Tyler Sullivan of Ooltewah takes a swing Tuesday during the Lady Owls' District 5-3A softball tournament game against Soddy-Daisy. Sullivan drew a bases-loaded walk in a four-run fifth inning that helped the Lady Owls win, 5-3.
photo by Dennis Norwood
For six innings, pitchers dominated the action on Jim Lovell Field in Ooltewah.
In the fifth inning, however, the hitters grabbed made a lot of noise.
That one inning accounted for all seven runs in the game.
The Lady Trojans scored three times in the top of the inning, which would have ended a bit earlier had Lady Owls sophomore phenom Kayla Boseman not dropped a high pop-up that would have been the third out just to the left of home plate.
Ooltewah looked drained, but it wasn’t.
The Lady Owls scored four runs against Soddy-Daisy’s best two pitchers, added a run in the sixth and walked away with a 4-3 victory that set up a second title game in the District 5-3A softball tournament.
“They responded,” Soddy-Daisy coach Wes Skiles said, referring to Ooltewah’s gutsy comeback. “You score three runs and the hope is the other team folds, but they came back on us.”
So, the tournament’s top two seeds – Ooltewah, the defending champion, is No. 1 and Soddy-Daisy is No. 2 – will tangle again Wednesday at 6 p.m. to determine this year’s champion.
The day was doubly tough on the Lady Owls (38-5), who had to rally from a 5-0 deficit before thrashing McMinn County, 15-7, just to stay alive. That victory ensured coach Jon Massey’s club a berth in the Region 3-3A tournament that begins on Monday.
Soddy-Daisy (27-9) nailed down a regional spot with Monday’s impressive 6-0 win over Ooltewah behind the combined one-hit pitching of Jordan Woodward and Shonna Penney.
“We get another shot at Soddy-Daisy and we’ll see what happens,” Massey said. “We’re just glad to be coming back (Wednesday). Heck, after (Monday night), we’re glad to just be breathing.”
The game completely flipped from a scoreless tussle to something akin to an offensive explosion in the fifth.
Boseman, who yielded only three hits through four innings, retired Emilee Dent on a liner to third baseman Mabry Carpenter to get things started. Alexis Trimiar got her only hit of the game, a single to left field. Cameren Swafford flied out to right.
That’s when the lights started flickering.
Grayson Brown doubled to left to score the speedy Trimiar. Macy Bryant followed with a RBI single. Woodward walked. Meagan Beasley launched a towering pop-up and Boseman between Carpenter and catcher Marissa Forrester, all the while yelling, ‘I got it.’ She put her arms up, but the ball hit the heel of her glove and dropped to the dirt infield. Bryant scored on the miscue.
An obviously frustrated Boseman struck out Breanna Britton to end the inning.
Soddy-Daisy fans were jubilant.
Ooltewah faithful had the feeling their Lady Owls were about to go down against the Lady Trojans for the second time in as many days.
Not so.
Starter Shonna Penney, who had given up two harmless hits over four innings, hit Addy Keylon to open Ooltewah’s half of the fifth. Tiera Lemon singled to put runners at first and third.
Skiles brought reliever Jordan Woodward to the circle and she promptly walked Shelby Sutton.
Boseman’s sacrifice fly to deep right sent Keylon home with the Lady Owls’ first run. Aubbie Collake drew a walk. Carpenter reached on a swinging bunt single – nobody was covering first base – and that allowed Sutton to score the second run.
Tyler Sullivan walked to load the bases and Skiles hurriedly brought Penney back into the game to face Bailey Kennedy, the No. 7 batter. Kennedy’s sacrifice fly to right scored Collake. Jadyn Raschke popped out to Bryant at first to end the inning.
“I think this says we are mentally tough,” Collake said. “We got in the dugout before we batted in the fifth and I said, ‘We can’t have another repeat of Monday’s game when they beat us. We all got pumped. It really was emotional. We were all screaming our heads off. I was even screaming when I was on the bases.”
The Lady Owls, who finished third in last year’s state tournament, added an insurance run in the sixth. Keylon beat out an infield hit and darted to second on an overthrow at first and scored on Sutton’s one-out single to left-center field.
Boseman, who threw four innings of relief in the earlier win over McMinn County, was beginning to tire in the fifth and Massey was about ready to end her day in the circle.
“Then we score four runs,” Massey said, “and get the lead. Kayla saw that, so the trainer worked with her and she went out to pitch the sixth. They had eight-nine-one coming up with Trimiar being the leadoff hitter. “I thought that’s the key. If we get (Trimiar) we’ll worry about the seventh later.
“Then we add a fifth run in our sixth. Kayla wanted to finish it and we sent her back out for the seventh. She gutted through it and we got a win. Let me tell you, to score five runs against Soddy-Daisy is hard to do.”
In the seventh, Boseman got Swafford on a groundout, struck out Brown, walked Bryant and Woodward popped to second to end the game.
Skiles, after meeting with his players on the outfield grass, wasn’t a dejected coach at all.
“Here’s the thing,” he said. “I wish we could have won tonight, but the positive thing is we get to come back Wednesday and see live pitching and that will help us for Monday. At this point I have to look at the positives and say, ‘We’re getting an extra game.”
Ooltewah 15, McMinn County 7: It was a difficult start to a day when the Lady Owls had to win two this game or ruin an otherwise brilliant season.
The Lady Cherokees slugged Ooltewah with a punch to the gut in the first inning, scoring five runs that included Hope Mizell’s grand slam.
The Lady Owls showed some of that resilience their coach talked about later by putting up three runs in the bottom of the first on Boseman’s three-run homer – her 19th of the season. She also pushed her RBI total to 82.
That was the last time she would see a pitch to hit until her sacrifice fly in the fifth inning against Soddy-Daisy. Following the homer, McMinn County intentionally walked Boseman three times and hit her once. Against the Lady Trojans, Boseman was walked twice.
McMinn County got a two-run single in the second by Jesse Mizell and went up 7-3. Interestingly, there are three Mizell sisters on the varsity and a fourth waiting in the wings as an eighth-grader.
In Ooltewah’s second, Kennedy had a RBI double and Sutton and Sullivan added run-scoring singles. Carpenter laced a two-run single to right and the Owls had an 8-7 lead.
The Lady Owls pushed across two runs in the fifth on a wild pitch and Sullivan’s single.
Ooltewah’s five-run sixth – the Lady Owls got five hits – was icing on the cake. Two runs came home on Lady Cherokee errors.
Boxscore
Soddy-Daisy 000 030 0 – 3 6 2
Ooltewah 000 040 x – 4 5 2
Penney, Woodward (5). Penney (5) and Swafford; Boseman and Forrester.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)
Soddy-Daisy's Macy Bryant slides into second base as Ooltewah shortstop Tiera Lemon watches the umpire call Bryant safe on the play. The Lady Trojans' first baseman singled and went to second on an outfield throw to home plate.
photo by Dennis Norwood