May 22, 2025
By: Dwayne Page
The DCHS Tigerettes have never won a state softball tournament championship but today they are closer than ever to reaching that goal.
In a thriller Thursday that had Tigerette fans on the edge of their seats, DC defeated McNairy Central 8 to 7 in the Spring Fling at Murfreesboro.
(View Class 3A state softball tournament bracket at link below)
The Tigerettes (26-5-1) and undefeated in the TSSAA Class 3A tournament this week at 3-0, will face Gibbs (40-3) Friday, May 23 at 10 a.m. at MTSU in the state title game. WJLE will have LIVE coverage on AM 1480/FM 101.7 and on the LIVE audio stream at www.wjle.com.
(View Game Stats at link below
https://tssaasports.com/event/results.cfm?id=129019
In the game Thursday, DeKalb County scored 8 runs on 11 hits with 3 errors while McNairy Central scored 7 runs on 12 hits and 3 errors
Kora Kilgore gave up 7 runs on 12 hits. She struck out 6 and walked 4. The pitcher for McNairy Central, Chanley Steele gave up 8 runs on 11 hits. She struck out 4 and walked 2. Bailee Shelton came in for the 7th inning and struck out 2.
DC scored 2 runs in the top of the 1st inning but watched McNairy Central score 6 runs in the bottom of the 2nd inning. The Tigerettes answered with 6 runs of their own in the top of the 5th inning. McNairy Central got a solo homerun from Bailee Shelton in the bottom of the 6th but DeKalb County held them off in the 7th securing an 8 to 7 victory.
On Wednesday, DeKalb County opened the state tournament with a 4-2 win in 8 innings over McNairy Central and followed that with a 1-0 shutout of Unicoi County.
McNairy Central eliminated Unicoi County 3-0 in the loser’s bracket Thursday morning earning the right to face the Tigerettes in a rematch.