Sophomore Natalie Pruitt of Walker Valley fires a pitch against East Hamilton on Tuesday. Pruitt scattered seven hits and allowed only three balls get out of the infield in the Lady Mustangs' 5-2 District 5-3A victory. Pruitt is now 10-2 on the season.
photo by Dennis Norwood
Natalie Pruitt took the ping out of East Hamilton’s bats for four innings and Walker Valley beat the Lady Hurricanes, 5-2, Tuesday in District 5-3A softball action at East Hamilton.
Pruitt recorded seven first-pitch groundouts over the first six innings and picked up her 10th win against two losses. She didn’t allow a ball out of the infield until the fifth.
“She works extremely hard and is a great pitcher,” Walker Valley coach Lauren Limburg said. “Natalie moves the ball in the strike zone and was really hitting her spots today. Having a strong defense behind her gives her confidence and allows her to pitch like she did.”
The hard-throwing left-hander gave up a leadoff infield single to Whitney Richardson and a two-out home run to Syerra Rogers in the fifth. Miracle Gordon singled to left and Sydnie Rogers struck out to end the inning with the Lady Mustangs leading 3-2.
“The ball I hit was low and outside and when I hit it I felt like it was going out,” Rogers said. “We got more excited and were cheering more in the dugout.”
In the sixth, Shelbie Sholtz singled to center. Pruitt retired the final four batters to nail down a win that enabled the Lady Mustangs (17-6, 7-1) to stay in a virtual tie with Ooltewah for the league lead. The Lady Owls (20-4, 6-0) routed Cleveland, 11-0.
“I felt really good,” said Pruitt, a sophomore. “I’m improving a lot every game and I think the whole team is too. I was moving my pitches and didn’t want to make anything easy for them.”
Walker Valley, which lost to Ooltewah, 16-15, on March 27, took a 1-0 lead against the Lady Canes on Kaylee Hughes’ solo home run starting the fourth inning.
Laney Harris and Katelyn Howell each stroked run-scoring doubles – the Lady Mustangs had four doubles in the game – to pad the lead to 3-0 after five innings.
Carissa Frost’s double to left-center field in the sixth scored Walker Valley’s fourth run and Hughes’ double pushed across the final run in the seventh.
Pruitt scattered seven hits, struck out four and walked none.
“This is the most focused team we’ve had,” Limburg said. “Everything we’re doing is working toward the postseason. These district games are important and the girls understand that. This group is younger – we have only one senior (third baseman Miranda Young) – and they’re mature for their age. The freshmen that played last year are now experienced sophomores and they know what’s going on.
“They come ready to play and that’s all I can ask of them.”
East Hamilton pitcher Sydnie Rogers matched Pruitt complete-game effort while giving up eight hits, five earned runs. She struck out seven and walked none.
The Lady Canes fell to 10-4 overall and 3-3 in the district.
Ooltewah 11, Cleveland 0: Kayla Boseman threw a one-hit shutout and struck out 16 in the Lady Owls’ easy victory in Cleveland. Boseman was working on a no-hitter for 5 1/3 innings before giving up a single in the sixth.
“Kayla probably threw 80 percent strikes today,” Ooltewah coach Jon Massey said. “She was really locked in and I think she only had one three-ball count in the game.”
Boseman has recorded 34 strikeouts in her last two outings covering 13 innings.
Junior shortstop Sydney White went 2-for-4 with a triple and double and drove in three runs for the Lady Owls. Boseman was 2-for-4 and had three RBIs, Ally Chernak went 2-for-3 with a double, scored twice and drove in two runs and Mikayla Strickland was 2-for-3, scored once and drove in a run. Addy Keylon was also 2-for-3 and scored three runs.
“We hit the ball well and with 13 hits put it in play,” Massey said. “We did not hit a lot of fly balls and hit a lot of hard ground balls and line drives. Most everybody got a hit. Kayla threw well and it was a good day.”
Linescores
Walker Valley 000 121 1 – 5 7 0
East Hamilton 000 020 0 – 2 8 0
Pruitt and Suits; Sydney Rogers and Syvanna Rogers.
Ooltewah 206 003 – 11 13 1
Cleveland 000 000 – 0 1 2
Boseman and Sales; Ents and Davenport.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)