Region 3-3A Roundup: District 5 Pulls Off A Sweep

Ooltewah Teams, Soddy-Daisy, Walker Valley In Title Games

  • Monday, May 15, 2017
  • Larry Fleming

It was the equivalent of a Black Monday on the stock exchange.

District 5-3A softball and baseball teams swept four games against District 6-3A opponents in Region 3-3A semifinal showdowns and set up all-district 5 championship games on Wednesday.

In softball, Soddy-Daisy rallied for four runs in the seventh inning and beat visiting Warren County 7-6 on Hailey Woodcock’s walk-off RBI single.

“In the dugout right before the seventh inning, we prayed to the bat gods,” said second baseman Haley Harvey, whose two-run single pulled the Lady Trojans to within 6-5.

Soddy-Daisy (30-13) got four of their 11 hits off Warren County pitcher Ashton Whiles in the seventh inning.

Ooltewah (31-6) rode a three-hit shutout from Kayla Boseman, got its bats going late and stormed past Cookeville 6-0.

The Lady Owls and Lady Trojans will play at Soddy-Daisy on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

On the baseball diamond, host Ooltewah got another strong pitching effort from once-beaten Daniel Willie and turned back Warren County 4-2 at A.C. “Bud” Ball Field.

Walker Valley, which suffered a 4-3 loss to the Owls in last week’s District 5 title game, went on the road and cruised to a 7-2 win against Cookeville.

The Owls and Mustangs will play at Ooltewah on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Softball

Soddy-Daisy 7, Warren County 6: The Lady Trojans, who beat Ooltewah for the district title last week, was up against the wall going into the seventh, trailing the Lady Pioneers (15-11) by three runs.

Peri Prestwood coaxed a leadoff walk and Cameren Swafford followed with a single to left, her third hit of the game. Aminah Wood hit an infield grounder and Prestwood beat the ensuing throw to third with a slide and the bases were loaded.

Courtney Daughtrey grounded to third and Prestwood was out at the plate. The bases were still full of Lady Trojans.

Harvey delivered her clutch single to center, scoring courtesy runners Alyx Howell and Kaylin Fugatt. Blevins, who had grounded out, walked and singled in three previous at-bats, followed with a line-drive past second baseman Hailey Wood to tie the game at 6-all.

With runners on second and third, Woodcock ripped a single to left and Harvey easily scored with the winning run and the celebration was on.

“This is an amazing feeling,” Woodcock said. “That was a good hit for the moment. We’re still alive and we’re proving people wrong. Nobody expected us to beat Ooltewah in the district and some may not have thought we could win today.”

Said Soddy-Daisy’s first-year coach Travis Hale on the win: “We stole that one. Warren County played a really good ballgame. They attacked us pretty hard. Blevins came through at the plate and in relief.

“Those last two hits by Blevins and Woodstock were huge. I put my faster runners in there when we got hits to stay out of a double play, we got the timely hits and everything worked out perfectly. We stayed alive and we’re going to be playing Wednesday and Friday.”

Blevins came on for starter Shonna Penney, who gave up six hits and four runs in three innings. She allowed three hits, including Hope Mullican’s two-run single in a three-run third. Mullican went 3-for-4, drove in four runs and scored one.

Blevins, a highly promising sophomore who beat Ooltewah in the district tournament title game, gave up three hits and struck out three over four innings. She gave up a RBI triple to Mullican and a run-scoring single to Kyra Hillis in the fifth, but retired six of the last seven she faced.

Ooltewah 6, Cookeville 0: Held in check for three innings, the Lady Owls got on the scoreboard in the fourth when Cheyanne Sales reached on a hustle double and came home on Jadyn Raschke’s run-scoring single.

An inning later, Boseman smacked a one-out double, Mabry Carpenter followed with a single and Sales delivered a sacrifice fly to score courtesy runner Makayla Strickland. Tyler Sullivan pushed a second run across with a single.

