Boseman Fires No-Hitter, Lady Owls Dominate Cookeville, 12-0, In Region 3-3A Softball

Cookeville walked into a buzz saw Monday.

Its name was Kayla Boseman.

For 3 1/3 innings in a Region 3-3A semifinal softball game at Jim Lovell Field, Boseman (19-1) dominated the Lady Cavaliers in spectacular fashion.

This is what the first 10 Cookeville batters did:

Whiff.

Whiff. Whiff. Whiff. Whiff. Whiff. Whiff. Whiff. Whiff. Whiff.

Ten consecutive strikeouts. The Lady Cavs were thrilled when they fouled a pitch off.

“It’s tough to bounce back from that,” Cookeville coach Jordan Webb said. “She’s an extremely good pitcher; she stays around the zone, throws hard and doesn’t miss her spots that much. She throws pitches that are good for her, not the hitter.”

Boseman finished with 13 strikeouts and a five-inning no-hitter, her fourth of the season, and the Lady Owls (34-6) romped to a 12-0 victory and advanced to the regional title game on Wednesday. They will host the District 5-3A rival Walker Valley at 6 p.m. The Lady Mustangs, the 5-3A runner-up, beat District 6-3A champion Warren County, 10-3.

“I started really good,” said Boseman, who dropped her ERA to 0.80 and pushed her strikeout total to 220 in 114 innings. “I didn’t get tired; I just lost my strike zone in the fifth inning. I came back and battled at the end.”

Since a 2-0 loss at Walker Valley on April 18, the Lady Owls have won 11 of 12 games, the only loss an 8-3 decision to Farragut in a late regular season tournament at Farragut. They will ride an eight-game winning streak into the region title game.

“I think we’ll come out ready to play against Walker Valley,” senior Marissa Forrester said. “They know what we have and we know what they have. We really want to beat Walker Valley.”

Ooltewah, which knocked off the Lady Mustangs three times in four meetings this season, including twice en route to the district tournament championship last week, is going for its third region title in four years.

The Ooltewah seniors – Boseman, Mabry Carpenter, Ally Chernak, Forrester, Hadley Morrow and Tyler Sullivan – still have an ultimate goal of reaching their third state tournament next week in Murfreesboro. That group of veterans helped the Lady Owls post a 148-32 record so far during their four years in the program.

Boseman’s strikeout streak ended when freshman Sydney Kirby popped out to second baseman Ally Chernak for the second out in the fourth inning. On a 1-2 pitch, Ryleigh Boyett, another freshman, reached on Chernak’s fielding error. Boseman fanned sophomore Bailey Turnbow to end the inning.

“We don’t see pitching like that in our district,” Boyett said. “You have to get over the strikeouts, bounce back when you get up there and hope for the best. I was just happy to make contact.”

In the fifth, Boseman struggled to close the game out and walked senior catcher Amanda Phy. Jordan Wagner, a senior right fielder, struck out and third baseman Holly Smith, a sophomore, drew another walk. Boseman, who threw 84 pitches, 55 for strikes, struck out pinch-hitter senior Tia Gwynn and Megan Smith, a senior batting for Nicole Collins, grounded out to third baseman Mabry Carpenter to end the game.

“She had a lot of movement on her ball and the rise ball was very good,” said Boyett, who struck out in the first inning. “All the freshmen knew about her was that she threw hard, she had good movement and she’s going to Mississippi State. And her changeup was very effective.”

While Boseman was mowing down the Lady Cavs, Ooltewah’s bats thundered quickly and kept it up for three innings.

The Lady Owls scored twice in the first inning off Cookeville starter Morgan Radford on Chernak’s RBI double and a wild pitch that enabled Chernak to cross home plate.

Ooltewah erupted for five runs in the second on an Addy Keylon infield grounder, a bases-loaded walk to Boseman and Cheyanne Sales’ three-run double to right-center field.

“A big thing today was we got hits when we needed them,” said Sales. “Now we get Walker Valley again and we won’t take them lightly. We’ll do what we have to do.”

Forrester smacked a two-run single in the third, Chernak added a sacrifice fly, Sales had a RBI single to center and Addy Keylon scored on Tyler Sullivan’s fielder’s choice.

“Kayla threw the ball well and we hit the ball well,” Ooltewah coach Jon Massey said. “What stands out to me though is our six, seven, eight and nine hitters did a great job for us. I always tell the girls that all nine of us don’t have to hit, but if you get four or five hitting we can score some runs and we’ll be OK.”

That portion of the lineup – Sullivan, Carpenter, Makayla Strickland and Forrester – were a combined 3-for-6, scored six runs and drove in two runs.

“Any time you play a team like Ooltewah,” Webb said, “you have to play a fantastic ballgame and you have to have fantastic pitching. They’re not just a pitching team. They also hit the ball extremely well and play good defense. That’s a tough combination.

“Velocity-wise, we don’t see pitching like that. She’s very aggressive and comes right at you. Our district has softer throwers with a lot of curveballs and changeups; certainly we don’t see that velocity with that much command.”

Cookeville ended its season with an 18-12 record.

Linescore

Cookeville           000 00 – 0 0 0

Ooltewah             255 0x – 12 7 1

Radford, Smith (3) and Phy; Boseman and Sales.

(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)