CENTRE - Cherokee County senior shortstop Darbie Rosser admitted she was "kind of in a slump" during Saturday's Cherokee County Softball Invitational.

That so-called slump became a thing of the past with one swing of the bat against Sand Rock in the tournament championship game.

It was Rosser's home run to left field against Sand Rock ninth grade pitcher Kaitlyn Dodd in the third inning that sparked the Class 4A, No. 4 Lady Warriors to a 4-0 victory in five innings.

It was the third straight invitational tournament championship for Cherokee County (9-1) and their second straight title game battle with the Lady Wildcats (10-2).

"I'm glad I adjusted well and was able to come up big for my team," said Rosser, who finished the game going 2-for-3 and scored two runs.

"It was exactly where I like it, inside and low, and I was just ready to turn on it. That just kind of opened it up for me."

Something else Cherokee County head coach Travis Barnes said Rosser has adjusted well to is being the Lady Warriors' leadoff hitter this season.

"She's not your typical leadoff hitter, but she's a real good on-base percentage person," he said. "She doesn't have a lot of speed, but she does get on base for Molly (Brewer), Madison (Millsaps) and Tori (Davis). She led us tonight, and that's good for her, especially being a senior."

As Barnes mentioned, Brewer, Millsaps and Davis seemed to become more relaxed at the plate once Rosser's shot left the yard. Brewer and Davis finished the game going 1-for-2, as did Chelsea Ray and Jessen Burk. Millsaps drove in a run in the fifth.

"It was a team effort all day long," Barnes said. "We had a lot of girls step up and do a lot of big things all day long. You play in these tournaments just to get better. I like this format because it's similar to the regionals, where you play back-to-back-to-back. It's a great experience for our girls. Winning it is just a bonus."

Dodd was handed the ball by Sand Rock head coach Josh Bates after the Lady Wildcats' other pitchers had logged a lot of innings earlier in the tournament. She didn't disappoint, as she kept the Lady Warriors off-balance for the first two innings. She finished with seven strikeouts.

"Against Fyffe, we'd pitched McKenna (Morgan), we'd pitched Taylor (Rogers) and Madalyn (Oliver) and we went back to McKenna, so I knew we were just running out of gas," Bates said. "I told her (Dodd) 'Hey, I'm going to give you the ball. I think you can keep them off-balance and do a good job for us.' I said 'Don't be nervous. You've got a good defense behind you', and she said, 'OK, I'm ready.' She didn't show any nerves about her. I thought she did a really good job of controlling the game."

Speaking of control, Davis was in the zone all throughout the two-day tournament. She shut out Class 3A, No. 2 Glencoe twice. Both scores were 3-0, with the second coming in the Maroon bracket championship on Saturday. Davis also shut out Crossville in a 12-0 pool play win on Friday, tossed a one-hitter in limited action against Fort Payne (a 10-5 victory), and blanked Piedmont 9-0 on Saturday.

"She's a machine, and that's all you can say," Barnes said. "Kendal Perry and Megan Rich came in to throw some innings just to kind of give her a rest, but you can't take anything away from Tori. She was dominant all day."

Davis struck out 10 and gave up just two hits against Sand Rock to earn the win. She credited her teammates for putting her in her dominating form.

"I just try to play for our team and try to pitch my best," Davis said. "We haven't played many games this year, so this tournament was more like practice for the team and for me, just to get back into the routine of pitching and get back in the shape of pitching.

"The biggest thing for me was I had a great defense behind me. They made great defensive plays every single time a ball was hit at them. They did an excellent job this weekend. They caught everything toward them. It was all them. I'm proud to have a defense like them behind me. I couldn't ask for more."

Sand Rock also faced some difficult competition in the White bracket on its way to tournament runner-up.

After defeating Gaylesville 15-2 and Collinsville 7-1 in pool play on Friday, Sand Rock blanked Jacksonville Christian 12-0 to set up a rematch with Collinsville.

The Lady Wildcats scratched and clawed their way to a 5-3 win over the Lady Panthers, then battled Fyffe in a back-and-forth game. Sand Rock claimed a 6-4 win to set up a rematch of last year's tournament championship game with Cherokee County.

"We could have laid down against Collinsville when they started hitting the ball and rallied early, but we just stayed the course and kept fighting through," Bates said. "The same thing can be said with the Fyffe game. It was back and forth, but we didn't quit, and I was proud of that.

"I'm proud of the way we played and I was proud of the way we played against Centre. I thought Kaitlyn pitched an outstanding ball game. I thought she did a good job of moving her pitches around and had their hitters off-balance, but we just didn't roll the ball enough to get the hits we needed."

Courtney Williams had a single to left off Davis for one of Sand Rock's two hits in Saturday's championship game. Kelsey Hayes added an infield single in the fourth.

"The best thing about this tournament is we're going to make them better and they're going to make us better," Barnes said. "It's a good match-up, and it always is. It seems like we see them in the finals and a lot, and in the county (tournament) too. They're a good, well-coached team.

"You want to play in championship games, whether it's invitational, county or whatever. You want to be in championship games so you can get that experience for those big games later."

For more in-depth coverage on this weekend's Cherokee Invitational, pick up a copy of Wednesday's edition of The Cherokee County Herald.