May 22, 2025
By: Dwayne Page
The opening day of the TSSAA Class 3A softball tournament Wednesday could not have been better for the DCHS Tigerettes as they defeated both McNairy Central 4-2 in 8 innings and Unicoi County 1-0 to advance in the winner’s bracket of this double elimination competition.
(View Class 3A state softball tournament bracket at link below)
The spring fling run continues for the Tigerettes today (Thursday) as DC will face either McNairy Central or Unicoi County again at 11 a.m. at McKnight Field #1 in Murfreesboro. WJLE will have LIVE coverage on AM 1480/FM 101.7 and on the LIVE audio stream at www.wjle.com.
McNairy Central and Unicoi County will face off in the loser’s bracket today (Thursday) at 9 a.m. at McKnight Field #1 for the right to have a rematch with DeKalb County.
Tigerette Pitcher Kora Kilgore was nothing less than spectacular in both games recording 19 strikeouts through 8 innings with 3 hits allowed and 2 runs against McNairy Central and 17 strikeouts, one hit, and no runs given up against Unicoi County.
In the first game Wednesday, a 2-run walk-off homerun in the bottom of the 8th inning by Hannah Brown propelled the Tigerettes to a 4 to 2 win over McNairy Central in the first round of the tournament.
Bailee Shelton, the pitcher for McNairy Central who has committed to the University of Tennessee at Knoxville struck out 13 and gave up 9 hits.
DC scored 2 runs in the 1st inning and did not score again until the game winning homerun in the 8th inning. McNairy Central scored 1 run in both the 5th and 6th innings.
For the Tigerettes, Riley Wilbur had a double and scored a run; Zayleigh Bain singled, Bryna Pelham had 2 singles and an RBI and scored a run, Kora Kilgore had 2 singles and an RBI, Maggie Hendrixson singled, Brooke Fuson singled and scored a run, and Hannah Brown had a 2-run homerun and 2 RBI.
In the 1-0 win over Unicoi County Wednesday afternoon in the tournament, Zaleigh Bain for the Tigerettes had a single, a double, and scored the only run of the game in the bottom of the 4th inning. Bryna Pelham, Kora Kilgore, Tatum Young and Sophie Adcock each singled.
The Tigerettes improve to 25-5-1 on the season.
(WJLE Programming note: Because of today’s game, WJLE’s midday programming will be rescheduled by two hours. The noon news, normally at 12 will air at 10 a.m. starting with Fox News, Local News and State News. Cross Connection with David Revelle of the Upper Helton Baptist Church, normally at 11:55 a.m., will air today (Thursday) at 9:55 a.m.)