Ooltewah left-hander Hadley Morrow delivers a pitch against Hardin Valley Academy during the Ooltewah Invitational on Friday at The Summit. The Lady Owls won the game, 7-3, and Morrow scattered seven hits and improved her record to 5-0.
photo by Dennis Norwood
On the first full day of play in the Ooltewah Invitational, the host Lady Owls and two-time Class A state champion Meigs County posted impressive wins at The Summit.
Ooltewah’s Hadley Morrow overcame a rough start and scattered seven hits, Kayla Boseman smacked a two-run home run in a three-run fourth inning, center-fielder Addy Keylon made a sensational catch to save a homer and the Lady Owls notched a 7-3 win over Hardin Valley Academy.
Earlier, Ooltewah knocked off Warren County, 8-1, and then defeated Polk County, 12-3, in its final game of the day.
In one of the other opening games at 3:30 p.m., the Lady Tigers from Decatur got a four-hit shutout by Tennessee signee Ashley Rogers and defeated Soddy-Daisy’s Lady Trojans, 3-0.
Rogers, still recovering from a stress fracture in her right forearm (her pitching arm), struck out 12, twice whiffing six different players. Rogers and Kalie Moore each had RBI singles in the fifth inning when the Lady Tigers got four of their five hits – all shots up the middle – off Soddy-Daisy’s Bailey Davis.
Action resumes Saturday morning, weather permitting, and the Gold and Silver bracket championships games are slated for 6 p.m.
The Lady Hawks roughed up Morrow for two quick runs in the first inning as Sydney Dukes had a sacrifice fly, scoring Kayla Domon who led off with a single, and Emalee McCord ripped a RBI single to right field.
“It was pretty stressful,” said Morrow, a senior left-hander. “(The home plate umpire) wasn’t giving me a lot of pitches and was inconsistent. Once I realized that, I decided to go with the flow and let my defense work behind me.”
After the first, Morrow gained momentum and worked out of bases-loaded jams in the third and fourth innings, allowing just one more run when Dukes doubled and scored on a groundout in the third.
“Hadley battled all night and has battled all season,” Lady Owls coach Jon Massey said. “She’s like 5-0, I think, and has hit her spots every time out and thrown strikes. We’ve played good defense and swung the bats pretty well to help her. She’s done a good job.”
The Lady Owls (11-1) got a run back in their half of the first when Keylon doubled and scored on Tyler Sullivan’s single to right-center.
Aided by two infield errors by second baseman Grace Speanburgh, Ooltewah went ahead 3-2. Catcher Cheyanne Sales reached on an error and went to second on Aubrey Smith’s hit to left field.
Hardin Valley pitcher Mariah Hall struck out Makayla Strickland and Keylon, but Ally Chernak reached on another error, allowing Marissa Forrester, running for Sales, to score. Smith later scored on Boseman’s double to right-center.
After the Lady Hawks tied the game at 3-3 in the third, the Lady Owls regained the advantage at 4-3 on Strickland’s RBI single that scored Forrester – Sales had drawn a walk.
Chernak singled to start the fourth and Boseman blasted her third homer of the season and second of the day to right field. After Sullivan popped out, Mabry Carpenter walked and scored when Sales doubled down the line in right.
“The home run was a great feeling,” said Boseman, who now has three on the season, “because we were really battling hard. Ally hit a great line drive before me and I came up and did my job. The pitch was up and away and I actually had moved up on the plate to make it seem like it was down the middle, and that’s how I hit the ball.”
A few minutes earlier, Keylon, a junior, robbed Domon of a home run with her superlative defensive play.
Asked to assess the defensive gem, Keylon said, “I ran, fell over the fence and caught it. I knew I could get to the ball, but the fence came up faster than I thought it would. I felt good after making the catch, but that wasn’t my first time.”
Describe the other play, she was asked.
“The other time I ran into a connected fence, broke it and caught the ball,” Keylon said.
“Addy has played center field since her freshman year,” Massey said, “so she knows her way around out there. This is the first year she’s led off for us. She’s hitting around .700 (actually .722 when the third game is factored in) and is stealing a few bases too.”
Against Polk County, Keylon belted a two-run homer and a RBI double.
Morrow retired the Lady Hawks in order in the fifth inning and the game ended due to the 80-minute time limit for tournament games.
