JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP — The Edgewood Warriors got some late-inning second chances through miscues from a determined Perry Pirates team Friday afternoon in Division II sectional action at Kidder Field.

And the Warriors did what the Pirates were unable to do with their opportunities — score runs.

It paid off handsomely for the Warriors as they rallied from a 2-1 deficit with three unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth and another in the bottom of the sixth inning to claim a 5-2 win in a game that didn’t appear possible to play after action on Thursday afternoon.

Edgewood (16-7, 5-6 Northeastern Conference) will return Thursday for a district semifinal game against Chagrin Falls at Kidder Field.

That the Pirates were even in the game came as a result of some strange circumstances.

They had dropped a 7-5 decision the day before to the Harvey Red Raiders, but Harvey’s pitcher had pitched an inning more than the rules allow. As a result, instead of thinking their season had come down to just one more game, a makeup game with West Geauga next week, the Pirates had to regroup Friday afternoon and prepare for a date with the second-seeded Warriors after benefitting from the forfeit win over Harvey.

How much emotions going up and down like a roller coaster at Cedar Point for Perry’s youthful band of Pirates played in the game was indeterminable, but Perry got off to a fine start against Andrew Showalter of Edgewood. Ken Crockett led off the game by drawing a walk, advanced on an infield out and came home when cleanup hitter Rich Zalanka drilled a sharp grounder through the left side of the infield to plate the run.

Perry got a pair of two-out infield singles in the top of the second to threaten again, but Showalter (7 IP, 5 H, 1BB, 4K) shut down the next hitter.

Devon Anderson (3R, 2H, 1SB) got Edgewood going, leading off the bottom of the third with an infield hit. He promptly stole second, made it to third on a balk by Pirate hurler Kevin Siegel (5.2 IP, 5R, 1ER, 7K), and came home when Marc Bartone (2H, R, RBI) drilled a single to right field to knot the game at 1-1.

It stayed that way until, with two outs in the top of the fifth, Perry third baseman Johnny Phelps sent a long shot over the fence in left field for a 2-1 lead for his team. But that was to be the last gasp for the Pirate team.

“We had some timely hitting today,” Edgewood coach Steve Kray said. “In the first couple innings, we didn’t get clutch hits when we had the chance, and Perry got a lead on us because they did. We were swinging at Siegel’s curve l early in the count, and he made us pay for it.”

In scattering five hits and surviving the early threats, Showalter was in control the whole way after that second inning except for the Phelps homer.

Siegel also was sharp over the first four innings for the Pirates, but in the bottom of the fifth, Anderson and Motter both singled up the third base line, the distance totalling almost a whopping 45 feet. But Bartone sent a sharp grounder toward third that handcuffed Phelps with an in-between hop for an error to tie the game at 2-2.

With two outs, Michael Schupska drilled a shot down the left-field line to plate two more runs and untie the game.

“After Phelps hit that homer, it was important for us to get (Greg) Motter’s run in the fifth that got the lead back for us, and his triple in the sixth plated a very important run as well because it gave us some cushion to ride on.” Kray said. “I can’t say enough about how he hustled today, all the kids were focused and Andrew (Showalter) was sharp the whole game with his location and control of his pitches.