The District 5-3A baseball tournament begins next Wednesday at Soddy-Daisy and the top three seeded teams – Bradley Central, East Hamilton and the host Trojans – are strong contenders for the championship.
There are others, however, that would throw No. 4 Cleveland into the mix as the tournament’s dark horse solely on the Blue Raiders’ sweep of a two-game series against the regular-season champion Bears, two losses that prevented them from nailing down an automatic bid into the Region 3-3AAA tournament.
The fact that Cleveland even beat Bradley once was a significant occurrence. The Blue Raiders hadn’t knocked off the Bears since winning 5-4 on March 23, 2015, snapping Bradley’s eight-game winning streak in the cross-town rivalry.
“Obviously, it gives us a large spurt of momentum for the tournament,” said Cleveland coach Preston Scoggins, who had never beaten the Bears before.
However, the coach is not too keen about anyone labeling his team a dark horse.
“I don’t necessarily think that way,” he said as the district coaches luncheon meeting at Drake’s Sports Bar and Grill broke up. “We lost to East Hamilton to a seventh-inning walk-off and we lost to Soddy-Daisy on a walk-off. We kind of square up pretty well against some of these other teams. In tournaments, it’s about who is playing well at the right time; we would like to say we’re playing pretty good baseball at this point.”
The tournament begins on May 1 at Soddy-Daisy with two games – McMinn County plays Cleveland at 5 p.m. and Ooltewah takes on Walker Valley ta 8 p.m., in a game that begins the final march toward retirement for coach Joe Shamblin, who is stepping down at season’s end. He has already informed his players of the decision and Shamblin expressed his thoughts on leaving high school baseball with the other coaches attending the meeting.
Thursday’s winners will play Friday at 7 p.m. and that winner faces Bradley Central on Friday at 5 p.m. East Hamilton takes on Soddy-Daisy at 8 p.m.
The Blue Raiders, who haven’t gotten out of the district tournament since 2009 when they eventually reached the state tourney for the fourth time in school history (Cleveland also went in 2007, 1997 and 1969), were 2-7 in one-run games this season with a 1-4 mark in league play.
In the series opener at Bradley, Cleveland’s Patrick Williams scattered four hits and struck out 15 in a Monday night duel against Bear ace Riley Black, who fanned 11. Each starter worked 6 2/3 innings. The Blue Raiders won, 4-1.
The next night across town at Cleveland High School, Asa Blake threw a five-inning three-hitter, the Blue Raiders backed him with a 12-hit attack and won easily, 12-2. Ryan Lee, Jack Pullen, Jonathon Powers and Hayden Tinsley combined for eight of The Raiders’ hits.
Before the series began, Scoggins told his players they had an opportunity to achieve things they hadn’t done in years.
First, they could end the losing streak to Bradley. They could win a game against Bradley and sweep a series. “It was a good chance to put Cleveland back on the baseball map. Those two wins were definitely meaningful to our seniors. They’ve been through some trials and tribulations in their four years with me coaching them.”
Bradley coach Travis Adams, who guided the Bears to the 2018 tourney championship, had the polar opposite thought process in the aftermath of the Blue Raiders’ stunning sweep just days for the postseason tournament.
“It’s probably not the best-case scenario for us,” Adams said. “Their kid pitched a good game on the first night but so did ours (Riley Black). The second night was a big letdown. We didn’t pitch Dylan (Standifer), our No. 2 guy, to give him some rest and we didn’t put Black behind the plate in the Tuesday game. Maybe our kids let off the gas a little bit and I told them we’d have to reset and get ready for the tournament.”
When would Adams address his players and make sure the Cleveland series was wiped from their minds?
“That happened Wednesday,” he said. “We had a pretty good practice and aired out some stuff and we restated our expectations. The kids responded well. We’ve got a dress rehearsal with McCallie on Monday to get ready for the tournament and we’ll see how they react on the field.”
East Hamilton was sitting in first place when Bradley knocked them off the roost with a sweep a week before Cleveland shocked the Bears.
Coach Steve Garland’s squad got off to a great start this season, winning 16 of their first 18 games, running off a 13-game winning streak and began district play by winning their first nine games.
“We lost at McMinn County when we kicked the ball around for a bunch of errors and were swept by Bradley,” he said. “We’re 21-11 now so the math is easy. We haven’t been playing good baseball recently.”
The Hurricanes, who parlayed a 2015 district tourney title into their first appearance in the Class AAA state tournament, set up a schedule that provided more practice time, more rest for his players as the season wound down due to TSSAA guidelines that allow for 30 games in a seven-week time span.
“That’s a lot of baseball,” he said. “I hope the down time helps because we have not played good baseball in a while. We had a long practice Wednesday, which is unusual for this time of year. We had like a preseason practice and we’ll come back (Thursday) with a light workout. The guys are off Friday for prom and we play Saturday and Monday and have three days before we play Soddy-Daisy next week.”
Soddy-Daisy’s Tim Higgins is going into his first tournament with the Trojans, after taking over from Jared Hensley, who is now a full-time administrator and the Trojans’ athletic director.
The Trojans swept McMinn County, Cleveland and Ooltewah this season. East Hamilton swept the Trojans and split series with Bradley Central and Walker Valley.
Soddy-Daisy used 2-0 and 5-4 wins against Ooltewah to close out the district schedule.
“I think we’re in a good position,” Higgins said. “The guys worked hard all year long and I think they’ve had moments when we saw how good we can be. I like how we’ve come along and I feel confident, and we’re healthy.”
Tournament Schedule
At Soddy-Daisy High School
Wednesday, May 1
Seed In Parenthesis
(7) McMinn County vs. (4) Cleveland, 5 p.m.
(6) Walker Valley vs. (5) Ooltewah, 8 p.m.
Thursday, May 2
McMinn-Cleveland winner vs. Walker Valley-Ooltewah winner, 7 p.m.
Friday, May 3
Best-of-Three Series
Thursday winner vs. (1) Bradley Central, 5 p.m.
(3) Soddy-Daisy vs. (2) East Hamilton, 8 p.m.
District Standings
Through April 23
Overall District
Bradley Central 17-11 9-3
East Hamilton 21-11 9-3
Soddy-Daisy 18-12 8-4
Cleveland 13-10 6-6
Ooltewah 12-14 4-8
McMinn County 12-15 3-9
Walker Valley 9-13 3-9
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)