MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- The Lady Purple Pounders lived up to their nickname and set a state softball tournament record.
Central blasted five home runs in its 8-3 victory over DeKalb County on Tuesday in the opening round of the Class AA state tournament.
Freshmen Kaili Crawley and Kerri Sylvester each hit two homers -- the first two of the season for Sylvester -- and Alexis Grampp added one for good measure.
"Everybody is hitting," Crawley said. "We're working as a whole team and putting the bat on the ball."
Sophomore pitcher Brooke Parrott won her eighth consecutive start and recorded 11 strikeouts. She threw 148 pitches in the game.
"We're going to sleep in," said coach LeeAnne Shurette, whose team plays Creek Wood today at 5. "We didn't come up here just to come up here."
The Pounders (21-14) had only one hit that didn't fly over the fence -- a single by Parrott.
"I wasn't expecting those home runs," Sylvester said. "After one, I really couldn't believe number two."
Class A
* Marion County 5, East Robertson 0: Senior Erica O'Kane pitched a six-hitter and struck out seven, allowing Marion County hitters to relax in the opening-round victory.
"This gets us off on the right foot against a great team," coach Tom Long said. "Our bats are hot and have been for a while. Erica has done an incredible job on the mound, and we're peaking at the right time."
Taylor Roberts and Breanna Vinson each went 2-for-3 and Brianna Havner scored twice for Marion (25-8), which will play Knoxville Grace Christian today at 5 . The Lady Warriors scored three times in the bottom of the second, with one run scoring on a wild pitch and another on a passed ball.
Grace Christian beat Union City 4-1.
* Sale Creek 1, Adamsville 0: Junior McKenna Morgan struck out five in her complete-game shutout and drove in the only run of the game for Sale Creek (21-13), which will face Forrest at 6:30 p.m.
Mary Vandergriff led off the bottom of the first inning by getting hit by a pitch. Two batters later, Morgan scored her with a double to left field.
Adamsville threatened to score in the top of the third when it had the bases loaded and one out. Morgan induced a forceout at the plate and got another ground ball to second base to escape the situation. No other batter reached third base for Adamsville. Sale Creek will face Forest today at 6:30
* Forrest 8, Meigs County 3: Forrest knocked the Lady Tigers into the losers bracket with a four-run outburst in the bottom of the third. Meigs (28-6), playing as the visiting team, opened the game with Jade Meadows driving in Aubrey Reed, who hit a home run in the top of the third.
The Lady Rockets added to their four-run third with runs also in the fifth and sixth innings. Meigs added a run in the top of the seventh when Madison Steiner scored on Kaley Meadows' triple. The Lady Tigers will face Adamsville today at 5.
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP.
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Concert for "Safe Places"
a concert to benefit "Safe Places" was held at the Governor's Mansion Grand Hall Tuesday night.