The Meadville Eagles broke the four-year stranglehold on the Missouri boy's softball state championship held by the Jefferson Eagles, rolling through the semifinals and championship game on Saturday to win the state title.

Meadville's toughest game of the tournament actually came on Friday night, with the Eagles holding off an upset bid by Grundy R-5 to win by a score of 8-6.

On Saturday, the Eagles bounced North Mercer in the semifinals 15-2 before winning the state crown 13-4 over CLAA rival Tina-Avalon.

Jefferson, a school that has won four state titles in a row and nine of the last ten heading into the 2012 season, had to settle for third place. Jefferson lost to Tina-Avalon in the semifinals by a score of 6-5, but came back to down the Mercer Cardinals 8-4 in the third place game.

In Saturday's consolation round, North Harrison and Winston won semifinal games (over Newtown-Harris and Grundy R-5), with North Harrison winning fifth place over Winston 11-2.

Friday night scores from the tournament, played at Danner Park in Chillicothe, were:

First Round:
Grundy R-5 17, Ridgeway 5
Winston 23, Hale 2

Quarterfinals:
Jefferson 12, Newtown-Harris 1
Tina-Avalon 17, North Harrison 2
Meadville 8, Grundy R-5 6
North Mercer 12, Winston 9

In other softball action from Saturday, Princeton won the championship in their first ever tournament at Gentry Field, with the Lady Tigers beating Braymer 17-0, Cainsville 15-7, and Southwest Livingston 16-0.