MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Meigs County came into this year's TSSAA Class A softball tournament having never won a state tourney game in program history.
Now the Lady Tigers are one step away from claiming their first title.
Sophomore right-hander Ashley Rogers continued her mastery over the rest of the field by pitching Meigs past Marion County 5-1 in Thursday's winners-bracket final at Starplex.
Meigs (39-3) will await the winner between Marion County (36-8) and Silverdale Baptist Academy (40-4) in today's losers-bracket final scheduled to start at 10 a.m. EDT. Marion or SBA would then need to beat Meigs twice to keep the Lady Tigers from the title.
The championship is set for 3 p.m., with a second championship game, if necessary, scheduled at 6:30.
"These girls aren't giving up. We're not satisfied with third place. Hopefully we'll play them twice tomorrow," Marion County coach Randy Ellis said of the Lady Tigers. "We know we've got to go through Silverdale first, though."
Rogers has a 3-0 pitching record thus far at the state tournament, and her 16 strikeouts Thursday give her 47 so far.
"We weren't very disciplined at the plate," Ellis said. "We teach and talk about being disciplined. We thought we had a little bit figured out, but a lady that can throw that fast but also put a 3-2 curveball down the middle is tough to hit. She's very talented - the best pitcher we've faced all year."
She was credited with allowing five hits - three in the infield, including a bad-hop single - and the run was unearned. She did not issue a walk.
"We hope she holds out for one more day," Meigs coach Jeff Davis said of Rogers, who has pitched all but four innings for the Lady Tigers since postseason play began. "It's been her ball the last four weeks."
Davis has said before that this year's team has relied heavily on home runs and doubles. But the Lady Tigers had no extra-base hits against the Lady Warriors.
Instead, 11 singles provided enough offense. Five of those came in the third inning, when the Lady Tigers scored three runs.
Another was a bunt by Morgan Knox intended to be a sacrifice that she beat out after Alyson Crowder had started the fourth with an infield hit. Kaylie Moore then got a sacrifice bunt down, Kaley Meadows singled to load the bases and Aubrey Reed followed with a sacrifice fly.
"We don't bunt a lot, but the bunting game was pretty big for us tonight," Davis said. "Of course, we had about our best bunters up there those times. Then Kaley Moore came through with a big hit for us and the wind kept Aubrey Reed's sacrifice fly in here a little bit."
For Meigs, Lindsey Ward was 2-for-2 and Moore was 2-for-3 with a run scored. Knox was 2-for-4 with two runs scored from the No. 9 spot in the order, and Meadows was 2-for-4 with an RBI groundout in the third, when Rogers also singled in a run.
For Marion, Chloe Campbell went 2-for-3. Savannah Thomas drove in the Lady Warriors' run with an infield single.
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.