Friendship Christian Rips Ooltewah, 12-3, For Invitational Title

Ooltewah reeled off six straight wins to reach the Ooltewah Invitational tournament championship showdown against Friendship Christian Academy.

Then the Lady Owls got rolled themselves on Saturday, losing to the Lady Commanders, 12-3, for the Gold bracket title on a clear, blustery Saturday at The Summitt softball complex.

“We were on a roll coming into the FCA game and was still on a roll after we got two home runs and three runs in the first inning,” Ooltewah coach Jon Massey said. “Then we got rolled.”

Ooltewah built a quick 3-0 lead against FCA sophomore Kayla Boseman belted a two-run homer and Aubbie Collake followed with a solo shot – her third of the season – in the top of the first.

Boseman, bothered by a busted blood vessel on the index finger of her pitching hand during a semifinal win against Meigs County, gave up two homers to FCA’s Brice Dabbs and Courtney Miles and didn’t make it out of the first inning.

The Lady Commanders (17-3) added a fifth run in the second and then turned the game into a shellacking with a seven-run third.

“My finger was throbbing,” Boseman said. “I was distracted by it a little and (FCA) was hitting the ball pretty good.”

The final-game loss spoiled a day highlighted by a thrilling 7-4 win over the Lady Tigers that gave the Lady Owls a spot in the championship showdown.

The Lady Owls (21-4), with 12 straight games, had a 3-0 lead through four innings – Boseman slugged a two-run homer in the first and Shelby Sutton, a junior batting .442, doubled in a run in the third – and were in control.

The Lady Tigers (12-2), their two losses have been to Ooltewah, loaded the bases in the top of the fifth and Ashley Rogers smacked a grand slam that produced a stunning 4-3 lead.

In Ooltewah’s final at-bat, Addy Keylon, a freshman batting .396, and Tiera Lemon drew walks, Sutton singled in a run and the bases were still loaded.

Boseman, the 2015 MaxPreps National Player of the Year, cracked an 0-2 pitch from Rogers, the Lady Tigers’ pitching ace, over the center-field fence for the game-winning, three-run homer to give her five RBIs in the game.

“I really felt bad after Meigs went ahead,” said Boseman (8-2, 2.62 ERA). “I had never given up a grand slam before. I’ve given up some homers, but never a grand slam. When I came up in the last inning, I knew I had to pick us up and was able to do that.”

Combine games against Cumberland County (Friday), Cleveland, Meigs County and FCA, Boseman went 8 for 10 with six home runs and 14 RBIs. She drove in five runs against Meigs and four in the win over the Lady Jets.

Boseman has 10 homers, nine triples, five doubles and 46 RBIs. She has a team-high .616 batting average.

She pitched a four-inning perfect game (the tournament had a 75-minute time limit on games) against Cumberland and stopped coach Jeff Davis’ Lady Tigers on five hits.

The quick exit in the title game stung.

“I’m mad,” said Collake, a junior first baseman. “The FCA pitcher was throwing pitches right down the middle. I thought we would just continue to kill it. We didn’t though. And I have faith in all our pitchers, but Kayla is mentally tough and can pitch out of tough situations.”

Massey brought in freshman Mackenzie Patterson to relieve Boseman. She walked Bayley West and retired Sydney McCormick on a pop-foul to end the first inning.

Dabbs pushed the Lady Commanders’ lead to 5-3 with a run-scoring single in the second.

FCA took advantage of four hits, two errors and a walk for their seven-run uprising in the third inning. Among the hits was a two-run homer by second baseman Brooke Eakes.

“This was our best game of the tournament,” FCA coach Jody Atwood said. “I think we’ve won our last 11 games now, so we’ve had a good couple of weeks.”

Atwood told his players to come into the tournament relaxed and have fun.

“We had nothing to lose,” he said. “I didn’t know if we could win the thing. Ooltewah has a great team and a great pitcher (Boseman). I just said, ‘Get out there and let’s see what happens.’ ”

Senior Monica Thompson, who has enjoyed a strong week as the team’s No. 2 pitcher in the absence of injured junior right-hander Jadyn Raschke – sidelined with a fracture in her right leg, came on in the third and yielded a run-scoring single and Eakes’ homer.

