Bradley Central finished off a perfect District 5-3A regular season Tuesday with a 6-0 victory over McMinn County at the Toby McKenzie Baseball Complex in Cleveland.
The Bears (22-6, 12-0) now prepare for the district tournament as the No. 1 seed and already having secured a spot in the region tourney.
Meanwhile, Soddy-Daisy will be the No. 2 seed and Ooltewah’s Owls, on the strength of a 10-3 win against East Hamilton on Tuesday, is the No. 3 seed for the tournament.
Coach Travis Adams’ Bears got a four-hit, 12-strikeout effort from Gunnar Norwood (7-0) against the last-place Cherokees.
Dylan Standifer went 3 for 4, including a triple, and Kylar Lynn was 2 for 3. Jeremiah Sims had one hits and two RBIs and Cason Still drove in a run with one hit.
Sims had a two-run single in the fifth.
In the third, the Bears got a walk, a hit and Lynn singled in one run and another scored on a McMinn County error.
Standifer’s RBI came in the first inning and Cason Still had a sacrifice fly for an RBI in the fourth.
At East Hamilton, the Owls, who dropped a 10-2 decision to the Hurricanes on Monday night, scored four runs in the first inning and four in the fourth en route to the seven-run win that nailed down the No. 3 tournament seed.
“This game was the exact opposite of Monday’s,” Ooltewah coach Brian Hitchcox said. “We played well. We turned two double plays in the infield and one in the outfield and East Hamilton didn’t play as well as they did in the first game.”
Ooltewah (21-12, 6-6) will play Soddy-Daisy in a best-of-three series in the tournament.
Mitch Duncan (4-1) got the win on the mound for Ooltewah.
Andy Reed had a two-run double off the right-field wall in the first inning and scored on an ensuing throwing error at home.
Reed was hit by a pitch in the fourth, stole second and scored on Tyler Robertson’s double. Robertson scored on a wild pitch and Caleb Collins’ hit drove in a run.
Collins had two hits for the Owls. Every other players collected at least one hit.
Jordan Gorman had three hits to pace East Hamilton (17-14, 5-7). Gorman went 3 for 4, scored twice and drove in a run in Monday’s victory.
Nick Woods, Matt Watters and Garrett Owen had two hits apiece.
Boxscores
McMinn County 000 000 0 – 0 4 1
Bradley Central 102 120 x – 6 8 0
WP – Gunnar Norwood (7-0); LP – Truston Bright .
Ooltewah 400 411 0 – 10 10 0
East Hamilton 110 010 0 – 3 10 6
WP – Mitch Duncan (4-1); LP – Brandon DelValle.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)