Photo by Kim North Martins Ferry’s Makayla Cole (5) slides into third base Thursday night during an OVAC Class 3A softball semifinal game against Union Local on Lisa’s Field at the I-470 J.B. Chambers Complex in Elm Grove. The Jets’ Edyn McGary waits on the throw. The Purple Riders defeated the Jets, 11-4.

ELM GROVE — When Martins Ferry plays like it did Thursday night, the Purple Riders are a tough out.

The top seeds in Class 3A punched their ticket to the OVAC championship game on Saturday at 1 p.m. against second-seeded Wheeling Central with a 11-4 nod over No. 4 Union Local on Lisa’s Field at the I-470 J.B. Chambers xComplex. That’s a rematch of last year’s contest won by the Maroon Knights, 9-1, but the Purple Riders (19-4) won an earlier game this season, 5-2.

“The girls came ready to play tonight,” head coach Jerry Magistro. “I thought we did a pretty good job in everything we did, with the exception of baserunning. Sometimes when you want to be aggressive it works, and sometimes it doesn’t.”

He was referring to the bottom of the sixth when Martins Ferry had a pair of runners thrown out at third base.

“We hit the ball really well. We pitched really well and I thought we played really well on defense,” Magistro added. “We had some really nice catches in the outfield and infield.”

The Purple Riders scored twice in the first inning and tacked on four more in the second to stake winning pitcher Maddie Lucas to a 6-0 lead. With one out, Makayla Cole drew a walk before Giana Chirpas lined a laser that nearly took the glove off of Union Local second baseman Ella Pietranton. The throw to third was wild as Cole scored and Chirpas raced to third. With two outs, Averi Hughes’ bouncer back up the middle deflected off the glove of Union Local pitcher Kylie Stidd as Chirpas scored to make it 2-0.

With two out and runners on first and second in the bottom of the second inning, Cole lined a triple to the gap in right-center as the margin increased to 4-0. Chirpas was walked and with the count 2-0 on Abby Snedeker, the throw back from the catcher got away from the pitcher as Cole raced home. When the ball was kicked around in the infield, Chirpas alertly scampered home to make it 6-0.

“The only person that beat us today was us, defensively,” lamented Union Local head coach Melissa Lahna. “Offensively, I thought we hit the ball really well and, late, I thought we made some really good defensive plays. Honestly, (Kylie) Stidd deserved a better outcome.

“We’ve very young. It’s exciting,” Lahna added. “It’s a great group of kids. They are a fun bunch to be around.”

Union Local (14-9) made a game of it with four runs in the fourth, three coming on one swing of the bat by freshman Kloe Gallagher. Following an RBI single by Liv Blakley, Gallagher turned on an 0-1 pitch and sent it deep into the night in left-center.

“That was a big home run by a freshman,” Lahna noted.

Martins Ferry got those four runs back an inning later and added an insurance marker in the seventh.

Samantha Goddard belted an RBI double and Keighan Brandon added a two-run double. The fourth tally came across on an error.

Snedeker doubled home Chirpas In the seventh to cap the scoring.

Maddie Lucas struck out nine and walked two. The sophomore gave up all four hits in the fourth. She threw 113 pitches, with 78 being strikes.

Chirpas and Hughes evenly split four singles. Ella Mamone singled and doubled.

The championship game is tentatively set for Saturday at Lisa’s Field. The Class 2A game — between No. 1 Caldwell and No. 2 Bridgeport — will follow at 3 on the same field. In case of inclement weather, the games could be moved to Wheeling Park’s all-turf field.