Defending district champs Ooltewah (35-4, 12-0) won the regular season 5-3A title and had four players named to the All District team. The players named were, from left to right, pitcher Kayla Boseman, first baseman Aubbie Collake, shortstop Tiera Lemon and second baseman Shelby Sutton. The district tournament kicks off at three locations Friday night and then moves to Ooltewah's field for the remainder of the tournament with games Saturday and Monday.
photo by Dennis Norwood/File
District 5-3A softball coaches are now ready for the second season.
They hope their teams are, too.
At a luncheon to finalize plans for the district tournament on Wednesday, the opening pairings were set in stone and play will begin Friday with three games, each starting at 5 p.m. at the highest seeded team.
Second-seeded Soddy-Daisy (24-7) will host No. 7 Bradley Central (3-20) while No. 4 East Hamilton and No. 5 Walker Valley meet in the most intriguing first-round game and No. 3 McMinn County (16-19) is at home against No. 6 Cleveland (5-20).
Regular-season champion Ooltewah (35-4), which will be defending its tournament title won last year at Bradley Central, is the pre-tournament favorite. The Lady Owls, who finished third in the 2015 Class 3A state tournament at the Spring Fling, went through district play with a 12-0 record and won the regular-season title by three games over the Lady Trojans.
“We’ve been hitting a lot in the cage at Frost in our time off,” Lady Owls coach Jon Massey said, “and we’re getting back on the field later today (Wednesday) and that will help us a lot while going over game situations and fundamentals.”
Ooltewah, which has won 14 straight games and 26 of 27 heading into the tournament, will entertain the East Hamilton-Walker Valley winner when the action starts at Jim Lovell Field on Saturday with four second-round games.
The Lady Owls haven’t played since Saturday when they finished up a 3-0 showing in the Farragut tournament.
“The main thing for us was the rest, practice time and hitting because we played a lot of games down the stretch,” said Massey, who has 100-plus victories in his three seasons guiding the Lady Owls. “That’s about all you can do and hopefully we’ll be ready on Saturday.”
The Lady Hurricanes and Lady Mustangs split two hotly-contested games during the season, each decided by one run and one game went into extra innings. East Hamilton won 9-8 at home and Walker returned the favor with a 4-3 victory on hits diamond.
The seeding went down to the fourth tie-breaker, with the fifth being a coin toss.
“I think it’ll be a close game,” East Hamilton coach Norma Nelson said. “The two teams are very close talent-wise and this game will likely come down to which team makes the fewest mistakes.”
The Lady Hurricanes struggled with injuries throughout the season and played a few games with just eight or nine players.
Senior center-fielder Savannah Daniel suffered two injuries, the second a broken right patella ending her season.
“Savannah was playing well and was a leader on our team,” Nelson said. “I’ve put another senior, Alyssa Strickler out there in Savannah’s spot. Alyssa has played just about everywhere for us this season.
“And I’m hopeful that our shortstop, Miracle Gorman, who has missed four weeks with tendinitis in her right forearm (she is right-handed), will be ready to play Friday. She is a major sparkplug for us. We’ve just had a lot of injuries this year.”
Soddy-Daisy shook off a late three-game losing streak to Baylor, McMinn County and Ooltewah to knock off Rhea County and Hixson and was scheduled to play at Baylor on Wednesday afternoon.
The Lady Trojans, outscored 23-10 in the three-game slide, blitzed Rhea County and Hixson by a combined 17-1 to regain their footing
“We take one pitch at a time and let the process take care of itself,” coach Wes Skiles said of the upcoming tournament season. “We won a bunch of games, which right now means absolutely nothing. You really don’t know in the tournament because you’re dealing with 14- to 18-year-old kids and you don’t know what to expect.”
District 5-3A Softball Tournament
Friday
Walker Valley at East Hamilton, 5 p.m.
Bradley Central at Soddy-Daisy, 5 p.m.
Cleveland at McMinn County, 5 p.m.
Saturday
At Ooltewah High School
McMinn-Cleveland loser vs. Bradley-Soddy-Daisy loser, 9 a.m.
East Hamilton-Walker Valley winner vs Ooltewah, 11 a.m.
Cleveland-McMinn winner vs. Bradley-Soddy-Daisy winner, 1 p.m.
Loser’s bracket game, 3 p.m.
Loser’s bracket game, 5 p.m.
Tournament continues Monday, Tuesday (loser’s bracket final at 5 p.m., championship game, 7 p.m.) and “if necessary” game set for Wednesday at 6 p.m.
All-District 5-3A Team (Regular Season)
Ooltewah – Kayla Boseman, Shelby Sutton, Tiera Lemon, Aubbie Collake
Soddy-Daisy – Not submitted
McMinn County – Abby Swilley, Callie King
East Hamilton – Tori Barnes
Walker Valley – Emilee Spann
Cleveland – Lauren Lee
Bradley Central – Arianna Kimpson
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)