South Warren and Warren East haven’t been much for the dramatic during the Region 4 Softball Tournament.

They’re saving that for the championship game.

The Spartans and Lady Raiders expect another close one in a rivalry that is split evenly at nine games apiece when they square off in the Region 4 championship game at 6 p.m. Thursday at the WKU Softball Complex.

South Warren (31-3) and Warren East (27-6) each cruised through the first two rounds of the region tournament to set up their fourth meeting this season on Thursday night.

The Spartans are the defending region champions playing in their third straight title game, while the Lady Raiders are back in the region final after edging the Spartans 1-0 in the 2015 region final.

“Our games over the last seven years that they’ve been around, they’ve been tight and it should be another classic on Thursday,” WEHS coach Philip McKinney said.

The postseason has brought out the nailbiters between the two teams since South Warren came into existence in 2011.

The Spartans beat the Lady Raiders 1-0 in eight innings for the District 14 title in 2014 before Warren East returned the favor in 2015 with a 3-0 district championship win and a one-run victory in the region final.

They split their two games in the regular season last year, with South Warren winning a 3-2 game in eight innings.

The Spartans did it again in the first meeting this season with a 3-1 win in eight innings March 29 in a game that was scoreless after seven innings.

South Warren rolled to a 25-0 start and dropped two games in the regular season before being shut out by the Lady Raiders 6-0 in the District 14 final last week.

“We’ve had some weird games this year, but this comes down to the Fourth Region championship,” SWHS coach Chris Riggs said. “I expect it to be a one-run game and I wouldn’t expect any different. … They jumped out on us in that district championship game and we just couldn’t get anything together with our bats and it just didn’t work out in that game. We just have to regroup, put our best foot forward and see what happens.”

Heading into the title game, Warren East is playing with the hottest bats and best defense in the region with four straight shutouts and averaging more than 10 runs per game.

It beat Cumberland County 15-0 in three innings and Barren County 11-0 in five innings to reach the region final. Kendall Smith hit two home runs against Barren County, including a walk-off three-run homer in the bottom of the fifth inning.

In their last meeting, sophomore pitcher Katie Gardner struck out nine and surrendered just five hits in the shutout win while the offense totaled 10 hits. Gardner also homered in that game and Smith drove in two runs.

“We just have to see the ball and hit it and make adjustments during our at-bats,” Smith said. “We’ve just got to make small adjustments, play sharp defense and have our pitchers come out like we know they can. We just can’t make mistakes.”

Since South Warren’s 25-0 start, all three of its losses have resulted in shutouts. Its wins through the first two rounds of the region weren’t as smooth, either. It handled Russell County 11-0 in five innings on Monday, but needed an error to score two runs against Allen County-Scottsville to help pull away for a 5-1 win in the semifinals.

“(Warren East) puts the ball in play and they’ve got some speed,” Riggs said. “You can’t mess around with it. You’ve got to come attack the ball and make the play.”{&end}