Soddy-Daisy Strikes Late, But Can't Overtake Vestavia Hills

Vestavia Hills and Soddy-Daisy now have one thing in common now.

After competing in the weekend Ooltewah Invitational, they are gearing up for Area 6-7A and District 5-3A competition that will go a long way toward determining whether they’ll be in the 2016 postseason playoffs.

The two teams wound up their OI play Saturday afternoon with Vestavia Hills, a suburb of Birmingham, knocking off the Trojans, 5-2, at Tom Higgins Field behind the strong pitching of junior Caden Lemons and timely hitting.

Vestavia Hills (21-3) went 4-0 in the invitational while the Trojans were 1-2-1 and have a 10-2 record on the season.

“We get into this (invitational) to see teams like Vestavia and North Penn (Lansdale, Pa.),” Trojans coach Jared Hensley said. “It’s no disrespect to teams in Chattanooga or Tennessee, and we’ll be prepared for a dogfight at Walker Valley on Monday and Tuesday in District 5-3A play, but we see those guys all the time. We know what we’re getting into.

“When you have a chance to see (pitchers) with SEC arms, it’s a good opportunity for our team. Are we disappointed? Yeah. We wanted to go undefeated. We appreciate coach Hitchcox (Ooltewah’s Brian) for his hospitality and his tournament, but it won’t help us on Monday and Tuesday in May.”

The Trojans beat Anderson County, 16-2, fell to North Penn 16-6 and Vestavia, and tied Unity (Ill.) High 9-9.

Soddy-Daisy and Bradley Central are both 4-0 in the district and expected to battle for the regular-season title and top seeding for the league’s tournament. The Bears of coach Travis Adams are 9-2 overall after going 2-2 in the invitational.

 Vestavia, a nine-time Class 6A Alabama state champion, beat Bearden 10-0, Ooltewah 8-4, Franklin County 6-1 and Soddy-Daisy.

The Rebels open play in one of the toughest Areas (the equivalent to Tennessee Districts), if not the toughest, in Alabama in early April.

“At this point last year,” Rebels coach Jamie Harris said, “when we started our area play the four teams in our league were ranked one, two, three and four in the state Class 7A poll. It’s that difficult.”

The Rebels start the home-and-home (Tuesday and Thursday) series against Hewitt-Trussville on April 5. Then it’s Spain Park on April 12 and Mountain Brook on April 19.

“The difference between winning and losing is razor thin,” Harris said. “You have two bad innings and you can miss the playoffs. For us and those other three teams, it basically comes down to a six-game season.”

 But, in Lemons and Sonny Potter, the strong-armed left-hander and University of Alabama signee who beat Ooltewah on Friday, Harris has a tremendous 1-2 punch in the rotation.

It was Lemons’ time to shine Saturday.

The 6-foot-5, 175-pound (that might be stretching it a little bit) right-hander who has committed to Ole Miss, could not have started any stronger than he did against the Trojans, who are coming off a state tournament appearance in 2015.

Lemons retired he first nine he faced, seven by strikeout. His fastball was dominant. His off-speed offerings buckled some knees. He fanned two in the first, second and fourth innings and all three in the third.

“That’s the best pitching we’ve seen all year,” said Soddy-Daisy shortstop Justin Cooke, who broke up Lemons’ perfect game with a leadoff single up the middle in the fourth inning. “He could throw it where it needed to be thrown.”

Cooke, the only Trojan in the top four spots to get a hit, went to second on a wild pitch and stayed there as Lemons recorded a pop-out and two strikeouts.

Third baseman Spencer Keylon hit Lemons’ second pitch into center field to start the fifth inning and second baseman Cale Morgan walked. Morgan was erased on a fielder’s choice and Lemons got Chandler Sulcer on a fly ball to center and struck out Workman.

“(Lemons) was pretty good,” Hensley said. “He had good off-speed pitches and threw a lot of strikes. On top of that, it was the first time this year our guys have seen that kind of velocity.”

Lemons mowed down the Trojans 1-2-3 in the sixth, but walked Grant Cordell opening the seventh. Keylon struck out and Morgan hit a chopper back to the mound. Lemons stepped to his right, rolled his ankle and got a glove on the ball while falling, but couldn’t make the play. It went for an error and runners were at first and second.

Harris fetched junior reliever Josh Stevens to face Sulcer.

Stevens, who doesn’t have a fully developed left arm, remindful of former major-leaguer Jim Abbott, gave up a Sulcer single to load the bases before fanning Workman.

On an 0-1 pitch, Joshua Perez, the Trojans’ No. 9 hitter, slapped an opposite-field single to right to score two runs.

Cooke hit into a fielder’s choice to end the game.

“I felt pretty good all day,” said Lemons, who threw 87 pitches, 58 for strikes – that ratio was 49-37 after four innings. “My back (pulled muscle) was bothering me throughout the game and then I rolled my ankle in the seventh.”

On Friday, Potter checked Ooltewah on seven hits and four runs while  striking out six and walking two to pick up his sixth win without a loss.

“I think we gave up four earned runs over the weekend,” Harris said. “That’s been our calling card though. We’re going to pitch and try to play some defense. Our hitting was a lot better this week than it has been.”

Junior Ross Covington, Vestavia Hills’ designated hitter, was the only player in the game to collect two hits. He doubles in the second and singled to right-center in the third, moved to second and third on wild pitches, but was stranded when Soddy-Daisy starter Jake Flippo struck out D.J. Steele to end the inning.

Boxscore

Soddy-Daisy                      000 000 2 – 2 4 1

Vestavia Hills                    102 200 x – 5 7 1

Lemons, Stevens (7) and Hospes; Flippo, Perry (6) and Workman.

(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)