Soddy-Daisy’s Landon Maynor and Ooltewah’s Chris Bayne locked up in an old-fashioned pitcher’s duel Monday night at A.C. “Bud” Ball Field.
Maynor went into the seventh inning with a two-hit shutout but ran into one-out trouble – Colby Taylor and Dominic Mackaluso each singled – and Zane Guess came on in relief.
Guess escaped without damage and the Trojans pulled out a 2-0 District 5-3A victory at A.C. “Bud” Ball Field.
“Landon did a great job,” Soddy-Daisy coach Jim Higgins said. “He’s done a good job for us all year because he’s learned from every experience on the mound. Landon has a lot of resilience for a 16-year-old and gives us the ability of throwing strikes and showed a lot of poise with something on the line tonight.”
Soddy-Daisy’s win nails down the No. 3 seed for the postseason tournament to be held at its own Tom Higgins Field.
“Everyone wants to stay out of the play-in games in the tournament,” Higgins said. “You want one of the top three seeds and we were scratching and clawing for that tonight.”
Bradley Central will be the No. 1 seed and East Hamilton No. 2.
Maynor scattered six hits and struck out nine with three walks to notch the win. He threw 104 pitches with 66 strikes. Guess struck out two for the final outs and got the save.
Bayne threw seven innings and allowed four hits and two runs. He struck out seven and walked one, throwing 93 pitches and 74 strikes.
The Owls’ left-handed pitcher got out of an early but escaped by displaying nerves of steel.
Bayne was in a second-inning mess but managed to keep the shutout. Soddy-Daisy’s Aaron Couch singled to right field and Landon Maynor put down a bunt and reached safely on Maynor’s error.
Noah Howard struck out looking.
Seth Coffelt struck out swinging.
Spencer Gore struck out looking.
The Trojans (17-10, 7-4) got to Bayne the next inning for their first run.
Hayden Maynor reached on an error by shortstop Fisher Perry and scored on Jacob Jennings’ single to right-center field.
Soddy-Daisy’s Aaron Couch, who went 2 for 3, doubled to start the sixth inning and Landon Maynor’s sacrifice bunt moved him to third. When Noah Howard was safe on second baseman Jacob Robinson’s error Couch scored to give Maynor a two-run cushion.
The Owls committed seven errors in the game.
In the Trojans’ seventh, Maynor fanned Isaac Hughes but Taylor singled to right and Mackaluso punched a hit to center. Taylor moved to second.
Payton Keiser walked to load the bases and Higgins called Guess to the mound.
Guess struck out Conner Beach and Jacob Robinson to preserve the victory over coach Brian Hitchcox’s Owls (12-13, 4-7).
“Zane was outstanding in being like a machine with hard fastballs in a tough situation with the bases loaded,” Higgins said. “He was very business-like setting them down.”
Cleveland 4, Bradley Central 1: The Blue Raiders’ Patrick Williams bested Bradley Central mound ace Riley Clark in a battle of bitter rivals at the Toby McKenzie Baseball Complex.
Both pitchers worked 6 2/3 innings.
Williams gave up four hits and a run while striking out 15 and walking seven.
Black allowed six hits and four runs – one was earned – and fanned 11 and walked four. It was Black’s first district loss this season.
The Blue Raiders (12-9, 5-6) used to three-run fourth inning to back Williams’ performance with enough runs to win the game.
With one out, Sam Wyrick singled to right. Black struck out Jack Pullen but gave up an infield single to Landen Beaty. Jonathan Powers reached on a passed ball on a swinging third strike to load the bases and Hunter Levert ripped a three-run double to right field.
In Cleveland’s fourth, Hayden Tinsley walked and Ryan Lee sent him to third with a double to left field. Kley McGowan’s single to right pushed Tinsley across the plate.
Bradley Central (17-10, 9-2) scored its run in the bottom of the fourth. Tucker Still singled and Ryan Giovengo reached on a bunt single and Freddy Johnson put down another bunt and Still came home on Williams’ error.
Cleveland’s Beaty was the only player with multiple hits.
The Bears stranded 10 runners, Cleveland five.
Walker Valley 2, McMinn County 1: The Mustangs (8-13, 2-9) did their offensive damage in the first inning and made the two runs hold up.
Jordan Munck walked and stole second. Ethan Hailey’s groundout allowed Munck to score. Parker Caldwell was hit by a pitch and came home on Dylan Allender’s RBI double to right.
The Cherokees (12-14, 3-8) cut the deficit in half with a run in the fourth inning when Emery Peterson was safe on a one-out infield hit. Peterson went to second on an error, stole third and scored on Hayden Frank’s sacrifice fly.
Jake Smith threw a complete game three-hitter, striking out six and walked two. His effort included 70 strikes among 107 pitches. McMinn’s Andrew Ronnie took the loss, giving up three hits and both runs over five innings. He fanned five and walked two.
Linescores
Soddy-Daisy 001 001 0 – 2 4 0
Ooltewah 000 000 0 – 0 6 7
L. Maynor, Guess (7) and Travis; Bayne and Dockery.
Cleveland 000 310 0 – 4 6 2
Bradley Central 000 100 0 – 1 4 0
P. Williams, Sells (7) and Lee; Black, Prock (7) and Standifer.
Walker Valley 200 000 0 – 2 4 1
McMinn County 000 100 0 – 1 3 0
Smith and Gober; Ronne, Grimmett (6) and Goodin.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)