GREENVILLE --Throwing a no-hitter with two outs in the sixth inning, Doniphan's Jake Eddington reached his pitch limit.
The hard-throwing right hander had struck out eight and just walked his fourth batter when he got to 95 pitches. It was up to lefty Alex Littrell to finish the job and do it in under 30 pitches.
"I started to pace there at the end," Dons coach Mayse Kelly said.
Eddington and Littrell combined to no-hit East Carter as the Dons won 7-0 to reach the MSHSAA Class 3 District 2 final.
Littrell will be able to start Tuesday when Doniphan (12-9) faces top-seeded Malden (21-5) since he threw the final 1 1/3 innings in under 30 pitches.
Eddington and Littrell also combined to no-hit Twin Rivers over the final 5 1/3 innings Saturday as the Dons rallied for a 7-6 win in 10 innings.
Neither team had a hit Monday until Eddington opened the fourth with a home run. The blast over the left-field fence came on a 2-0 pitch and gave the sophomore his seventh of the season, tying the school record.
"It got us going as you could see from that inning," Kelly said.
Spencer Morrow followed Eddington's homer with a soft liner over the second baseman's glove but he was on second base with two outs. Derek Ferguson lined a single to left and No. 9 hitter Jacob Price drew a walk to load the bases.
Chance Donaldson pounced on the next pitch for a two-run double to the left-field gap before Jared Dutton did the same. Dutton's liner was nearly caught by a diving center fielder but the ball popped out of his glove as two more runs scored for a 6-0 Dons lead.
"They just hit the ball well, made contact," East Carter coach Scott Henfling said.
The Redbirds (11-10) had chances despite not getting a hit and the Dons played cleanly behind Eddington and Littrell.
"Jake has been going five innings for us all year and I wanted him to at least get into the seventh," Kelly said. "He came up a little short. I knew I had some pitches I could use Alex."
Littrell walked the first batter he faced to put two on but struck out the next hitter to end the sixth. He struck out two in the seventh after giving up a one-out walk.
Eddington, who was hitting upper 80s to lower 90s on the radar gun, threw eight straight balls for a pair of walks with two out in the first inning but got out of the jam with his first strikeout.
The Dons retired nine straight until a two-out walk in the fourth while Eddington struck out the side in the fifth.
The closest the Redbirds came to a hit was a low liner caught by the first baseman to end the second inning. They hit four fly balls for outs and grounded out four times, twice to the pitcher.
"Good pitching outweighs everything," Henfling said.
East Carter starter Cody Hampton struck out six in five innings while walking five and hitting a batter. Outside the fourth inning, Hampton only gave up one hit while relief pitcher Drew Asher allowed a hit and an unearned run in the seventh.
The second-seeded Redbirds beat Doniphan 16-0 on April 26.
"That's just the game of baseball," Henfling said.