Ooltewah coach Norma Nelson was just trying to advance a runner a base when she signaled for Sara Kelley to bunt in the bottom of the eighth inning. What she gained instead was the winning run.

Two throwing errors on the same play allowed Lexie Whittenburg to score from first base, and Ooltewah interrupted Soddy-Daisy’s string of 10 District 6-AAA high school softball championships with a 3-2 victory in the district-tournament final Thursday night at Ooltewah.

Ooltewah (39-3-1) will host Bradley Central in one of Monday’s Region 3 semifinals. Soddy-Daisy (23-12) will play at District 5 champion Rhea County.

Whittenburg walked starting the bottom of the ninth. Kelley’s bunt was thrown away at first base, and a throw to get Whittenburg heading to third skipped away, too.

“We were just trying to get a bunt down,” Nelson said. “That’s something we haven’t always been able to do. Sara did a good job. Lexie did a good job hustling all the way around.”

It was odd that Alesha Buckner’s second walk was part of the Lady Trojans’ undoing. Winning pitcher Holly Thomas walked seven, but 10 strikeouts helped her pitch around most of them.

“I don’t know what the deal is,” Nelson said. “I don’t know if she’s just trying not to give them anything to hit. Then she responds, for the most part, and the kids respond by making plays behind her.”

Two Trojans who walked scored — on Taylor Wilson’s sacrifice fly in the fourth inning and on Kali Henderson’s double in the fifth.

Soddy-Daisy also had six hits off Thomas. One was Ashlee England’s double that hit the top of the fence in the second inning.

“Three more inches and that goes out,” Soddy-Daisy coach Clifford Kirk said.

Eleven Lady Trojans were left on base.

“We tried to be patient,” Kirk said. “That was the key to our game. I thought we did a good job of being patient. The second time we played them, we couldn’t wait to get in the box and strike out. The last two games against them, we were much better. We’ve still got to get key hits.”

Soddy-Daisy’s other error factored into the Lady Owls’ scoring twice in the first inning. Bri Shoemake drove in the runs with a single and finished 3-for-4 with a double.

Alex Everett was 2-for-3 and scored the Lady Trojans’ second run. Thomas went 2-for-4 for Ooltewah and Henderson went 2-for-4 for Soddy-Daisy.

The District 5-A championship will be decided today when Silverdale Baptist plays Grace Academy at Tyner. Game times are 4:30 p.m. and 6:30, if necessary.

The District 6-A title will be decided at Whitwell. The Lady Tigers play Sale Creek at 5 EDT and again at 7, if needed.

Meigs County visits Sweetwater for the District 5-AA final starting at 4:30.