MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- The Clearwater softball team perfected two-out hitting to add another trophy to the collection Saturday.
The top-seeded Lady Tigers scored all of their runs with two outs, including a momentous five-run third inning, to beat No. 2 Woodland 12-2 in five innings for their third Class 1 District 5 championship in four seasons.
"I think we just go in with a good mentality hitting-wise and it's almost contagious sometimes," Clearwater coach Shannon England said. "I'm proud of my girls for never getting down on themselves, taking it one pitch at a time. I think that helped a lot with the two-out approach."
Clearwater won two straight district championships before Greenville derailed their streak with a 15-5 victory in the title game last season. Still fresh on their minds, the Lady Tigers erased the bad memory with timely hitting.
"They're all sweet but after last year's devastating loss, this one is amazing," said junior Brittany Adams, who was 2 for 3 with three RBIs and a walk.
"This year we've got a better approach and we don't want to just end things at the district championship."
The Lady Tigers (13-6) will host District 6 winner West County (14-3) at 4:30 p.m. Monday in the first round of the state playoffs. The Lady Bulldogs, who won 2-0 in eight innings Saturday, have defeated Clearwater in their last two sectional meetings.
"It'd be nice to get past that game and that team," England said. "I think all year this team has had the mindset that they want to push past and win more than a district title."
As a team, the Lady Tigers preached to remain calm and under control against Woodland (13-10). It converted into scoring the first runs of the game.
Rachel Rowold drew a walk to begin the game before Woodland starter Maddison Altenthal got the next two outs on five pitches. Rowold moved up on a groundout and a passed ball before trotting home on Adams' single up the middle for a 1-0 lead.
Tabby Carroll drew another walk and Amy Holmes was hit by a pitch to load the bases before Jordan Fuchs worked a full count and earned another free pass allowing Adams to score.
Mag E Hand led off the second with a double down the right-field line and traded places with Rowold, who also doubled to nearly the exact same spot for a 3-0 advantage.
The early offensive success also knocked out Altenthal, who gave up five hits and three earned runs with four walks and three strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings.
Though they held a slim lead, the Lady Tigers stranded the bases loaded in the first two innings and for a brief moment, and allowed Woodland to get right back in it.
With one out, Maddison Altenthal walked and moved to third on Mackenzie Altenthal's bunt single. Maddison came around to score one pitch later on a passed ball while Madison Cover followed with an RBI groundout to plate Mackenzie Altenthal and cut the deficit to 3-2 in the third.
"The girls were up, they were excited and driven to get to that point," Woodland coach Andrea Arnold said. "I really thought that at that point we had a good shot but three straight tough plays turned the ball game around on us."
It didn't last long as Clearwater added to its lead with its longest offensive outburst of the day against Woodland reliever Mackenzie Altenthal to sway the momentum.
Hand singled with two outs in the bottom of the third, advanced to second on a Woodland error and took third as Cheyanne Burton came up with her second single of the day to load the bases. Halle Gooch, Clearwater's starter and No. 3 hitter, kept them loaded and added to the lead when she drew the fifth walk of the game for a 4-2 advantage.
Adams, the Lady Tigers' clean-up hitter, kept the inning alive with a bases-loaded, two-run single and Carroll followed with another to make it 8-2.
"We had a base running mistake to start the hird, so it seemed like they kind of started off a little slow," England said. "They probably had the third out a couple times but couldn't execute it and after that Brittany (Adams) who has been there all year comes up with her hit."
After giving up a pair of runs in the third, Gooch gave up two more hits the rest of the way, including a double off the bat of Brittany Zajicek in the fourth. She worked out of the jam by getting a pair of strikeouts and finished with five in the complete-game win.
"I was a little worried with us not having played a game in about a week and a half due to the weather and flooding," England said. "Halle came out, looked sharp and provided us with a great game in the circle. The offense did its job and the layoff didn't hurt us at all."
The junior then drove in a pair of runs with a bases loaded double in the fourth to help herself and Clearwater added three more on an error and two passed balls to cap the game's scoring.