After recognizing nine senior members prior to the contest against Gibson County on Sunday afternoon, the Lady Trojans went out and played one of their finest games of the season, defeating the Lady Pioneers, 9-0.

Dyersburg's Jessica Smith, playing her final regular season game in front of the home fans, was in the zone for the majority of the contest, striking out 12 batters while allowing just three hits in the shutout victory.

"I really think this was Jessica's best performance of the season," said Dyersburg head coach Doug French. "Even though she looked a little tired in the final inning, she was able to bear down and get three strikeouts with the bases loaded to seal the deal."

Throughout the season, both Smith and teammate Brandy Hamm have had solid outings but have been denied victories in some cases due to the lack of run support. On Sunday afternoon runs weren't a problem.

The Lady Trojans scored twice in the second, twice in the third, three times in the fifth, and twice more in the sixth to cruise to the easy 9-0 win with eight different players recording RBIs during the contest.

Tracy Ratliff led the offensive attack with a 3-for-3 performance at the plate, fleet-footed Alison Petty went 2-for-3 with an RBI and two stolen bases, Stephanie Johnson was 2-for-3 with two RBIs, and Courtney Sizemore was 2-for-4 with an RBI and a home run.

"We really hit the ball today the way we are capable of doing and I don't think we could have swung the bats any better than we did today, and it couldn't come at a better time than now with the district tournament right around the corner," added French. "We hit up and down the lineup and didn't leave a lot of runners stranded.

Though the wins haven't stacked up like French would have liked this season -- Dyersburg is 7-15 overall and 5-6 in the district -- the long time coach believes if his squad plays like they did on Sunday, they will be hard to beat.

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"If we can play like we did today, we are going to be hard to beat in the tournament, but if we don't then we can expect to struggle. It all depends on the girls and how bad they want to succeed because the talent is there to do some good things," he said.

In all probability the Lady Trojans will wind up with the four or five seed in the tournament, and while French would have liked to have a higher seed, he is confident his squad will rise to the occasion no matter what the seed is or the team Dyersburg will face in the opening round of the tournament.

"It will be like a brand new season so it doesn't matter where we end up at. The difference between the No.1 seed and the No. 7 seed is one ballgame. So, whether we play the best or the worst, we just have to come out and play the way we are capable and everything will work out fine, I truly believe that," said French.

The Lady Trojans are scheduled to complete the regular season series with the Lady Pioneers today in Dyer.