Tori Denayer picked up the bottom of the Soddy-Daisy batting order and then helped Kelsey Nunley finish off a one-hitter Tuesday night.
Playing at Clifford Kirk Stadium, the Lady Trojans defeated White County, 6-0, in a Region 3-AAA softball semifinal.
Soddy-Daisy (40-4) will play host to Coffee County (29-10-1) in the region championship game tonight at 7. Coffee County defeated Walker Valley, 2-0, in its region semifinal Monday night.
Veteran Soddy-Daisy coach Clifford Kirk had been looking for more production from the bottom of his lineup. He got it Tuesday night.
No. 7 Denayer, No. 8 Lauren Smith and No. 9 Morgan Bailey combined for five hits and three RBI. Denayer was 3-for-3 with two RBI while Smith and Bailey had one hit apiece with Bailey driving in a run.
"We really needed that,'' Kirk said. "Tori had been hitting but then she slumped. But Tori is Tori and she hit it well tonight.''
Denayer said she had been getting some hitting tips from Soddy-Daisy assistant coach Wes Skiles.
"He told me to stop stepping out,'' she said.
Said Skiles, "She did better about stepping out tonight, but sometimes she thinks too much. I told her just to hit the ball tonight and not think about it. It sure was good to get some production out of the bottom of the lineup.''
Nunley gave up only one one hit and struck out 10 in six innings. Denayer gave up no hits and hit one batter in the seventh.
"We really wanted to get Tori in there earlier but it didn't work out,'' Kirk said. "This was one we had to have. Now we'll get ready for Coffee County.''
Olivia Williams had two singles for Soddy-Daisy and Haley Reynolds added an RBI single.
Baylee Bain had White County's only hit -- a single in the first inning.
LINESCORE
White County...........000 000 0 -- 0 1 1
Soddy-Daisy...........014 010 0 -- 6 9 0
Abell and Abell; Nunley, Denayer (7) and Bailey.
(E-mail Stan Crawley at wscrawley@earthlink.net)