Bradley Edges Ooltewah, 4-3, For District 5-3A Baseball Title

Carpenter's Clutch RBI Hit I Ninth Inning Is Game Winner

  • Tuesday, May 10, 2016
  • Special to Chattanoogan.com

Bradley Central twice came up with thrilling late-inning heroics Tuesday night and beat Ooltewah, 4-3, in nine innings for its second straight District 5-3A baseball tournament championship at Cleveland High School.

A gutty suicide squeeze bunt in the seventh inning and a clutch RBI single in the ninth gave the Bears (26-6) their third tournament title under coach Travis Adams. Bradley also claimed titles in 2008, Adams’ first year, and 2014.

“All the credit goes to the kids for the way they battled all year long,” Adams said in a telephone interview. “This game, had we lost, wouldn’t have ended our season, but we wanted to win and not go on the road Monday in the region tournament.

“We knew we’d have a dogfight with Ooltewah because they’re a well-coached team and a tough opponent. They’ve been scoring a lot of runs in the tournament and we had our hands full.”

As the district’s No. 1 seed, the Bears will host the runner-up from District 6-3A on Monday at 7 p.m. at the Toby McKenzie Baseball Complex on the Bradley Central campus.

The Owls (23-15), who came on strong after a rough start to the season, will be on the road against the District 6-3A champion.

Ooltewah took a 3-1 lead in the seventh inning. Andrew Manning struck out at a ball in the dirt, but reached first when the Bradley catcher’s throw went for an error. Sam Zettel followed with a single, but both runners scored on a three-base error in the outfield.

Bradley Central wasn’t ready for roll over.

In the bottom of the seventh, Brandon Thompson, who pitched the ninth and picked up the win, singled and Gunnar Norwood and Hunter James each drew walks to load the bases with one out. An infield error resulted in one Bradley run.

On a 2-2 count, Jake Presley dropped a perfectly executed squeeze bunt and Pete Williams, who was running for Norwood, scored the tying run.

“The kid at the plate (Presley) had a rough game at the plate,” Adams said. “We got to two strikes and I just thought Jake would be ready to bunt and tie the game up and then we would see what happened later.

“We practice the squeeze bunt – usually not with two strikes – and he executed it. He had a chance to end the game in the seventh, but sent a hard-hit ball to third for the final out. He wanted another shot at it and he got it.”

With two out in the ninth, Presley was hit by a pitch and stole second and when the catcher’s throw zipped into center field, he dashed to third on the error. Tyler Carpenter then delivered a single up the middle for the game-winning, title-clinching win.

Ooltewah’s Mitch Duncan and Jackson Malcolm each went 2 for 4 with a RBI. Zettel was 3 for 4 with a run scored and one RBI.

Bradley’s Standifer was 2 for 4 with a run scored while Thompson and James were each 2 for 3 and Thompson had a RBI.

Boxscore

Championship Game

Ooltewah                            100 000 200 – 3 9 3

Bradley Central                 000 100 201 – 4 8 4

WP – Brandon Thompson (8-0); LP – Zach Wolfe.

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

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