In the sixth, Tiera Lemon reached on a two-out single and scored on Shelby Sutton’s triple.

Carpenter was safe on an error in the seventh and went to third on Sales’ double. Sullivan’s single drove in a run and Ally Chernak added an RBI on a sacrifice fly.

“We hung in there and played hard,” Ooltewah coach Jon Massey said. “It was a good game and we were up 3-0 going into the sixth. We loaded the bases in the first and couldn’t score and left a runner on in the second and third. Then we got some clutch hits. The issue with us is not getting runners on, it’s getting them in.”

Boseman, who is 13-3 with a 1.38 ERA, gave up a hit in each of the second, sixth and seventh innings and struck out nine and walked one. The junior MaxPreps All-American now has 136 strikeouts in 96 innings.

Baseball

Ooltewah 4, Warren County 2: It was a routine night for Owls pitching ace Daniel Willie, a smooth-operating right-hander who continues his consistency on the mound.

Willie, 5-1 with a 1.25 ERA, scattered eight hits and kept the Pioneers (23-14) scoreless until the sixth when they scored two runs. He threw a complete game and struck out four and walked one.

“In the first few innings I was mostly using my fastball and slider,” Willie said. “In the mid-innings on I was able to use all four of my pitches and felt like I did OK although I knew zero about their lineup going into the game.”

The Owls (28-6) gave Willie the only offense he would need in the second inning. Austin Spurgeon walked and Jake Morrow was plunked by Pioneers pitcher Tyler Hollingsworth. Spurgeon stole third and scored on a throwing error by catcher Nick Williamson.

Ooltewah pushed is lead to 2-0 in the second when Ethan Walls walked, moved to second on a groundout and came home when Jackson Malcolm’s ground ball was misplayed for an error.

In the fourth, Zach Wolfe was hit by a pitch, Andy Reed had a run-scoring double, Jake Sullivan singled and Wolfe scored moments later on Andrew Manning’s groundout.

“Like I’ve said all year, tonight was symbolic of how we’ve played all year,” Owls coach Brian Hitchcox said. “Willie pitched well, we played good defense and turned two double plays and we had enough offense to win. We did what we do.

“Now we’re going to prepare to play well in the championship game against Walker Valley.”

Wednesday will mark the fourth time Ooltewah and Walker Valley will have played this season. The Owls swept the regular-season series 4-0 and 7-2 and, of course, edged the Mustangs in the district title game.

Walker Valley 7, Cookeville 2: The 6-3A champion Cavaliers (23-8) have been tough to beat at home over the years, but the Mustangs (23-12) scored three runs in the fifth and sixth innings to blow the game open for winning pitcher Matthew Pigg.

Pigg threw a three-hitter, gave up one earned run, struck out eight and walked none in a solid performance. He threw first-pitch strikes to 15 of 26 batters. In all, he threw 90 pitches and 56 for strikes.

Cookeville’s A’Darius Pugh, Luke Hayslette and Blaine Espinosa each had singles.

The Mustangs banged out 11 hits off starter Joshua Smith, who gave way to reliever Tyler Milligan after six innings.

Tucker Mendenhall, Hunter Shamblin and Brady Swafford each had two hits for Walker Valley. Mendenhall and Shamblin also had two RBIs apiece.

LINESCORES

SOFTBALL

Warren County         013 020 0 – 6 9 1

Soddy-Daisy              100 200 4 – 7 11 2

Whiles and Youngblood; Penney, Blevins (4) and Swafford.

Ooltewah                   000 121 2 – 6 12 1

Cookeville                 000 000 0 – 0 3 2

Boseman and Sales; Radford and Phy.

BASEBALL

Warren County         000 002 0 – 2 8 2

Ooltewah                   011 200 x – 4 5 1

Hollingsworth and Williamson; Willie and Reed.

Walker Valley           001 033 0 – 7 11 2

Cookeville                 110 000 0 – 2 3 3

Pigg and Shamblin; South, Milligan (7) and Hayslette.

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

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