Coach Shannon Jeffrey never thought much of the No. 3 seed his team drew at the district meeting.

He recognized what seemed to be an even playing field, providing an opportunity for nearly any team to escape.

So, Jeffrey might not have been all that surprised when his team hoisted the Class 3 District 8 trophy following a 9-1 defeat over Southern Boone on Saturday.

“I thought all the teams seemed pretty equal,” said Jeffrey. “I thought from the beginning that even if we were a No. 3 seed, we had a chance.”

The accomplishment was nothing knew for the veteran coach, who won six district titles prior to coming to Warrenton this school year. But no Warrior team has torn through a district unscathed since the 2001 season, during a stretch in which Warrenton won four straight district titles.

“We set out in the beginning to be district champs, and that’s what we’ve worked toward every game,” said Jeffrey.

Perhaps the dominant fashion in which Warrenton beat its opponents was more astonishing.

The Warriors outscored their district opponents 27-3 during three contests at Fulton High School.

Freshman Jennah Garrison stifled what had proven to be an explosive Southern Boone offense. 

“She hit everywhere I asked her to throw again,” said Jeffrey. “It’s about location if you don’t throw it 60 miles an hour, and she did that tremendously.”

Garrison struck out two, while allowing just four hits.

“Halfway through our regular season, coach said, ‘I believe you guys can believe win districts,’ “ recalled Garrison, who took over the bulk of the pitching after veteran Lindsay Mauch was held back by injuries.

On Saturday, a series of errors seemed to snowball for Southern Boone in the early going, and the Warriors took full advantage.

Warrenton jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Junior Lindsay Mauch tripled and was able to score on a pass ball. The Warriors rattled off three consecutive singles with one out but left all three runners stranded.

They pulled through another run in the second, as Garrison led off with a single, senior Abby Job singled, as did freshman Danyelle Dieckmann, who collected an RBI.

“We had been working really hard on hitting, and it showed,” said Mauch.

“Our offense was amazing,” added Garrison. “Everybody went with the pitch. They put the second girl in, and we hit her too.”

The Warriors’ most productive inning was the third, during which they pulled in four more runs. Melanie Raterman led off with a double that resulted in an in-the-park home run thanks to consecutive errors.

Emily Love singled and was driven home by Nicole Parrish’ double.

Another double by Mauch pushed home both Abby Job and Nicole Parrish with two outs. Warrenton led 6-0 after three innings.

“The biggest thing was that we hit the ball well,” said Jeffrey. “We didn’t try to do too much. We took what she gave us. Timely hitting was huge today.”

Southern Boone threatened in the bottom of the inning, stranding runners on first and third base.

The Eagles brought in relief on the mound entering the fourth inning. Sophomore Taylor Phillips struck out the first three batters she faced. 

“She had a nice changeup and threw really well,” said Jeffrey. “She did a good job. The changeup was really effective today.”

Southern Boone loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth, but solid outfield shut down the order.

“We’ve been in that situation a lot this year, and we’ve been talking about every single game that we’ve had up to this point has been learning.”

The Eagles were finally able to pull in a run during the fifth inning. Warrenton prevented an initial run with a tag at home plate.

Southern Boone sent two runners home,  but one run was negated after it was ruled the base runner left early before tagging. It quickly put a harness on the Eagles’ rally.

“They’ve got a lot of good sticks,” said Jeffrey. “I figured going in that if we kept them under six runs, we’d be all right. It just happened that they didn’t get the slugfest they were used to.”

The Warriors put the finishing touches on their win during the top of the seventh, as Job scored Parrish.

“We happen to play a little bit more solid game than them,” said Jeffrey. “I think that was the difference.”

Mauch, Dieckmann and Peper each finished with three hits. Mauch cranked out a triple and double, while also being responsible for superior play in the outfield.