Sullivan hit a pair of two-run homers against the Lady Wildcats, Boseman went 3-for-3, all singles, and Smith added two singles and scored twice.
Annalee Moore, a freshman on the varsity roster due to junior Mackenzie Patterson being sidelined with a stress fracture in her left foot, was the winning pitcher against Polk County.
In the win against Warren County, Boseman got the win and struck out 11 batters.
“One through nine, we’re playing pretty well right now,” Massey said. “The girls are getting after it and playing hard. It’s easy to coach when you’ve got girls that know how to play.”
Meigs County 3, Soddy-Daisy 0: Rogers, who has powered the Lady Tigers to three straight state tournament appearances with titles in 2016 and 2017, checked the Lady Trojans (1-3) on four singles – two each by Courtney Sneed and Kaylin Fugatt.
Fugatt, Sneed and Courtney Daughtrey were the only Soddy-Daisy hitters than weren’t Rogers strikeout victims.
And Rogers still isn’t 100 percent after suffering the injury during last year’s state tournament.
“I pitched decently today,” said Rogers, an integral figure in Meigs County having a 116-16 record over the last three-plus seasons, including an 81-7 mark in the two championship campaigns.
“It was just being overused last year and it has been a little aggravating this year,” Rogers said. “I sat out pretty much the whole summer just taking care of myself. I can tell I’m not 100 percent yet because my arm tightens up between innings. We’re going to be more careful this year.”
Tim Jennings, an assistant coach directing the Lady Tigers in head coach Jeff Davis’ absence – he’s sidelined with strep throat – said, “We’re going to try and limit her innings for a while. We’ve got another pitcher, Savannah Scott, we can use and whatever it takes to get Ashley in good shape we’ll do.
“We want her ready when we have to win 11 games in May (postseason). If we have to take a few on the chin until then, that’s what we’ll do.”
The game was scoreless through three innings, with Soddy-Daisy pitcher Bailey Davis hanging tough with Rogers.
The Lady Tigers didn’t get a hit until Lindsey Ward’s run-scoring single with one out in the fourth inning. Davis struck out the next two batters.
Meigs County laced four singles – the last three shots straight up the middle – for its final two runs. Rogers and Kaylie Moore had RBI hits.
On four different occasions, the Lady Trojans had runners at either second or third against Rogers, but failed to get them home. Only Ariana Neal reached third and that was in the third with none out.
Rogers struck out Alyx Howell, gave up a single to Sneed and fanned Javaria Smith and Peri Prestwood to end the threat.
“We had some opportunities,” said Soddy-Daisy coach Travis Hale, who is facing the entire season without his best player, senior shortstop Alexis Trimiar, who is recovering from a knee injury suffered during basketball that required surgery in November. “If we could have scored in those innings, that could have been a difference maker.
“Bailey did a tremendous job for us. Meigs has an explosive offensive team and we held them until the fourth and they bunched four hits together in the fifth.
Action resumes Saturday morning, weather permitting, and the Gold and Silver bracket championships games are slated for 6 p.m.
Linescores
Meigs County 000 12 – 3 5 1
Soddy-Daisy 000 00 – 0 4 2
Rogers and Reed; Davis and Ingle.
Hardin Valley 201 00 – 3 7 2
Ooltewah 121 3x – 7 8 1
Hall and Blosser; Morrown and Sales.
Some other scores:
Silverdale 5, Red Bank 2
Silverdale 6, Cleveland 3
Cleveland 13, Central 1
Meigs County 13, Knox Catholic 1
Grace Christian 8, Murphy (N.C.) 7
Sale Creek 5, Murphy 3
Scottsboro (Ala.) 3, Rhea County 0
Kings Academy 5, Scottsboro 1
Franklin County 5, Warren County 2
Bradley Central 4, Livingston Academy 3
Chattanooga Christian 13, Livingston Academy 2
Sequoyah 11, East Ridge 3,
Halls 13, Sequoyah 6
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)
Junior Bailey Davis fires an inside pitch to Meigs County's Savannah Scott as Lady Trojans catcher Hope Ingle awaits the ball during their game Friday in the Ooltewah Invitational softball tournament at The Summit. Meigs County defeated the Lady Trojans, 3-0, behind Ashley Rogers' four-hit shutout.
photo by Dennis Norwood