Twice, the Brashear Lady Tigers had faced Novinger this season, and twice, Brashear had come out on the losing end. If the Lady Tigers had any post-season aspirations, the 1st hurdle was finding a way to defeat Novinger.

In Wednesday night's game, both teams managed to get runners aboard, but couldn't score them until Brashear broke through in the bottom of the 3rd with 4 runs. Stephanie Elsea reached on an error, Meredith Thomas walked. Shelby Salter reached next, then Cierra Hines singled in a pair of runs. Abby McKim hit a sacrifice fly and Brashear was up 4-0. Novinger finally responded with 5 runs in the top of the 5th to take a 5-4 lead, but Brashear tied the game again in the bottom of the 5th as Shelby Salter singled and Cierra Hines drove her in. Novinger scored 3 more in the top of the 6th to make the score 8-5. Brashear began their 1-out rally in the bottom of the seventh. Meredith Thomas, Shelby Salter, Cierra Hines, Abby McKim, and Katie Watson all singled, Kristen Love walked, the Sydney Slavin singled to drive in the winning run in a 9-8 Brashear win. Cierra Hines had 3 hits for Brashear, Shelby Salter and Katie Watson had 2 hits each, and Meredith Thomas, Abby McKim, and Sydney Slavin each had hits. For Novinger, Callie Farrell and Samantha Daniels had 3 hits each with Katy Chrisman, Sierra Jacques, Maeghan Smith, Lottie Hubbard, and Rachel Frost also having hits. Cierra Hines was the winning pitcher with 10 strikeouts. Sierra Jacques took the loss for Novinger striking out 5. Brashear will face North Shelby in the semi-final game at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

In other 1st round games, Scotland County edged Canton 1-0 and North Shelby downed Marion County 10-3. Scotland County will play Knox County at 5 p.m. Thursday.