Addy Keylon of Ooltewah had a two-out, three-run double in a six-run first inning against Soddy-Daisy on Tuesday. The Lady Owls banged out 17 hits, including three home runs, in a 12-2 rout of the Lady Trojans.
photo by Dennis Norwood
Ooltewah didn’t need many hits to score a whole lot of runs against visiting Soddy-Daisy on Tuesday.
The Lady Owls (19-4, 8-1) scored six runs in the first inning, four in the third and cruised to their second straight rout of the Lady Trojans 12-2 at Jim Lovell Field in District 5-3A softball action.
“If we swing the bats like we should, we’ve got a chance to make some noise,” Lady Owls coach Jon Massey said.
“We’ve got some pop and enough speed to do things at the top and bottom of the lineup.”
Up top Tiera Lemon, Shelby Sutton, Kayla Boseman and Mabry Carpenter went a combined 8-for-14 with six runs and eight RBIs. Lemon went 1-for-4, Sutton 3-for-4, Boseman 2-for-3 and Carpenter 2-for-3. Boseman and Carpenter each had three RBIs.
In the seven, eight and nine slots, Ally Chernak, Jadyn Raschke and Addy Keylon collectively went 7-for-8 with four runs and three RBIs.
“They’re a good hitting team,” Soddy-Daisy coach Travis Hale said of the Lady Owls. “They got some good shots on us today. I guess we bring out the best in everybody.”
In the first inning, Sutton and Boseman singled and Carpenter drilled a three-run homer – her fourth of the season – to left field for a quick 3-0 lead.
“That felt great to score runs early against them,” Carpenter said. “We had a lot of confidence then and felt a lot more comfortable.”
After Cheyanne Sales flied out to deep center, Tyler Sullivan walked, Chernak and Raschke each singled to load the bases and Keylon, batting ninth, ripped a bases-clearing double to left-center.
Lemon started the inning with a fly-ball out to center and grounded out to end it.
“Scoring early was important,” Keylon said. “Last year Soddy-Daisy was a really tough team and we usually had to battle them right to the end. This year we’ve had good starts against them. I think the first inning brought them down a little and we played hard all game long.”
On April 13 at Soddy-Daisy, Boseman pitched a six-inning no-hitter and went 4-for-4 with a home run. She struck out eight in the first meeting and recorded six more Tuesday.
“Mabry and Addy had big hits in the first inning and it seemed like everyone was hitting the ball well today,” Boseman said. “We had a game plan and stuck with it. We did everything we talked about in our meetings and played with confidence. We were ready to play.”
Boseman allowed four hits Tuesday, including Aminah Wood’s two-run homer in the fourth after Cameren Swafford walked. That did little to cut into Ooltewah’s 10-0 lead.
In the third, Chernak singled and went to second on Raschke’s sacrifice bunt. Keylon’s hit moved Chernak to third. Keylon was tagged out going to second by Soddy-Daisy second baseman Haley Harvey for the second out.
Sutton’s third single of the game scored Chernak. Boseman followed with her three-run blast to right-center. Carpenter added another hit before Sales flied out again to deep center.
“We showed a lot of power today,” Massey said, “and that’s without Sales. She almost hit two bombs but got under the ball by just a hair both times. She’s so strong they still almost went out.”
Sullivan led off the fourth with a home run to left field. Chernak singled, Raschke singled and Lemon’s one-out infield hit pushed Chernak home with Ooltewah’s final run.
The Lady Owls were tough in the clutch.
Keylon’s big first-inning double, Lemon’s RBI single and Boseman’s homer came with two out.
“We got a couple of bunts down to move runners over early and in situational hitting got big hits with two out for a number of runs,” Massey said.
The Lady Owls finished with 17 hits, 16 off Lady Trojans starter Stephanie Blevins.
With Tuesday’s win and McMinn County’s 5-1 loss to Walker Valley, the Lady Owls lead the Lady Cherokees (14-11, 7-3) by 1 ½ games. Soddy-Daisy (19-12, 5-3) is in third place 2 ½ games behind Ooltewah.
McMinn County beat Ooltewah 6-5 on April 7 in Athens, Tennessee.
The Lady Owls host East Hamilton on Wednesday at 6 p.m., go to East Hamilton on Monday (5 p.m.) and close the regular season against McMinn County on May 3.
Soddy-Daisy plays Walker Valley on Wednesday and still has a single game left against Bradley Central and two with Cleveland.
The Lady Owls and Lady Trojans will compete this weekend in the East Hamilton tournament at the Summit.
LINESCORE
Soddy-Daisy 000 20 – 2 4 0
Ooltewah 604 2x – 12 17 0
Blevins, Davis (4) and Swafford; Boseman and Sales.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)
Ooltewah's Mabry Carpenter slammed a three-run home run in the first inning on Tuesday in a 12-2 victory over Soddy-Daisy in District 5-3A softball at Jim Lovell Field.
photo by Dennis Norwood