Lady Owls Win 1-0 On Whitmire's Leadoff Home Run
by Stan Crawley
posted May 21, 2008
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- It looked like Ooltewah might roll past Cherokee when junior Kristen Whitmire led off with a home run Wednesday morning.
It didn't work out that way.
The home run turned into the game-winning hit as Ooltewah edged Cherokee, 1-0, at the McKnight Fields.
"Winning by 1-0 or by 8-0, it really doesn't matter,'' Ooltewah coach Norma Nelson said. "We won and we advanced.''
Ooltewah (44-4-1) advanced to the Class AAA softball winners bracket final at 8 p.m. eastern on Thursday. The Lady Owls will play Beech, which defeated Soddy-Daisy, 5-3, Wednesday night.
Whitmire drove her home run over the center-field fence. It was her ninth of the season.
"It was just one of those perfect pitches,'' she said. "It was just a little outside.
"When I hit it I thought, OK, we're going to get some hits today. But that didn't happen.''
Whitmire said she had faced Cherokee's Whitney Gilbert during summer ball.
"She's a good pitcher,'' Whitmire siad. "Not fast, just a lof of junk stuff to go after.''
Ooltewah finished with only three hits -- Whitmire added a single and winning pitcher Holly Thomas singled.
"That was a big hit by Kristen,'' Nelson said. "It was a good thing she hit it.
"Their pitcher threw a lot of curves, not what we normally see. But we've got to learn to adjust.''
Thomas gave up four hits, struck out 10 and walked two. She has been trying to reduce walks.
"I'm really focusing on hitting my spots,'' she said. "I'm spinning it past them more and trying to hit the outside corners. I've just tightened up a little.''
OFFICIAL BOXSCORE
Ooltewah HS at Cherokee HS
May 21, 2008 at Murfreesboro, TN (McKnight #1)
Ooltewah HS 1 (2-0) Cherokee HS 0 (1-1)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
Kristin Whitmire ss........ 3 1 2 1 Savannah Ewing 3b.......... 3 0 2 0
Jessica Chernak cf......... 3 0 0 0 Abby Hughes 1b............. 3 0 1 0
Holly Thomas p............. 3 0 1 0 Gabi Murrell c............. 1 0 0 0
Morgan Shelton pr......... 0 0 0 0 Ashlee Price ss............ 1 0 0 0
Kaitlin Neil c............. 3 0 0 0 Courtney Davis 2b.......... 3 0 0 0
Bri Shoemake 1b............ 3 0 0 0 Keshia Burnett rf.......... 3 0 0 0
Lexie Whittenburg 3b....... 3 0 0 0 Krisha Mahan lf............ 3 0 0 0
Sara Kelley dh............. 2 0 0 0 Chelsea Heasley cf......... 3 0 1 0
Linley Gannon 2b........... 2 0 0 0 Whitney Gilbert p.......... 3 0 0 0
Tabitha Farrow rf.......... 2 0 0 0
Morgan Sullivan lf......... 0 0 0 0
Totals..................... 24 1 3 1 Totals..................... 23 0 4 0
Score by Innings R H E
Ooltewah HS......... 100 000 0 - 1 3 0
Cherokee HS......... 000 000 0 - 0 4 1
E - Price(1). LOB - Ooltewah 3; Cherokee 6. HR - Whitmire(1). SH - Murrell 2(2). SB
- Shelton(1).
Ooltewah HS IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
Holly Thomas W,1-0........ 7.0 4 0 0 2 10 0 0 0 0 23 27 6 5
Cherokee HS IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
Whitney Gilbert L,0-1..... 7.0 3 1 1 1 5 0 0 0 0 24 25 6 10
PB - Murrell(1).
Strikeouts - Whitmire; Chernak; Neil; Shoemake 2; Hughes; Davis; Burnett 2; Mahan 3; Heasley; Gilbert 2. Walks - Kelley; Price 2.
(E-mail Stan Crawley at wscrawley@earthlink.net)
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