DONIPHAN -- A key to many of the East Carter softball team's wins this season has been discipline at the plate.
Chasing pitches out the strike zone isn't the second-seeded Lady Redbirds' style and hammering those that catch the plate have made teams pay.
That same approach mixed with a strong outing from freshman pitcher Makenna Moore led to an 8-1 win over third-seeded Clearwater in the Ozark Foothills Conference Tournament semifinals Wednesday at Quick Creek Park.
The Lady Redbirds (7-6) had 12 hits to Clearwater's seven and broke out for an early lead in the first inning to reach the finals for the first time since 2006.
"They came into this game feeling good," East Carter coach Teresa Kearbey said. "They were very pumped up, ready to go and it showed."
East Carter advanced to face top-seeded Naylor for the title while Clearwater (10-6) drops down to the third-place game to play Doniphan. Both games were scheduled to be played Thursday evening before rain postponed the tournament's final two games to Wednesday.
Clearwater, coming off a walk-off winner to cap the first round, started right where it left as Rachel Rowold doubled to start the game and beat a tag at third on Cheyanne Burton's grounder to the pitcher. After Burton stole second, Brittany Adams lined a single to left-center field scoring Rowold while Burton made the turn for home as well, but was thrown out at the plate.
The Lady Tigers stranded two more runners in the first and left six more on base -- at least one in all but the final frame -- as they went scoreless the rest of the way.
"It seemed like we were a little sluggish today but East Carter just plays defense so well," Clearwater coach Shannon England said. "We had two or three hits that looked like they were going to get down in the gap but they went over and caught it. They're not going to make an error there and they just played solid defense all day long."
Lauren Copeland tied the game in the bottom of the first inning with the same play that gave East Carter the tournament's first walk-off with a win over Twin Rivers a day earlier.
With one out, the East Carter clean-up hitter laid down a squeeze bunt perfectly in between the pitcher and third baseman to score Brooklyn Loftis, who led off the game with a single, advanced to second on Naomi Crowley's bunt single and took third on a groundout.
Crowley advanced to third on the Redbirds' second bunt of the inning while Copeland stole second. Both came around to score when Maddyson Holloway reached on an error to give the Lady Redbirds the lead for good.
"They don't expect it so we're just taking what they give us," Kearbey said of the Lady Redbirds' bunting strategy.
Loftis, who reached in all four of her plate appearances with three singles and a hit by pitch, tacked on another run with an RBI single to score Jaden Douglas, who led off with a base hit.
Moore, in just the 13th start of her high school career, threw like a veteran the rest of the way.
The right-hander worked around a leadoff walk in the second and only allowed one hit to Adams over the next three innings. She finished with six strikeouts and walked two to earn her seventh win.
"She got over her anxiety after the first inning yesterday and you can just see she gets better every single time out," Kearbey said of Moore.
East Carter went back to work at the dish for its young pitcher in the fifth when Copeland led off the inning with a solo home run to center field. Shelby Cyr followed with an infield single which led to another RBI bunt single off the bat of Courtney Duckett to push the advantage to 6-1.
"We've seen it and we keep falling asleep on it," England said of defending the bunt. "They're coming from unusual spots in the order that you normally wouldn't see, I guess you could say, and it caught us off guard a couple times."
Loftis took a pitch to the shoulder to begin the sixth, stole second and came around to score on consecutive passed balls. Crowley walked, stole another bag and moved to third on Andrea Kearbey's groundout before Copeland roped in her third RBI of the day with a single to set the final score.
Moore needed just six pitches to get Clearwater's final three batters to all pop out and end the game.