East Hamilton Dumps Ooltewah 3-2 For Choo Choo Softball Title

Early Lady Owls Miscues Lead To All Three Lady 'Canes Runs

  • Saturday, April 29, 2017
  • Larry Fleming
East Hamilton's Sydnie Rogers turned in a solid performance Saturday as the Lady Hurricanes beat rival Ooltewah 3-2 to capture the Lady Canes Choo Choo softball tournament title. Rogers pitched a complete game and belted a double and scored a run in the team's three-run first inning.
East Hamilton's Sydnie Rogers turned in a solid performance Saturday as the Lady Hurricanes beat rival Ooltewah 3-2 to capture the Lady Canes Choo Choo softball tournament title. Rogers pitched a complete game and belted a double and scored a run in the team's three-run first inning.
photo by Dennis Norwood/File Photo

Softball, like most sports, is about numbers.

How about these two

One – the number of hits East Hamilton got off Ooltewah pitcher Mackenzie Patterson.

Three – the number of errors Ooltewah made and the number of runs East Hamilton scored in the first inning.

Oh, and one more:

Eighteenth – the number of the final out when East Hamilton pitcher Sydnie Rogers fielded a grounder back to the circle and threw to first to end Saturday’s game in the Lady Canes Choo Choo tournament at The Summit.

Rogers’ game-ending play enabled the Lady Hurricanes to post a 3-2 victory over Ooltewah for the Gold bracket championship, claiming the first such title in coach Norma Nelson’s four-year stint at East Hamilton.

“It’s sweet,” said Nelson, who spent two decades as Ooltewah’s coach before being fired. “And to beat a quality team like Ooltewah makes it even sweeter.

“We know (Kayla) Boseman is really good and she didn’t pitch but they still have great hitters. My kids played good defense, Sydnie did a great job and I’m proud of the girls.”

The win snapped East Hamilton’s seven-game losing streak against Ooltewah and was the team’s first series victory since a 10-4 on March 11, 2014.

Ooltewah leads the overall series 8-2.

The two teams won’t have to wait long to resume the rivalry. They will meet on Tuesday at East Hamilton at 4:30 p.m. in a District 5-3A contest and a win would clinch the league regular season title and give the Lady Owls (9-1) an early tournament bye. No other team in the district has fewer than three losses.

“Our last two district games are what matters,” Lady Owls coach Jon Massey said. “We changed the game to Tuesday because of all the rain that’s supposed to come in Monday and that will give Kayla an extra day of rest. We’ll hit some Monday, go over things and get ready for Tuesday. Hopefully, we won’t have to play until Saturday in the tournament.”

Tuesday’s game will wrap up East Hamilton’s district schedule.

Ooltewah concludes its league play on Wednesday, hosting McMinn County at 6:30 p.m.

The Lady Owls went through two days in the Choo Choo tournament without using pitching ace Kayla Boseman in the circle. However, Hadley Morrow, Jadyn Raschke and Mackenzie Patterson turned in solid efforts.

Patterson’s three-hitter highlighted a 4-0 win against Central and propelled the Lady Owls into the title game. East Hamilton used a two-run single by Kennidy Hood in the fourth inning to beat McMinn County 6-2 and earn a shot at the title.

Saturday’s first inning was painful to watch.

Patterson walked Miracle Gorman. Whitney Richardson put down a sacrifice bunt and third baseman Mabry Carpenter’s throwing error to first allowed Richardson to reach safely and Gorman wound up at third.

Richardson stole second and catcher Cheyanne Sales’ throw went into right field and Gorman scored. Richardson raced to third.

Syvanna Rogers grounded to shortstop Tiera Lemon, whose throw home was off the mark. Richardson scored and Rogers wound up at second and then went to third on a passed ball. She scored on Alyissa Sue’s fielder’s choice.

“We put ourselves in a hole,” Massey said. “But we battled back and hour our chances. That was a fantastic game. We played hard and East Hamilton played really hard.”

Ooltewah started to peck away at Sydnie Rogers in the third inning. Lemon reached on a bunt single and went to second when Shelby Sutton grounded out. Boseman’s first of two doubles pushed Lemon home.

In the fourth, Ally Chernak doubled to right, moved to third on a wild pitch and came home when Raschke grounded out.

After the wacky first inning, Patterson held the Lady ‘Canes in check the rest of the way, allowing only two base runners in the third – Syvanna Rogers’ double and Sydnie Rogers’ walk. She faced 14 in that stretch, two over the minimum.

With the play clock winding down, Sydnie Rogers retired on a groundball to third. Boseman walked. Carpenter flied out to right. Scales came to the plate, but Boseman was thrown out trying to steal second to end the inning.

“We had to get her in scoring position because we didn’t think we’d get another at-bat because the clocking was running down,” Massey said. “We thought (East Hamilton) would waste time in the bottom of the fifth to run out the clock. I would have wasted as much time as I could in that same situation. As it turned out we did get another chance.”

That’s because Patterson set the Lady ‘Canes down in order with one minute to spare.

That meant Ooltewah had a half inning to at least tie the game.

Scales was up first.

Scales, who has been hot at the plate in recent games, sent a towering shot to left field, biting into a stiff incoming breeze all the way. East Hamilton left fielder Abbi Harden drifted back to the fence. She came in one step and made the catch.

“I’m not going to lie,” Rogers said. “I was a little nervous thinking it might go out.”

Said Nelson: “I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ I’m telling you, my little left fielder has played some awesome defense in the past several games. I knew it the ball stayed in, she would catch it. I was scared it might not stay in.”

Even after Tyler Sullivan grounded out Rogers wasn’t out of danger.

Chernak singled to right. Raschke hit a line-drive single to left and Addy Keylon walked to load the bases.

Rogers induced a bouncer back to the mound and she threw out Lemon to end the game.

“This was great,” Rogers said prior to the champion and runner-up plaque presentations. “It was a great win against Ooltewah, a big win for us.”

Rogers had been sidelined for a long stretch due to hip problems, but was tough in rough situations in the title game. She threw a complete six-inning game, scattered seven hits and gave up the two runs.

“She hadn’t pitched in a long time before pitching some yesterday and today,” Nelson said. “Her little sister (Syerra) has been carrying us but Sydnie really stepped up today. It was a good win for all of us.”

The three Rogers sisters had a hand in Saturday’s victory.

LINESCORE

Gold Division

Ooltewah                   001 100 – 2 7 3

East Hamilton           300 00x – 3 1 0

Patterson and Scales; Sydnie Rogers and Syvanna Rogers.

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

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