CLEVELAND, Tenn. – A familiar matchup is on tap Monday night in the District 5-3A softball tournament at Larry Haney Field at Walker Valley High School.
Top-seeded Ooltewah and No. 2 Soddy-Daisy cruised to victories Sunday and will play Monday at 7 p.m. in the winner’s bracket final.
The Lady Owls (28-5) defeated McMinn County 8-0 on Kayla Boseman’s dominating one-hitter and a solid 12-hit attack laced with clutch offensive spurts that gave them a third straight win over the Lady Cherokees this season.
“If it’s Soddy, it’s Soddy,” Lady Owls coach Jon Massey said.
“We just have to worry about ourselves (Monday). We’re going to go play and I’m sure Travis (Soddy-Daisy coach Hale is telling his girls the same thing. It should be a great game. We’ll see what happens.”
The Lady Owls have won five straight from the Lady Trojans, including two regular-season victories this season by a combined score of 23-2.
“I think we’re going to try something new (Monday),” said Hale, who is in his first year as the Soddy-Daisy coach. “We hope to figure out a way to stop their offense. They’ve got some good hitters.
“And we know that (Kayla) Boseman is a great pitcher who won’t give up many runs. Two, maybe three on a bad day.”
Just prior to Ooltewah’s game, the Lady Trojans turned back Walker Valley 6-0 on a Shonna Penney three-hitter. Soddy-Daisy scored all of its runs in the first three innings.
Playing to stay alive, Walker Valley (22-13) eliminated East Hamilton 1-0 and McMinn County (19-15) sent Cleveland (3-30) packing with a 3-2 win.
The Lady Mustangs and Lady Cherokees play at 5 p.m. on Monday in another elimination game.
Ooltewah 8, McMinn County 0: Lady Cherokee junior Callie King led off the game with a single up the middle against Boseman. Including the final out of the opening inning, Boseman retired the next 16 batters.
The hard-throwing MaxPreps All-American pitcher/first baseman struck out 10 and allowed just three base runners – the single, a walk and fielder’s choice. None of the runners got past first.
Boseman struck out 14 in Ooltewah’s 4-0 win over the Lady Cherokees on Wednesday in the regular-season finale. She was just as tough on McMinn four days later.
McMinn County handed Ooltewah its lone district loss – a 6-5 decision – on April 7.
“Kayla is in a groove pitching at this point,” Massey said. “She understands what she wants to do. She’s throwing strikes early in the count and she can do that with three or four different pitches. Batters can’t sit on one pitch.
“Her screwball today was the best I’ve seen it all year. I think that will help her against Soddy-Daisy this time around.”
Ooltewah grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second inning against McMinn County starter Hope Mizell. After Cheyanne Sales reached on a fielder’s choice and Tyler Sullivan singled, Ally Chernak’s single produced the game’s first run. Jady Raschke’s single, the team’s third straight single, gave the Lady Owls a 2-0 advantage.
In the third, Boseman singled and Mikayla Strickland came in to run. Mabry Carpenter popped out. Sales walked and Marissa Forrester ran for her. The Lady Owls pulled a double steal and Sullivan’s double pushed the lead to 3-0.
Addy Keylon was hit by a pitch to start the fourth inning. Tiera Lemon singled and Shelby Sutton drove in two runs with a triple. Boseman’s double scored Sutton. Sullivan was hit by a pitch and Chernak delivered another single to give Ooltewah a 7-0 cushion.
Lemon collected her third single in the fifth and Boseman drew a two-out walk. Carpenter’s RBI double closed the scoring.
The Lady Owls placed four players on the All-District 5-3A team: Boseman, Sales, Lemon and Chernak.
Soddy-Daisy 6, Walker Valley 1: Hale saw something during pregame drills that gave him confidence his players were ready to play.
“They turned the switch on during warmups,” he said. “That set the table for us and what we wanted to accomplish. We got the lead and never let off the gas.”
The Lady Trojans, who won six straight tournament titles before Ooltewah claimed the past two, got to Walker Valley starter Natalie Pruitt and reliever Dani Sowder for a run in the first inning, two in the second and three in the third.
Alexis Trimiar and Peri Prestwood each singled, putting runners and first and third. Cameren Swafford bunted and loaded the bases. Aminah Wood was hit by a pitch to give the Lady Trojans their first run.
Hailey Woodcock, Trimiar and Prestwood opened the second with successive singles. Prestwood’s hit scored Woodcock. Cameren Swafford’s hit scored Trimiar to give Soddy-Daisy a 3-0 lead.
Courtney Daughtrey and Haley Harvey collected singled in the third. Kaylin Fugatt hit a ball up the middle but Harvey was called for runner interference. Woodcock followed with a three-run homer.
Katelyn Howell’s homer accounted for Walker Valley’s only run.
Penney struck out nine and walked two while improving her record to 13-5.
“Shonna threw really well today,” Hale said. “She started slacking off a little in the fifth but was dominant in the sixth and seventh.”
The Lady Trojans placed Trimiar, Penney and Wood on the all-district squad.
(See a full list of the all-district team printed below).
LINESCORES
McMinn County 000 000 0 – 0 1 1
Ooltewah 021 410 x – 8 12 0
Mizell, Martin (4) and Higgins; Boseman and Sales.
Walker Valley 000 010 0 – 1 3 1
Soddy-Daisy 123 000 x – 6 12 0
Pruitt, Sowder (3) and Suits; Penney and Swafford.
2017 All-District 5-3A Team
(Regular Season)
Ooltewah – Kayla Boseman, Cheyanne Sales, Tiera Lemon, Ally Chernak
Soddy-Daisy – Alexis Trimiar, Shonna Penney, Aminah Wood
Walker Valley – Laney Harris, Riley Suits
McMinn County – Lydia Simpson
East Hamilton – Miracle Gorman
Bradley Central – Jenn Corbitt
Cleveland – Lauren Lee
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)