PICKERINGTON - Open the door and let us in.

Led again by the pitching of senior Lori Harmon with a no-hitter, the Symmes Valley

Lady Vikings made school history with their first trip to the state tournament by beating the defending state champion Crestline Lady Bulldogs 4-1 Saturday in the Division IV regional championship game.

Symmes Valley had reached the regionals four times and the regional finals once in 1989 when head coach Jeff "Odie" Estep was an assistant.

"I've been at it 16 years and knocked at the door plenty of times, but there's nothing like the feeling when you finally get the door open," Estep said.

"This is a very determined bunch. They're hungry and determined. They're playing very good ball right now."

Symmes Valley (27-4) will play Cortland Maplewood (20-3) in the state semifinals in the second game at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Brookside Park in Ashland. The first semifinal game is at 3 p.m. with Saturday's championship game at 12:30 p.m.

Cortland Maplewood nipped Bellaire St. John 1-0 in the Kent regional final.

Harmon, now 20-2, struck out 11 and walked just one as she fashioned her sixth no-hitter of the season including three perfect games.

"She's a woman among girls out there," Estep said of Harmon. "She can make it happen."

Three of the Lady Vikings eight hits came from the bottom of the line which pleased Estep.

"The bottom of our lineup came through. I knew they would start hitting and they did. We thought if the bottom of our lineup started hitting, we were going to get this done."

Symmes Valley took the lead with two runs in the third inning.

With one out, Erin Martin drew a walk and Emily Bowling singled down the left field line to put runners at first and second base. Harmon then lined a double down the left field line to score both runners.

Crestline got its run in the fifth inning.

Lauren Hoffer walked, Stacie Kelly put down a sacrifice bunt, Megan Brock hit into a fielder's choice to send Hoffer to third base and Emily Hatfield squeezed her home with a sacrifice bunt.

The Lady Vikings scored two insurance runs in the bottom the inning when Harmon singled and Megan Coomes cranked a 2-0 count over the fence to left field for a two-run homer, her ninth of the season.

Harmon and Jodi Black each went 2-for-3 to lead the Lady Vikings.

Crestline ended its season 28-4.

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Meghan Ronk and Lauren Hoffer. Lori Harmon and Megan Coomes. W-Harmon (11-K, 1-BB, 0-ER). L-Ronk (6-K, 2-BB). 2B-Symmes Valley: Lori Harmon. HR-Symmes Valley: Megan Coomes (9). Hitting-Symmes Valley: Lori Harmon 2-3, Emily Bowling 1-2, Megan Coomes 1-3, Kristen Crabtree 1-3, Rebecca Capper 1-3, Jodi Black 2-3.