MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Meigs County pitcher Ashley Rogers surrendered a home run for the first time this season in Thursday's winners-bracket final at the Class AA softball state tournament.
But, literally, that was about it.
The only other baserunner Rogers allowed came via a walk to the same batter - Gibbs' Sierra Hucklebee - and she had 16 strikeouts as the Lady Tigers advanced to today's championship with a 4-1 victory.
The final will be played at Starplex's No. 2 field at 3:30 p.m. EDT. Meigs (33-3) will play either Gibbs or White House Heritage; those teams meet in the losers-bracket final this morning.
The Lady Tigers already owned a 2-0 lead before Hucklebee's blast to deep left.
"It was a good one," Meigs coach Jeff Davis said. "It didn't faze her a bit."
Lindsey Ward was 2-for-3, including a solo home run, and Aubrey Reed went 2-for-3 and drove in three of the runs. Kassidy Kenny scored two of the runs, and leadoff batter Arika Reed scored the other.
"We've accomplished a whole lot over here so far," Davis said. "But we haven't accomplished what we came over here to accomplish yet."
» Summertown 7, Sale Creek 1: In Class A, the Lady Panthers picked a bad time to play what assistant coach Eric Sullivan called "the worst game we played all year, hands down."
The largest margin in a loss this season for Sale Creek (35-6) came in the winners-bracket final, knocking the Lady Panthers into today's loser-bracket final against Cascade at 10 a.m. EDT at Starplex's No. 4 field.
Leah Campbell scored Sale Creek's run in the first inning, but after Summertown had scored two in the top half. Trinity Liner had a double and the RBI for the Lady Panthers, and Shelby Sullivan went 2-for-3.
"The good thing is, when our team has a game like that, they usually come back the next day hungry," Sale Creek assistant coach Kendra Mooneyham said.
» Whitwell 3, Unaka 0: In a morning losers-bracket game, it was dueling two-hitters by the pitchers. But the Lady Tigers didn't make an error behind Anna Yell, who had no walks and six strikeouts, while the Lady Rangers made two.
» Cascade 1, Whitwell 0: The Lady Tigers' season came to an end on an unearned run in the eighth inning as they fell one game short of the losers- bracket final.
"It was a hard-fought game," Whitwell coach Rebecca Castle said. "Both teams were on it. Both pitchers were definitely on it. We just didn't adjust at the plate enough.
"But these kids worked hard for me all year. They are dedicated softball players. Anna Yell pitched her guts out. It's not what we wanted, but fourth isn't shabby."
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.
