Jaci Collins was feeling lucking on Thursday.

The first-year Chapmanville Regional High School softball assistant coach and former Lady Tiger all-state pitcher doesn’t normally play the lottery but felt compelled to buy a ticket.

Collins said she bought a $1 scratch-off ticket and won $100.

She thought it might be a good omen for the Lady Tigers later that night as Chapmanville was to play at county rival Logan.

It must have been a good sign as the Lady Tigers beat the Lady Cats, 3-1, in an epic 13-inning, three hour and 25 minute matchup between the two state powers at the Logan Softball Complex.

It was another classic battle between the two rivals, which have won a combined seven state championships.

The Lady Tigers and Lady Cats split in four meetings last season.

The two Logan County schools were in the same Class AA sectional the last six years before Logan moved up to Class AAA ball this season.

But that doesn’t mean the Logan-Chapmanville softball rivalry has cooled down any.

Last night’s game proved that.

The contest was scoreless through 12 innings as each team refused to budge.

But in the top of the 13th, Chapmanville plated three runs off Logan starting pitcher Ali Neace.

The Lady Tigers got the 13th started off on the right foot as Lauren McCann reached base safely on a Logan throwing error. Poppy Ramey doubled to the right centerfield gap to put runners at second and third with no outs.

Then it was senior center fielder Beth Baldwin, who delivered the eventual game-winning hit with an RBI single to right center to make it 1-0 Chapmanville.

Two batters later, pitcher Andi Williamson laced a two-run triple just inside the right field line to up the margin to 3-0.

A Chapmanville error led to a Logan run in the last half of the 13th but Williamson was able to finish off the Lady Cats for the thrilling win.

For the game, the all-state Williamson scattered four hits and struck out, count ‘em, 33 Logan hitters.

Yes, 33 strikeouts.

Williamson had a perfect game alive with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning before Neace broke it up with an infield single. She only walked one batter and struck out the side six times.

Chapmanville, ranked No. 1 in the state in Class AA, improved to 10-0 on the season with the win. Class AAA No. 5 Logan suffered its first loss of the season and dropped to 5-1.

Lady Tigers’ coach Ronnie Ooten has coached the Chapmanville girls’ softball program since its inception in 1983 and has seen many epic Chapmanville-Logan games, including a meeting in 2001 which lasted 14 innings, resulting in a 4-3 win by the Lady Tigers over the Lady Cats at the old Chapmanville softball field.

Another classic was in the 2007 Class AA sectional tourney when homestanding Chapmanville beat Logan 7-6 in nine innings en route to the state championship.

Last night’s game, though, has to rank up there as one of the best.

“It was a typical Logan-Chapmanville game,” Ooten said. “I told (Logan coach) Randy (Robinette) earlier in the game that this was typical of a game in this series.”

Chapmanville certainly had chances to pull ahead much earlier in the game.

The Lady Tigers left runners at second and third way back in the first inning as well as in the fourth and the fifth.

“We squandered some chances,” Ooten said. “We had some runners in scoring position early and we didn’t put any pressure on them, but they (Logan) are one great ballclub and their pitcher (Neace) pitched one heck of a game. I’m just glad to get this win. It was a good win for us. We just had a lot of pressure on us today and we had some hitters that just weren’t hitting the ball.”

Ooten had praise for Williamson’s performance. She already has two perfect games to her credit this season. The only run she gave up in the bottom of the 13th was unearned due to the dropped ball.

“She’s a stud,” Ooten said. “There’s no doubt about that. I get a little bit upset at her because she is superstitious. She was pitching with a ball (that she liked) and it was fouled off into the river and she wanted me to go hunt the ball. I told her that it’s in the (Guyandotte) river and I might find it this summer when I’m fishing.”

Ooten said facing a top-notch Class AAA program like Logan can only make his team better in the long run.

“This is what I told the kids. We went to the Best of the Best Tournament yesterday and won 10-2 and 14-2 and when we came up here today I knew that we were going to have to play because they are a good ballclub with good hitters, good fielders and good pitching,” Ooten said. “I’ll take it. We’ve got super kids and they play hard.”

Logan only had four hits in the game but also had a chance to win.

With one out in the bottom of the ninth, leadoff batter and senior third baseman Leonnah Browning ripped a one-out double which bounced off the left field fence. She was bunted over to third by Kristian Chryssofos but Williamson got out of the jam as Hannah Vinson flew out to right field, sending the game to the 10th inning.

Erica Kelley added an infield single for the Lady Cats. Neace had two hits, including a two-out double in the 13th. Her courtesy runner ended up scoring after the Chapmanville error.

Williamson was 2-for-5 with two RBI for the Lady Tigers.

Freshman Allison Evans added a hit for Chapmanville. McCann also singled.

Both teams committed two errors.

Neace fanned 17 batters and walked only two in 13 innings of work.

Logan Coach Randy Robinette said it was a tough battle with the Lady Tigers.

“It was a good ballgame. I thought that we were tight early,” he said. “She (Williamson) is a good pitcher but we were a little bit in awe of her and we shouldn’t have been but we were. In the first three or four innings we didn’t come to the plate very focused. We had some chances to win but we couldn’t get the job done. She shut us down to her credit. It was a tremendous ballgame between two good teams. I’m disappointed for our kids because we played hard but in a game like this errors are magnified and we made too many mistakes at the plate and defensively. You’ve got to field it, stop it, throw it and hit it.”

Robinette said the game should make his team better.

“For us, since we are really, really young I think that these types of games will definitely help us in the future because when the chips are down maybe we will react a little bit better than we did,” he said. “You can’t get any more pressure that this right here. This is two great teams and a great atmosphere.”

The Lady Tigers and Lady Cats have the rematch next Tuesday in Chapmanville.

Since the two teams no longer play in the same section or class it will be the final matchup between the two this season.

Logan will be looking to gain a split in the season series while the Lady Tigers will be going for the sweep.

Chapmanville is scheduled to play at George Washington on Friday, weather permitting. Logan is also slated to play in the Best of the Best tourney at Buffalo, weather permitting.

Chapmanville, 2-0 in Best of the Best tourney play, is slated to return to the tournament on Saturday morning to face Braxton County at 9 a.m. at Buffalo.