The nearly 30-minute rain delay during Wednesday’s Region 3-AA softball championship actually worked in Hixson pitcher Dawon Millwood’s favor.

The break helped the senior settle, and the run the Lady Wildcats scored after the rain proved to be all the support she would need. A 1-0 victory over Chattanooga Christian gave Hixson its second-straight region title and the right to host a state sectional game on Friday against DeKalb County.

“At first I didn’t feel good at all,” Millwood said. “Then after it rained, I came back and got myself together and started to pitch the way I normally do. When we got that run, it took a lot of weight off my shoulders.”

Wednesday’s game was the fourth meeting of the season between the two teams, and the fourth win for Hixson. But after their 3-2 victory in last week’s district final, the Lady Wildcats (19-4) expected another close game.

“We knew it would be very difficult to beat them four times,” Hixson coach Janet Tate said. “They’re a very explosive team, and you never know what’s going to happen.”

Just as she did in the 6-AA title game, Lauren Bray provided the decisive run. Jenevieve Cena led off the second with a single but was tagged out on Millwood’s fielder’s choice. Millwood went to second on the Lady Chargers’ only error of the game, and courtesy runner Kayla Carnes came home on Bray’s base hit.

Millwood dueled the rest of the way with Chattanooga Christian’s Jennifer Long, who allowed just two hits after the second inning. Marie Beaty accounted for two of the three CCS hits, but Millwood retired the Lady Chargers in order in the three of their last four innings.

“We know Jennifer’s pitching,” she said. “We’ve been working on that a lot in practice. We know their batters very well also. I’ve seen them probably nine times each, so you start to know what to throw.”

Millwood matched Long’s strikeout total with 11, three of them in the Lady Chargers’ last at-bat. Two of those came after the pitcher had fallen behind for 3-1 counts.

“It’s a good night for us when she has those strikeouts,” Tate said. “It helps everybody.”

Chattanooga Christian (19-13) will travel Friday to face Goodpasture, which defeated DeKalb 9-0 in Wednesday’s Region 4-AA final.

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