PIEDMONT -- The Neelyville Tigers have quietly been rebuilding for a few years now.
Fielding many quality but youthful teams over the past three seasons, the Tigers have come up short in the Ozark Foothills Conference Tournament, even losing as the sixth-seed in the 2014 final.
Under second-year head coach Tyler Thompson, the Tigers bought in and broke through.
Top-seeded Neelyville jumped on No. 2 East Carter, got a nearly perfect performance from their ace and grabbed their second tournament title in five years with an 8-2 victory Thursday night.
"When I first took them over they didn't believe they could win a ballgame much less win a conference title," Thompson said. "That's credit to them. They've bought into the system and they've reaped the benefits of it."
Winning a big game was surreal to most of the Tigers, namely their six seniors who were in eighth grade the last time they hoisted the trophy in 2013 and went a combined 13-24 over the last two seasons.
"We've dreamed about this since we were in the ninth grade and it finally happened," Neelyville senior Chaney Trout said. "I remember when coach came in after a really bad losing season and we weren't really sure about him at first. Since then we've seen he's the real deal and we bought into the program."
Added senior Jesse Griffin, "It feels like it's been a long time coming. We always knew that we could get here."
Neelyville (18-7) got five runs on the board through the first three innings. Tyler Lowe walked with one out in the bottom of the first inning and scored two pitches later on Wyatt Moon's double just inside the left-field line to give the Tigers the lead for good.
An inning later, the bottom of the order gave Neelyville a cushion with a parade of doubles.
Nathan Akers led off with a two-bagger to straight away center and traded places with Austin Ennis for a 2-0 advantage.
East Carter starter Cody Hampton got Noah Burton to strikeout but Parker Jeffries, who belted another RBI double for a 3-0 lead.
Trout moved Jeffries to third with a groundout before an error allowed him to score.
"Those guys have been good for us all year," Thompson said of the Tigers' Nos. 6-8 hitters. "None of them are hitting terribly and they've been the best bottom of the order I could ask for."
With a comfortable lead in hand, Trout found his groove. The lengthy right-hander struck out 10 and had a no-hitter through five innings. He walked four but did not allow a runner to reach third until the sixth while handing East Carter (16-6) its third straight loss in the championship game.
"He's strong. He's strong, strong," East Carter coach Scott Henfling said of Trout. "He shut us down earlier in the year and he shut us down again tonight. He's the toughest pitcher in the conference right now."
Neelyville added an insurance run in the third when Moon walked to lead it off and scored on Aker's two-out single, plus three more in fifth inning aided by two errors.
After Matt Dollins reached on a fielder's choice, Akers' groundball back to the pitcher's mound was fielded by Hampton, who sailed the throw to first allowing Dollins to score. Akers ended up on third after the Redbirds threw it around some more and Ennis followed with a walk.
Griffin, in his first game back since September 1, then got the nod to pinch hit for Burton and didn't disappoint. Griffin took a 1-2 pitch up the middle for a 7-0 lead.
"Honestly, I got up there and I was feeling pretty rusty," said Griffin, who was dealing with a knee injury. "But as soon as I hit it I knew it would be down. I was just trying not to get thrown out at first while hobbling over there."
Jeffries tacked on one more run with an RBI groundout as the Tigers' lead grew to 8-0.
East Carter, meanwhile, committed four errors in the loss and left five runners stranded.
"We kicked it around way too much," Henfling said. "When that one ball came in from the outfield we just started throwing it around and they scored three more when it should've just been one."
The Redbirds managed to tag Trout with two runs on three hits in the sixth when Drew Asher singled and scored on Dalton Rudd's triple. Jake Andrews followed with a one-out RBI single to set the final score.
Trout got a pair of strikeouts to end the sixth and one more to start the seventh before reaching his 105-pitch limit.
Moon, Trout's fellow senior, needed 15 more pitches to get the final two outs before the Tigers rushed the field.
"That's the heart and soul of this team right there," Thompson said of his seniors. "We feed off whatever they do. The rest of the guys kind of go with them and it was great to see that tonight."