Staff photo / Preston Byers Boardman’s Tori Strines gets ready to throw a pitch during Tuesday’s Division III district semifinal vs. Geneva at Boardman High School.

BOARDMAN — Boardman made quick work of Geneva in its Division III, Northeast 2 district semifinal matchup, with the second-seeded Spartans run-ruling the No. 26 Eagles 10-0 in just over an hour Tuesday.

After a three-run first inning, Boardman added six more in the third and the 10th run of the game in the bottom of the fourth to put the pressure on Geneva to produce in the fifth, but the Eagles failed to score to keep the game going.

“We did what we were supposed to do,” Boardman coach Fred Mootz said. “We are the two seed, we earned that for a reason. To have the home-field advantage and have teams have to come travel and play us here, where we’ve had unbelievable success all year long. So we did exactly what we’re supposed to do.”

Even if the Spartans didn’t click offensively, starting pitcher Tori Strines and the defense would have kept Boardman in Tuesday’s playoff game.

Strines recorded five strikeouts through three perfect innings, and despite allowing a walk and bloop single in back-to-back at-bats in the fourth inning, rebounded and finished the game with seven strikeouts, two walks and two hits allowed.

“Tori, she’s been our number one here for the last three years,” Mootz said. “And you follow with Gabi [Sferrai], who’s our 1A. I always say that Tori and Gabby are 1 and 1A on this team. She had her best stuff today, and when Tori’s got her best stuff, she’s hard to hit.”

Offensively, the Spartans were clicking from the get-go.

In the bottom of the first inning, Strines led off with a triple to left field. She was brought home two batters later by her catcher, Addie Rudge, whose RBI single gave Boardman a 2-0 lead when an errant throw allowed Ava Freeborough to score as well. Later in the half-inning, Kenzie Cherne’s groundout scored the Spartans’ third run.

Geneva starter Annabelle Bragg kept Boardman off the scoreboard in the second inning, during which Ellie Wymer and Freeborough each singled but could not find their way home.

Bragg could do little to slow down the Spartans in the third inning, however, as six of the first seven batters recorded a hit. After Strines singled to score Boardman’s eighth run of the game and fifth of the inning, Geneva replaced Bragg with Caidyn Siegel, who surrendered an RBI single to Freeborough before getting out of the inning with back-to-back outs.

“Hitting is contagious,” Mootz said. “And I tell them that all the time, when you start stringing some hits together, good things happen. We added on in the middle innings like we were supposed to.”

In the top of the fourth, Siegel ended Strines’ perfect-game bid, and then Gianna Markijohn similarly broke up her no-hitter with a blooper in shallow right field. Strines stranded both runners by fielding a Bragg groundout.

Boardman added to its lead in the bottom of the fourth, with Mikayla Rivera being brought home after a leadoff triple by a Cherne sacrifice fly to left field.

Geneva, on the brink of elimination via the 10-run mercy rule, tried to extend the game to the bottom of the fifth inning. After a leadoff failed bunt attempt, Addie Sheppard drew a walk to become the Eagles’ third runner of the game.

Following a strikeout, putting Geneva down to its final out, Finley Mongell hit a blooper over the head of Boardman’s shortstop. However, a baserunning error allowed the Spartans to throw out the runner at second base for the final out of the Eagles’ season.

While a brief, one-sided affair, a smile flashed across Mootz’s face when thinking of the ways his team could have done better Tuesday.

“There’s always things to work on. I’m never satisfied,” Mootz said. “I think we need to run bases better. At times, we didn’t maybe pick up balls off the bat as well when we were on bases. But, overall, like I said, I thought we played a pretty complete game. But there’s always things to work on.”

Boardman shifts its focus to a familiar opponent: 14th-seeded Howland, an All-American Conference foe. The Tigers defeated No. 28 Medina Highland 9-0 in the other Division III, Northeast 2 district semifinal.

The Spartans decisively beat Howland in each of the two previous meetings this season; last month, Boardman pulled away in the final two innings in the first game to win 12-3, while the Spartans won 9-3 in the second matchup three days later after Howland’s offense struggled to get going until the seventh inning.

“Obviously a team that we’ve had success against,” Mootz said. “But guess what? It’s a conference foe, they’re a great team. So it should be a good battle.

“If we play our game and we do what we’re supposed to do, we’re going to come out with that win as well,” Mootz said.

The two teams will meet for the third and final time Thursday at Hubbard at 5 p.m.