Three of the Lady Commanders’ stat lines looked like a video game:

** Dabbs – 3 for 3, two runs scored, five RBIs, one home run.

** Miles – 3 for 3, two runs scored, three RBIs, one homer.

** Eakes – 2 for 3, one run scored, three RBIs, one dinger.

“They kicked us,” Massey said. “We didn’t make plays; we didn’t look very inspired to be honest with you. We came back and got the win against Meigs County and you’d think everyone would be ready to play for the championship.

“Our goal in a tournament like this is to play a lot of softball. We did that. Another goal was to win the tournament. The first 10 minutes against FCA we were rolling. The rest of the game we didn’t do much at all.”

FCA edged Silverdale Baptist Academy, 2-1, to gain a shot at Ooltewah in the championship game. Silverdale beat Marion County, 4-2, in the quarterfinals and Olentangy (Ohio), 7-0, to start bracket play.

Ooltewah 7, Meigs County 4: Boseman staked herself to a 2-0 lead with a two-run homer – Tiera Lemon singled to start the first inning and scored on Boseman’s blast just inside the left field foul line.

Lemon walked starting the third and came home on Sutton’s double to left-center.

Shocked by the Lady Tigers’ late heroics – Savannah Scott was hit by a pitch, Kaylie Moore singled and after a pop-out Aubrey Reed was hit by a pitch to load the bases ahead of Rogers’ dramatic grand slam – the Lady Owls refused to roll over.

Addy Keylon and Lemon drew walks and Sutton singled to load the bases.

Rogers worked Boseman to an 0-2 count. On the next pitch, Boseman hit a rope over the center-field fence and the Lady Owls launched an instantaneous celebration.

Between the come-from-behind win against Meigs and the championship game, Boseman was in the hospitality room washing her right hand and putting a Band-Aid on the sensitive finger.

“I call it my spinning finger,” Boseman said. “I think it’s a busted blood vessel. I’m hoping it won’t affect my pitching.”

The Lady Tigers went from ecstasy to agony in a few brief minutes.

“We felt pretty good after Ashley’s homer,” he said. “But I knew the top of their order would be coming up in the next inning. We walked their number nine hitter – I’m not complaining because that was Ashley’s 12^th straight inning to pitch – and then we walk the next girl and give up a single.”

Then Boseman’s bat boomed.

“We’re still happy,” the coach said. “We came down here to play good competition and we got that. We were without three starters, but our three freshmen got some great experience.”

Reed, the Meigs County catcher, was hit by a pitch on the hand and the ball then struck her in the face and she went to the ground. After a few moments, she was upright but wobbly and was taken from the field.

“It’s probably a concussion,” Davis said. “She’ll be all right.”

Ooltewah 13, Cleveland 0: The Lady Owls opened bracket play with another one-sided win over the Lady Blue Raiders – they whipped Cleveland, 10-1, this past Tuesday in a District 5-3A game.

Boseman went 3 for 3 with a two-run homer and RBI double. She doubled for a second time in the third inning and scored on Mabry Carpenter’s two-bagger. Sutton, Carpenter, Tyler Sullivan and Madalyn Mills, another freshman, all had two hits.

Ooltewah had six extra-base hits, including five doubles.

Thompson checked Cleveland on two singles, one by Allison Botts in the first and the other by Emily Colbaugh in the second of a four-game victory.

Thompson struck out six.

NOTE: McMinn County clipped Sequoyah, 7-2, to capture the Silver championship.

 

Boxscores

Gold Bracket

Championship

Ooltewah                                            300 0 – 3 5 4

Friendship Christian                       417 x – 12 9 0

Boseman, Patterson (1), Thompson (3) and Forrester; Perry and Miles.

Semifinal

Meigs County                                    000 04 – 4 5 0

Ooltewah                                            201 04 – 7 6 0

Rogers and Reed; Boseman and Forrester.

Quarterfinals

Cleveland                                            000 0 – 0 2 5

Ooltewah                                            373 x – 13 15 0

Botts, Heintz (2) and Wilson; Thompson and Mills.

Saturday Pool Play

LaVergne                                            310 00 – 4 5 0

Ooltewah                                            240 2x – 8 11 1

Leibfrie and Adamson; Patterson and Mills.

Ooltewah                                            422 41 – 13 13 0

Grace Christian                               102 02 – 5 9 2

Morrow and Forrester; Lewis and Duggins.

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