By Michael Lindsay
The DeKalb County Tigerettes are district champions following Saturday afternoon’s 12-6 victory over Upperman 6 innings.
Upperman opened the day with a 7-2 victory over Stone Memorial in the final elimination game before facing DeKalb County in the championship.
DeKalb County outscored tournament foes 35-3 in three games with all three victories coming via run rule.
Tigerette pitcher Kora Kilgore struck out 9 batters in 6 innings Saturday while allowing 2 hits. Senior third baseman Bri Murphy went 3-4 with a double, 3 RBIs and a run scored in the championship win.
DeKalb County jumped out to a 3-0 lead as they scored three runs with two outs in the top of the second inning via back-to-back doubles by Hannah Brown and Rylee Wilbur to drive in Murphy, Elaina Turner and Brown.
Upperman answered in the bottom of the third inning as a Kirra Hancock single scored Macie Robbins and Kloee Garrett, making the score 3-2 in favor of DeKalb.
The fourth inning was all Tigerettes as they outscored Upperman 5-0 in the frame to take an 8-2 advantage. After an error on a pickoff scored a run, a Bryna Pelham single to center scored Zayleigh Bain followed by an error on a Kilgore grounder to score Pelham. A Murphy single to score Tatum Young wrapped up the five-run top of the fourth inning for DeKalb.
DeKalb County did more damage with two outs in the top of the sixth inning as four consecutive hits from Murphy, Turner, Raylie Cowan and Brown drove in a run each to give the Tigerettes an 12-2 lead. Upperman threatened in the bottom of the sixth with two runners on, but Kilgore forced a ground-out to wrap up her team’s District 7-3A championship.
Both teams will play in this week’s Region 4-3A tournament on Monday afternoon with a Class 3A sectional berth on the line. DeKalb County will host District 8-3A runner-up Marshall County at 5:30 p.m. while Upperman will travel to District 8-3A champion Tullahoma.
