Erika Woodward's No Hitter Leads Signal Mountain

Dilla Lowry, Sianna Reagan, Gracie Ellis & Woodward All Have Two Hits In 14-0 Win

  • Thursday, April 22, 2021
  • John Hunt

Erika Woodward isn’t what you would call an overpowering pitcher for the Signal Mountain Lady Eagles, but the 17-year-old junior is better than average most of the time.

That was certainly the case on Thursday afternoon as she tossed a no-hitter and had no walks as the Eagles won a 14-0 victory over District 6-AA foe Central in four innings.

A couple of infield errors by the Lady Eagles was the only thing that kept it from being a perfect game.

After a scoreless first inning, Signal Mountain scored a run in the second when Sianna Reagan’s double drove in Gracie Ellis, who had led off the inning with a walk.

The Lady Eagles then broke the game wide open with six runs in the third and seven more in the fourth to put the game away.

“I feel good as I was just trying to keep a positive attitude and to encourage my teammates.  I didn’t even realize I had a no hitter until you just told me,” Woodward said after finishing the game with four strikeouts.

Signal Mountain coach Daniel Woodward knows that he has a young team with four freshmen and an eighth grader starting, but they gotten better as the season has progressed as they improved to 11-7 overall and 5-1 in district play behind Red Bank.

“This is just a building block for the future, but I’m proud of these girls and that was my daughter that threw the no-hitter.  I think she did a really nice job today.  That was one of her best games this year,” the coach began his post-game comments.

“We didn’t take too many bad swings and we were able to adjust in the box to the pitching we were seeing.  We never quit.  We made a couple of errors, but we just have to put those behind us and move forward,” the coach added.

It’s been a tough spring for Central coach LeeAnne Shurette, who is back at the helm for the Lady Pounders after stepping away for three years.  She’s had winning teams at Central in the past and there’s no doubt she’ll do it again, but she’s in the middle of a rebuilding process as she deals with young ladies with very little if any softball experience.

“We were sloppy at times, but we were just a step away from making some really nice plays.  We’ve worked really hard trying to learn how to play this game, but I’m frustrated right now.  It seems like we get in our own way a lot of times.  We’re getting better, but there are times when that’s hard to believe,” she nodded.

While Reagan drove in the first run for the Lady Eagles, she had a two-run single in the third while driving in another run in the fourth with a sacrifice fly to center.

Dilla Lowry, Ellis and Woodward joined Reagan as Lady Eagles with two hits apiece. Woodward’s double in the fourth, Lowry’s triple in the fourth and Reagan’s double in the second were the only extra base hits as Signal Mountain finished with 10 hits for the game.

Signal Mountain’s next game is Friday afternoon at the White Oak Fields against Silverdale in the first day of the Red Bank Invitational while Central returns to action on Monday with a game at Boyd Buchanan.

SIGNAL MOUNTAIN  016 7 – 14 10 2

CENTRAL  000 0 – 0 0 6

Woodward and Coterel; Morgan, Tate (3) and Wood.

(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)

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