached and I have a lot of respect for Spencer and what he does with his team.”

Despite the season-ending loss, Bendle was proud of the way his team competed all season.

“I told the girls before we even had our first practice that this would be our toughest schedule since 2008,” Bendle revealed. “I truly believe that. It’s been that long since we had a schedule that had this many quality teams with plenty of hitting and pitching and players returning from the season before. We knew what we had on our plate.

“We battled at times and beat some good teams,” he added. “Our whole season was about consistency. We were never consistent with our fielding, our hitting or our pitching. At tournament time you have to have that consistency, and we didn’t.”