COLUMBUS - Cherokee didn't put on a hitting exhibition Thursday its first day at the Class AAAA Fast-Pitch Softball State Championships, but the offense it did display couldn't have come at a better time.

After outlasting Lee County in nine innings to win 1-0 on a wild pitch, the Lady Warriors overcame Marist pitcher Lori Spingola's 18 strikeouts to win, 1-0, off a Jamie Moody RBI single or the only Cherokee hit of the game.

"I just knew I had to hit the ball and put in play," Moody said. "It is pretty nice to help the team out like that."

The Lady Warriors will face Northgate tonight at 7 p.m. in the winner's bracket at the South Commons Softball Complex and are two wins away from a possible state title. A state title would be the third for Cherokee County following Sequoyah's Class AAAA crown and Woodstock's Class AAAAA title last season.

"I told the kids after the first game, 'That was the best thing that could of ever happened to us, because every game is going to be a dogfight,'" Cherokee coach Tonya Carlisle said. "I am just proud of my girls for staying in there. Abbey Meixel had a great day, Meghan Moore is calling incredible games, and Jerrah Baker is playing out of this world. She is playing amazing defense and that defense is going to win us championships."

Defense was the main course for both of the Lady Warriors' matchups as neither Cherokee nor Lee County could get an extra base hit until Ginny Morris' ground-rule double in the bottom of the sixth. The game remained scoreless behind Meixel's 11 strikeouts and went to the ninth inning before Cherokee could get a break.

With Chester placed on second as the tiebreaking runner, Baker walked and a wild pitch to Ashley Moss brought Chester home for the win.

Meixel took the complete-game win, giving up one hit with 11 strikeouts. Lee County pitcher Brittny Dennison took the loss with one run over seven hits and six strikeouts.

Cherokee came into the showdown with Marist and Spingola, who last weekend retired Sequoyah in the state sectionals with 14 strikeouts.

The game quickly became a pitcher's duel as Spingola looked for the no-hitter through nine innings and Meixel gave up three hits among her nine strikeouts - a Kelsey Sharp single in the top of the first, a Tesia Davis in the third and a Cameron Taylor single in the ninth.

With a staggering 18 strikeouts to her credit, Spingola was in the ninth with two outs and Chester on second when Moody came to the plate. The senior belted a shot to right-center field to bring in the runner and close out the game.

Carlisle said after the team battled the Marist pitcher all night, Moody decided to take the sophomore head on.

"She got aggressive at that at bat," she said. "She went for it early in the count. What can I say - here we are, two away."

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