Boseman Fires Two-Hit Shutout, Ooltewah Wins 5-AAA Softball

Jones, Sullivan Drive In Runs, Lady Owls Beat Walker Valley, 3-0

  • Wednesday, May 6, 2015
  • Larry Fleming
Ooltewah freshman Kayla Boseman threw a two-hit shutout to power the Lady Owls past Walker Valley, 3-0, Wednesday and capture the District 5-AAA softball tournament championship at Bradley Central. The Lady Owls host Cookeville on Monday in the Region 3-AAA semifinals at 6 p.m.
Ooltewah freshman Kayla Boseman threw a two-hit shutout to power the Lady Owls past Walker Valley, 3-0, Wednesday and capture the District 5-AAA softball tournament championship at Bradley Central. The Lady Owls host Cookeville on Monday in the Region 3-AAA semifinals at 6 p.m.
photo by Dennis Norwood

CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Ooltewah’s title drought in the District 5-AAA softball tournament is over.

And the team’s youth movement played a major part in ending it.

Freshman Kayla Boseman threw a two-hit shutout, freshman Tyler Sullivan delivered a two-run single in the sixth inning for insurance runs and the second-seeded Lady Owls whipped No. 3 seed Walker Valley, 3-0, Wednesday at Bob McKenzie Field on the Bradley Central High School campus.

“We are young, but at this point of the season those freshmen are a little older,” said Lady Owls coach Jon Massey, who brought home a tourney title in his second year.

One of the team’s veteran players, senior center fielder Allie Jones, pulled double duty.

Her single in the first inning drove home Tiera Lemon, who led off with a walk, with the only run either team could muster until Ooltewah’s two-run sixth.

Just before Sullivan batted in the sixth, Jones offered a few words of advice.

“I said, ‘You wouldn’t be out her if coach didn’t believe in you and if all the players didn’t believe in you,’ ” said Jones, a Lincoln Memorial University signee. “I told her to just believe in things will happen.”

Sullivan then ripped a 1-1 pitch from Walker Valley pitching ace Alicia Raymond into the left-field corner and Aubie Collake and Jadyn Raschke scored to extend the Lady Owls’ advantage to 3-0.

Collake singled to start the inning and Raschke doubled her to third.

“It was an inside pitch near the plate,” Sullivan said. “I’m pretty excited. I’m a freshman with the privilege of playing varsity softball at Ooltewah. That’s a real bonus.”

For Jones, the win affords her the first opportunity play in the Region 3-AAA tournament

“I’ve never known that feeling,” she said. “In my first three years, we never got past the district. To win the tournament and have a chance to play in region at home is a great feeling. I know how big a deal it is and I’m having a hard time describing how I feel.”

With Wednesday’s win, Ooltewah (35-8) captured their first district tourney title since 2008 and will host a Region 3-AAA semifinal game against District 6-AAA runner-up Cookeville on Monday at 6 p.m.

“It feels great, as a freshman, to win the district tournament,” Boseman said. “I didn’t think I’d be in this place, but we made it happen.”

Walker Valley (23-9) will play at Rhea County 6-AAA champion, on Monday.

“I’m proud of my girls,” Lady Mustangs coach Lauren Limburg said. “Since (Monday a week ago) we’ve played every day (except Sunday) and it has been an emotional roller coaster. We did what it took to advance.”

Boseman, a verbal commitment to Mississippi State, has enjoyed a phenomenal freshman season. She became the team’s No. 1 pitcher in the second game and if a big game came up she was in the circle, holding her own against some of the top teams in East Tennessee, two of which compete in the district with the Lady Owls.

As a high school rookie, Boseman went 16-2 and in the championship game struck out eight, including two in the first inning and two in the seventh, and walked one – Carly Frost in the sixth.

Walker Valley managed to get two runners on base in the fifth and sixth innings, but Boseman bowed her back. She fanned Ali King to end the fifth and retired dangerous Hallie Davis on an infield pop and struck out Lara Bean in the sixth.

In the title game, Boseman also had to deal with a not-so-slight distraction.

In Tuesday’s game against Walker Valley, she tore off part of her fingernail on her index finger (right hand). A recurring thumb strain gave her some problems as well.

“The fingernail thing came up about 30 minutes before game time,” Massey said. “We started panicking and somebody said we need some Super Glue. And the thumb issue flared up, too. What does she do? She goes out there and pitches great not feeling well.”

It was not that much a deal to the laid-back Boseman.

“I tape my finger and went on out there,” she said. “I had to pitch. It didn’t bother me. No pain.”

Despite the annoyance, Boseman tamed the Walker Valley bats.

Boseman retired the first six and 15 of the first 16.

Raymond singled up the middle in the third and punched her second hit to right-center with two out in the fifth.

The rest of the Lady Mustangs were a combined 0-for-18, including Davis’ 0-for-3.

A talented shortstop, Davis, who will play collegiately at Lee University, was a primary target for Ooltewah pitching in all three games in the tournament. She beat the Lady Owls, 3-2, with a seventh-inning homer in the regular season and Massey was determined to stop her in the tourney.

Ooltewah pitchers – Boseman and Cameron Baltimore – received great help from assistants Stacy Wong and Heidi Moses. The plan was to work away from Davis.

Boseman and Baltimore never wavered from the plan. And never gave in to Davis, who went 0-for-11 with three strikeouts and got only two balls out of the infield.

“We were very successful against her,” Boseman said. “It was a big part of our plan today. She’s one of their best hitters and I knew I had to keep the ball low, work her in and out and throw a few off-speed pitches to get her stumbling a little bit.”

Showing tons of respect for Davis’s offensive exploits, the Lady Owls and Soddy-Daisy Lady Trojans basically took her out of the game when facing Walker Valley.

Soddy-Daisy simply walked Davis.

While the Lady Owls pitched to Davis, they did so CAREFULLY.

“Boseman did a great job today,” Limburg said. “Hallie is a great hitter and we have a lot of good hitters. Unfortunately, we didn’t hit well tonight. Two hits won’t get it done against a quality team like Ooltewah.”

From her center field position, Jones gets a pretty good view of what Boseman is doing during the game.

“She had a sense about her today that “I’m going out there and do my job,” Jones said. “I love Hallie Davis and she’s a great ballplayer and everybody knows it. You have to go get her. To take her out of the ballgame is a really big deal because she can make things happen.

“We all tried to pick Kayla up with our defense today and did a lot better than we’ve been doing. We had instances in this tournament when we just fell apart. We played rock-solid defense today.”

LINESCORE

Walker Valley                 000 000 0 – 0 2 1

Ooltewah                          100 002 0 – 3 6 1

Raymond and Chancey; Boseman and Forrester.

(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)

 

Ooltewah's Tyler Sullivan (14), a freshman designated player, awaits a pitch from  Walker Valley's Alicia Raymond on Wednesday in the District 5-AAA tournament in Cleveland. Sullivan delivered a two-run single in the sixth to provide the Lady Owls with their final 3-0 margin of victory.
Ooltewah's Tyler Sullivan (14), a freshman designated player, awaits a pitch from Walker Valley's Alicia Raymond on Wednesday in the District 5-AAA tournament in Cleveland. Sullivan delivered a two-run single in the sixth to provide the Lady Owls with their final 3-0 margin of victory.
photo by Dennis Norwood
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