Forrest senior Ashley Milligan has had several near misses at no-hitters this season in the circle, but on the big stage on Tuesday, Milligan blanked Covington and the Lady Rockets cruised to a 13-0 five-inning, run-rule win in the first round of the TSSAA Spring Fling XXVIII in Murfreesboro.

“Ashley was dominate on the mound again,” Forrest coach Shelby Lightfoot said. “That gives you time for your offense to get going and it gives the team a lot of confidence.”

“When you have to ride one pitcher the whole week it gets a little bit tough, so anytime we can get our offense going and she can throw minimal pitches and barely get through their lineup twice is big, it’s going to help her long term.”

The only two baserunners in the game for the Lady Chargers came via a first inning error and a second inning hit by pitch.

Milligan struck out at least two batters in every inning and struck out the side in order in the fourth as she whiffed 13 out of the 17 batters she faced in the contest.

“This feels awesome, it’s great to show other people what we have.” Milligan said. “I was expecting to get about two strikeouts and give up two hits, but instead I got my no-hitter at state.”

Milligan also had a productive day at the plate, going 2-for-3 with three RBIs in the 12-hit attack for the Lady Rockets.

Jenna Blanton set the table flawlessly from the leadoff spot, going a perfect 4-for-4 with four runs scored, two stolen bases, and a two-run triple.

Karley Daughrity also had a big game at the dish, going 3-for-4 with three runs scored and four RBIs.

Macyn Kirby (sac bunt, stolen base), Katelyn Helmick (RBI), and Briley Burnham (reached on error, two runs scored) all had one hit in the game and Maggie Daughrity walked twice and scored a run.

“We saw what they were throwing and I thought the girls did a great job of adjusting right off the bat,” Lightfoot said. “We attacked right away and our small ball game kept pressure on them.”

“That’s why we have three slappers in the lineup (Blanton, Kirby, and Maggie Daughrity) is to make them make chaos, just make them make plays and then have our big sticks come through.”

The Forrest offense wasted little time getting in gear as Blanton led off the contest with an infield single and stole second and third base before coming home on a squeeze bunt RBI single by Karley Daughrity on a 3-0 count.

Daughrity ended up on third base as the Lady Chargers threw the ball away and Milligan knocked in Daughrity on a fielder’s choice to shortstop.

Kalynn Howard led off the home half of the inning for Covington and reached on an infield error and stole second base before Milligan whiffed two out of the next three batters as Howard never left that bag.

Abby Ferguson came up with a one-out bases on balls in the top of the second inning and Burnham followed with an infield single.

After a strikeout, Blanton cleared the bases with a triple down the left field line to make it 4-0 and then scored easily on one of six wild pitches in the game for Covington.

Milligan faced four batters in the home half of the inning and had two strikeouts, a pop-up to Burnham at second, and Kayla Pitts was hit by a pitch.

Pitts was the last baserunner in the game for Covington as Milligan retired the next 10 Lady Chargers in a row, including eight strikeouts.

Forrest manufactured another run in the top of the third inning to make it 6-0 and blew the game wide open in the top of the fourth inning as they sent 10 batters to the plate, scoring five runs.

Laura Mealer picked up an RBI on a bases loaded walk, Karley Daughrity drilled a two-run single, and Milligan and Helmick had run-scoring base hits.

Milligan mowed down the Lady Chargers in order in the home half of the fourth inning and Forrest tacked on a pair runs in the top of the fifth via a fielder’s choice RBI by Karley Daughrity and an RBI single by Milligan.

The Lady Chargers had no answer for Milligan in the home half of the fifth inning as they went down 1-2-3 and the no-hitter was complete, sending Forrest (27-3-1) to a second round matchup today at 4 p.m. versus Gibbs (30-11), who shutout Greenbrier 6-0 in the early game on Tuesday.

“They have a great coach, a Hall of Fame coach we are talking about, so she will have them ready,” Lightfoot said. “We got to see them a little bit earlier, so that was big for us.”

“I still feel like Ashley is tough to hit first time through until you get the speed, so it’s going to be a little bit of us getting on them early and setting the tone early.”

The defending and three-time state champion Lady Rockets beat Gibbs 11-0 in the first round of the 2019 state tournament and also beat the Lady Eagles 4-3 at the 2017 Coffee County Classic.

Gibbs has 10 state championships, three behind all-time leaders Baylor and Ezell Harding with 13. The Lady Eagles won titles in 1983, 84, 86, 87, 88, 1998, 99, 2000, 2012, and 2017 while finishing runner-ups in 2003, 2008, and 2014.

Lexington (35-9-1), the 2019 runner-ups, beat Sequatchie County 12-2 and will face Red Bank (23-8) in the second round tonight after the Forrest game.

Red Bank beat Union County (26-15) 6-2 on Tuesday.

Forrest 231 52-13 12 1

Covington 000 00-0 0 1

Forrest: Jenna Blanton 4-for-4, Karley Daughrity 3-for-4, Ashley Milligan 2-for-3, Macyn Kirby 1-for-2, Katelyn Helmick 1-for-4, Briley Burnham 1-for-3.

BB: Maggie Daughrity 2, Laura Mealer, Milligan, Abby Ferguson.

RS: Blanton 4, Karley Daughrity 3, Mealer 2, Burnham 2, Ferguson, Maggie Daughrity.

3B: Blanton.

RBI: Karley Daughrity 4, Milligan 3, Blanton 2, Helmick, Mealer.

SAC: Kirby.

ROE: Burnham.

FC: Mealer

HBP: Carli Warner.

SB: Blanton 3, Bunty, Ferguson, Kirby, Mealer.

CS: Bunty.

Team LOB: 5

Fielding

E: Karley Daughrity.

WP: Ashley Milligan (5IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 13K).

Covington: 0 Hits.

ROE: Kalynn Howard.

HBP: Kayla Pitts.

SB: Howard.

Team LOB: 2

Fielding

E: Charleigh Cole, Gracyn Ramsey.

LP: Lauren Vickery (3IP, 5H, 6R, 5ER, 2K, 2BB).

Relief: Charleigh Cole (1IP, 4H, 5R, 4ER, 0K, 2BB).

Relief: Anna Gover (1IP, 3H, 2R, 2ER, 0K, 1BB).

Tribune Photos by Anthony S. Puca and Dennis Holley