ASHTABULA TOWNSHIP — Geneva first baseman Jennie Avsec knows how to make the most of an opportunity.

The junior first baseman was hitless in her varsity career entering Thursday’s Division II sectional championship matchup with Edgewood. However, the sixth at-bat of her varsity career gave the Eagles a 2-1 victory over the Warriors.

“I’m so proud of her,” Geneva coach Roberta Cozad said. “She hasn’t batted all year and she went in there knowing she could make contact.”

“Yeah, I was nervous,” Avsec said. “I usually strike out against (Edgewood pitcher) Megan (Dragon). It felt really good. I don’t even know how to describe it. It’s only the second game I’ve batted in this year. I was nervous beyond compare. You can’t even imagine. When I was standing there (at second), I thought, “Wow! I hit that ball really far.’ ”

The fifth-seeded Eagles (13-10) will play Poland, a 5-4 winner over Struthers on Thursday, in a Division II district semifinal at Jefferson on Tuesday. Jefferson will play Canfield in the other semifinal. The season will come to a conclusion for the top-seeded Warriors (16-5) with the end of the regular season.

“(Geneva) really played well,” Edgewood coach Shelley Monas said. “(Geneva pitcher Meagan) Brookes threw well and they played great defense. It seems Geneva might be a team of destiny. It was meant to be for them and not for us. We’ve struggled at the end here. We just have too many things going on.”

Geneva has won nine straight, including two in a row over the Warriors.

“The kids wanted to play Edgewood again,” Cozad said. “Last week Nicolette (Cunningham) came up and asked if we were going to play them again. When I told her we would, if we beat Conneaut on Tuesday, they were all so excited about that. I’m so proud of the kids. They worked hard for this.”

The Eagles tallied both runs with two outs in the top of the fourth. Cunningham drew a one-out walk and, after a pop out to Edgewood first baseman Jordyn Cicon in foul ground, scored to knot the game, 1-1, on a double to deep left by Shannon Cummings.

“You go into every situation thinking about driving the run in, especially against a team like Edgewood, where every run counts,” she said. “It was one of those swings where you don’t even think about your mechanics. It was all just muscle memory.”

Avsec broke the tie with a double to the gap in left-center to score Cummings from second.

“I just wanted to keep running,” Avsec said. “All I could think about was just getting that run to score and the running myself. I thought once we started hitting, we’d keep it going. I was really surprised (my hit decided the game).”

Brookes (10-8) allowed the Warriors very little, once she had the lead. She gave up just three hits in the final three innings.

“She mixed her pitches,” Cozad said. “But more important than anything was her mound presence. Never once did I see her let her shoulders shrug. It was like every batter she faced was the first batter of the first inning.”

Cunningham aided Brookes in catching a liner to left by Brittney Mackey and threw a strike to Avsec to double off McMellen in the top of the sixth.