Three Phases Of Baseball -- Pitching, Hitting, Defense -- Kind To Ooltewah

Owls Head To District 5-3A As Regular-Season Kings, No. 1 Seed

  • Friday, April 28, 2017
  • Larry Fleming

CLEVELAND, Tenn. – The District 5-3A baseball tournament begins Wednesday with four teams battling for the lone berth to fill out a pair of semifinal best-of-three series.

The prize for doing so isn’t so pleasant though.

The survivor of games involving Soddy-Daisy (No. 4 seed), Cleveland (No.

7), East Hamilton (No. 5) or McMinn County (No. 6) earns the right to play regular-season champion and No. 1 seed Ooltewah.

The state-ranked Owls (24-5, 9-3) had a solid season and walked off with their third regular-season title in eight years. They also claimed the 2013 championship. Coach Brian Hitchcox’s teams captured tournament crowns in 2009, 2012 and 2013.

“We felt like we would be competitive and have a chance to pitch well and play good defense,” Hitchcox said Friday following a coaches’ meeting. “I felt like we could have one of the best defensive teams we’ve had, and I’d say we came close to that.”

So, the Owls will sit back and wait on an opponent for the first of a best-of-three series on May 6 at 5 p.m.

Second-seeded Bradley Central (21-6, 8-4) takes on Walker Valley (No. 3, 19-11, 8-4) in the second game at 8 p.m.

Opening-round games on May 3 will pit Soddy-Daisy (11-17, 5-7) and Cleveland (11-19, 3-9) at 5 p.m. and East Hamilton (12-17, 5-7) and McMinn County (14-13, 4-8) at 8 p.m.

All tournament games will be played at Walker Valley High School.

The Owls are currently riding a seven-game winning streak, including their last four district games. Ooltewah travels to Knoxville on Saturday to play Farragut and close out its regular season.

“Coach (Wes) Caldwell does a great job with the pitchers and they’ve collectively been phenomenal all year,” Hitchcox said. “It has been tough for us to score runs and we’ve played a lot of close, low-scoring games. That’s how the season went.”

The Owls have played in 12 games decided by one or two games and the split was even at 6-6.

“Luckily our guys were coming through at the right time and executing offensively to win a lot of those games,” Hitchcox said. “At some point we found out who we are offensively.”

The Owls coach admittedly right-handed mound ace Daniel Willie surpassed expectations this season and made things tough for Monday opponents.

This past Monday, Willie scattered nine hits in a 4-0 win against Walker Valley. The following night the Owls notched 7-2 victory over the Mustangs to sweep the series and grab the title and tournament’s top seed.

In their last three games, the Owls outscored Walker Valley and McMinn County by a combined 14-2.

“We definitely thought Daniel would give us a chance to win,” Hitchcox said, “What I didn’t necessarily see coming was hit strikeout total (50 in 34 innings). Daniel, Ethan Walls and several other guys gave us a chance to be competitive by throwing strikes and letting the defense keep us in games. I’m real proud of Daniel.”

Bradley Central, which has two games – Rhea County (Friday) and Central (Monday) – to close out the regular season, is on a tear and coming off a two-game sweep of Soddy-Daisy by scores of 7-6 and 3-1earlier in the week.

The Bears have won three in a row and 12 of the last13. The sweep of Soddy-Daisy, coupled with Ooltewah’s sweep of the Mustangs, pushed Bradley into the No. 2 seed.

The fact that Bradley started closing out games was pivotal factor down the stretch for coach Joe Adams’ squad. The Bears lost three straight district games against McMinn, East Hamilton and Ooltewah from March 29 to April 7 before getting back on track.

“Looking back at games we lost, it wasn’t like teams were beating us as much as it was us screwing up stuff,” Adams said. “We started getting more two-out hits, were better focused on what was going to win games for us. It was a mix of little things.

“Our pitchers are not walking people and their combined ERA is 1.73,” Adams said. “That’s pretty salty.”

Dylan Standifer (2-0) has a miniscule 0.87 ERA. Colton Cross (3-1) is at 0.94 and Tripp Storrs (3-1) comes in at 0.99. Logan Newberry (3-2) leads the staff with 47 strikeouts in 51 2/3 innings.

As a staff, the Bears have 154 strikeouts and 95 walks in 202 1/3 innings.

Shortstop Pete Williams has turned in what Adams calls the “most consistent defense I’ve seen.” Williams and Standifer  

Shortstop Pete Williams has anchored the Bears’ defense, turning in what Adams called “the most consistent I’ve seen.”

Williams and Dylan Standifer have carried their share of the offense. Another aspect of the batting order is its ability to get clutch hits in pressure situations.

The Bears have played five extra-inning games, including two that went 12 innings, one 10 and one 11.

The impressive late-season play won’t mean much if the Bears don’t use it as a springboard for a deep run in the postseason.

“It’s how you play on a particular day,” Adams said. “You always hope your best team shows up. Our series with Walker Valley is a rivalry thing and you hope this far along we won’t have any nerves involved in those games. I want us to do what we’ve been trained to do and operate in that mode.

“I would expect the series to be a tight one.”

The Bears and Mustangs split the regular-season series, each team winning at home. Bradley claimed a 7-0 win two days after Walker Valley won 4-3.

District 5-3A Tournament Schedule

At Walker Valley High School

Wednesday

Cleveland vs. Soddy-Daisy, 5 p.m.

McMinn County vs. East Hamilton, 8 p.m.

Thursday

Cleveland-Soddy winner vs. McMinn-East Hamilton winner, 7 p.m.

Friday, May 5

Three-Games Series

Winner of Thursday game vs. Ooltewah, 5 p.m.

Walker Valley vs. Bradley Central, 8 p.m.

Note: Game 2 of the series will be played on Saturday, May 6, at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. If winning teams both sweep, the championship game is set for May 8 at 7 p.m. If one Game 3 is necessary in either series, that would be played on Monday. If both series require a third game they would be played at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Monday. In that case, the championship game would be moved to Tuesday at 7 p.m.

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

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