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Morristown West pitcher Briony Bunsic, over her first two years, has dominated the other teams in District 2-4A throughout the regular season by tossing 11 shutouts in 12 league games.

On Tuesday night at J. C. Wild Park Bunsic turned in another outstanding performance as the Lady Trojans tripped Morristown East, 4-2, to move into the finals of the tournament and earn a berth in next week’s Region One Tournament.

Jefferson County topped Sevier County, 13-3, in six innings and will face East tonight at 5:30 for the second regional berth and the right to meet West in the tournament finals.

Bunsic didn’t get her shutout as the Lady Hurricanes scored two unearned runs but she did toss a two-hitter and struck out 15 in getting the mound verdict over Kylie Rader. To make it even more impressive, she was pitching for the first time since suffering a hairline fracture in one of the fingers of her pitching hand two weeks ago.

The talented sophomore showed no signs of the injury as she allowed only a bunt single by Hudson Cloninger and a run-scoring hit by Jaycee Hamilton with both of those coming in the sixth inning. She also walked two batters.

West got a run in the second and scored its other three markers in the fifth after the Lady ‘Canes tied the score in the fourth.

Bunsic knocked in the first run herself. A wild pitch scored the second and Hailey Milton singled in the other two.

Kaylee Dyke had two hits to lead the way as the Lady Trojans, now 20-10, collected seven in the game.

West coach Heather Kelley had praise for her pitcher. “Oh my gosh, I’m so proud of her. Even though she had the injury, she stepped up in being a team player and really did a great job. She’s such a super kid both on and off the field and I can’t say enough good things about her.

“Hailey really came through for us in a big moment there in the fifth inning,” Kelley added. “I thought we hit the ball at times and we played good defense for the most part.”

Kelley added, “And I thought a big play was in the very first inning when Makaela Olodey made a diving catch on that foul ball. That was just one of our team making a play that said we’ve got your back to our pitcher.

“It was a huge win for us because it put us in the region and it was just an all-around good team effort. I’m really proud of these girls.”

Rader pitched the whole game for East. She walked three and struck out eight as the Lady ‘Canes fell to 13-17 on the season.

It was the third time the Lady Trojans have beaten East this season.

East coach Sydney Davis said, “We came back to tie the game and then they came in and scored three times. We had a huge chance in the sixth and got one run but couldn’t get another big hit when we really needed it.

“I thought Bri did a really good job today. We didn’t play badly but you’re not going to win too many games where you strike out 15 times.”

“Now we have come right back tomorrow and play Jefferson to stay alive in the tournament.”

West opened the scoring in the bottom of the second when Aubrie Messer led off with a single up the middle. Rader retired the next two batters but walked Lexi Mullane before Bunsic blooped a single into center field to knock in Messer.

Bunsic struck out seven of the first 10 she faced in three innings. Cloninger walked to lead off the East fourth and stole second. After two strike outs, Zoe Shelley’s fly ball was dropped with Cloninger scoring to tie the game.

The Lady Trojans regained the upper hand in the fifth when Briony Bunsic led off with a walk and Aviah Bunsic had a bunt single. Rader fanned the next batter but Dyke blooped a hit to right center to load the bases.

Briony Bunsic raced in to score on a wild pitch and Rader got another strike out before Messer walked to reload the bases. Milton then came through with the big hit to up the score to 4-2.

The Lady ‘Canes rallied in the sixth when Cloninger’s bunt became the first East hit with one out. Wampler’s fly ball to right wasn’t caught putting runners on second and third.

Hamilton then delivered a clean single to right to score one run and leave runners on first and third. However, Bunsic got the next batter to pop up to the catcher and then had a strike out to end the inning.

Bunsic didn’t allow the Lady ‘Canes any hope in the seventh as she struck out the side for the third time.

Jefferson County 13, Sevier County 3

Jefferson County scored seven times in the bottom of the first inning to take quick control and cruised to a 13-3 victory over Sevier County in an elimination game in the District Two 4-A Softball Tournament at J. C. Wild Park on Tuesday.

The victory was the 11th for the Lady Patriots against 21 losses. Jefferson County will play Morristown East at 5:30 p. m. at J. C. Wild Park for a spot in the finals and a berth in the region tournament.

Jefferson County added three runs in the third inning, one in the fifth and closed it out with two in the sixth.

The winners racked up a dozen hits. Ava Garay had a pair of doubles to lead the attack, Mercedes Randolph added a double and single and Bella Watson also had two hits.

Faith Whited led off the bottom of the first with a home run and Zoe Lawson had a bases-loaded triple.

In the first, Garay followed Whited’s homer with a double and losing pitcher Hannah Cline got the next two batters out. However, she walked McKaylee Hobby and Aubrey McBride to load the bases.

Lawson then cleared the bases with her triple and Haven Hempel later had a two-run single and it was 7-0.

An infield hit, walk and fielder’s choice loaded the sacks again in the third and Randolph doubled in all three runners to make it 10-0.

The Bearettes scored twice in the fourth on three walks, a single by Kyrie Smith and a ground out.

Emma McClure singled and scored on a hit by Emily Maples to cut the deficit to 10-3 in the fifth before Randolph singled in another run for the Lady Patriots. Needing two runs to end the game by the mercy-rule, McBride, Lawson and Watson had consecutive hits to wrap up the victory.

Tia Stewart was the winning pitcher as she went the full six innings. Stewart allowed five hits, walked three, hit three and struck out seven.

District 2-3A Tournament: Greeneville 10, Grainger 6

NEWPORT – Despite taking an early lead, the Grainger Lady Grizzlies fell to Greeneville 10-6 in the second round of the district softball tournament Tuesday night.

It didn’t take long for Grainger to grab the lead as Brooklyn Copley connected on a three-run homer in the top of the first but Greeneville answered with a five-spot of their in the home half of the opening inning. The Lady Grizzlies tied things up in the fourth with two runs when McKenna Kee tripled to right field to score Destanee Davis and Suzanne Barker.

Once again, the Lady Greene Devils answered the Grainger rally with one of their own as they plated four runs in the bottom of the fourth. Kyla Jobe gave Greeneville and insurance run in the bottom of the fifth inning with a home run. Trailing 10-5 going to the bottom of the top of the seventh inning, Copley connected on her second big fly of the day with a solo shot to center field but the Lady Grizzlies could get no closer and fell 10-6.

Grainger takes on host school Cocke County Wednesday afternoon in an elimination game.

First pitch is set for 5:30 p.m.