Baseball/Softball Round-up: Thursday March 23, 2023
BASEBALL
Walker Valley 1, McCallie 0
Walker Valley's Chipper Franks and McCallie's Hudson Calhoun locked up in a pitching duel before the Mustangs finally managed to push a run across in the bottom of the seventh inning to walk off the Blue Tornado in the Joe Adams Classic.
Calhoun, an Ole Miss signee, didn't allow a Walker Valley hit through his four innings of work, striking out seven as the senior has now gone his last 11 innings without allowing a hit. The Mustangs, however, were resilient once they got to the bullpen. Tucker Ownby led off the inning with a bunt single for their first hit and after a ground out moved him to second, Logan Wallace delivered a line drive single to plate the walkoff run.
Franks was equally as effective and made some big pitches as the Blue Tornado threatened with runners in four innings. Franks stranded a walk in the first, and got a big strikeout with two runners on in the second. He later stranded McCallie's only hit, a Hayden Choate double in the fifth and worked around another walk in the sixth before pitching a perfect seventh to set up the win.
Walker Valley had loaded the bases in the fourth on an error, a walk and hit by pitch, but Calhoun reached back with a strikeout to end the threat and keep it scoreless.
Cleveland 8, Soddy Daisy 2
The Blue Raiders jumped to an early lead, pushing across two in the first and three in the second to drop the Trojans in another Joe Adams Classic battle.
Reed Smith had a double among two hits and drove in three runs for the winners while speedy Mycah Jordan set the table with three walks and three runs scored from the leadoff slot. Jameson Eidson and cameron Liner each had two hits for the Blue Raiders as well to back the four-hit complete game outing by Jacob Johnson. Johnson struck out nine Trojans on the night and walked just one. Troy James drove in both runs for Soddy Daisy.
McMinn County 5, CAK 3
Reese Frazier lifted a sac fly in the bottom of the sixth to break a 2-all tie with CAK and the Cherokees added another run on an error and held off the Knoxville squad in the final game of the Joe Adams Classic.
McMinn had taken a 2-0 lead in the fourth after Frazier tripled in two runs following a Mason Roderick single and a walk Jace Hyde. CAK would knot it again in the sixth thanks to a single, triple and a passed ball before McMinn opened the sixth with three straight singles by Roderick, Cameron Miller, and Hyde to set up Frazier's sac fly to deep center. A grounder that was misplayed gave the Cherokees a big insurance run as CAK got a solo homer in the seventh and had two runners on before McMinn nailed it down. Roderick started on the hill and went four innings and gave up just two hits.
Central 5, CCS 2
The Chargers won the battle of hits, but the Pounders won the scoring column as Central's Keaton Hesson fired a complete-game seven-hitter, striking out six on the night. CCS got off to a good start as Cooper Kay homered on the first pitch of the game but the Pounders came back with four runs in the first and CCS never recovered.
Singles by Hesson and Caiden Marler sandwiched a CCS error which allowed Hesson to score and two straight walks pushed across the go-ahead run for Central. Elijah Dill followed with a bases-loaded single to make it 4-1 Central. A pair of errors (CCS has three on the night) allowed an insurance run in the sixth after CCS' Wall had brought the Chargers to within 4-2 with an RBI single in the top of the sixth.
Landen Poythress led Central with two hits as the Pounders made the most of four walks a hit by pitch and the three CCS errors. Kay had two hits for the Chargers who had seven hits on the night.
Silverdale 16, Signal Mountain 1
The Eagles were firing on all cylinders at the plate, lashing out 12 hits and scoring multiple runs in each of their four at bats. Michael Lamb was one of several boxscore heroes for Silverdale, pitching four innings, striking out six and allowing just four hits while adding a two-run double and a solo homer from the batter's box. Derron Watson, Eric Boggess and Owen Phillips each had run scoring hits in a seven-run second inning that put the game out of reach.
Phillips also added a two-run homer and drove in five runs on the night as he Lamb accounted for eight RBI. Brett Rogers scored four times thanks to a pair of walks and drove in two runs with a bases-loaded walk and a hit in his only official at bat. Turner Junkins added two hits and Watson drove in two for the winners. Signal Mountain was led by Jake Edmondson and Cash Keene with two hits apiece with Keene driving in the lone Eagles run.
Baylor 2, Upperman 0
Wels Grisham pitched a complete game three-hitter and the Red Raiders rode the strength of a pair of homer to shutout a strong Upperman squad.
Upperman got out of an early bases-loaded jam after back-to-back singles by Henry Ford and Dillon Adkins and a walk to Caleb Hampton but avoided damage with a big double play to end the first inning scoreless. Ford got Baylor on the board with a leadoff homer in the fourth and Mack Whitcomb added a leadoff round-tripper in the top of the fifth for a 2-0 lead and Grisham was in control retiring the final seven hitters in order. Ford led the winners with his two hits.
SOFTBALL
Silverdale 7, CCS 5
The Lady Seahawks got some late inning clutch hitting to pull away from a 3-3 tie with a three spot in the fifth inning to move to 6-1 on the season. Freshman Braylee Raby delivered an RBI single in the fifth and fellow freshman Avery Danz followed with a single to chase home the second run while a CCS error plated the third run in the inning.
Addie Keef had given Silverdale the early lead with a two-run single in the second and Kennedy Stinson homered in the bottom of the sixth for a big insurance run after the Lady Chargers had pulled to within 6-5 with a pair of runs in the sixth on an error and ground out. Bita Coz worked a scoreless to seventh for Silverdale as the eighth-grader struck out eight in five innings. Stinson had two hits for the winners as did Danz while Addi Lewis was 3-for-3 with a homer and Emily Matthews added three hits and RBI for CCS.
Soddy Daisy 12, Red Bank 0
The Lady Trojans pounded out 12 hits while Regan Rowan and Izzy Webb combined for a four-inning no-hitter. Rowan went three innings and struck out all nine hitters she faced while Webb worked around two hit by pitches to strike out the side in the final frame.
Soddy Daisy (4-1) got a two-run homer off the bat of Sierrra Diehl while Abby Faires had two hits including a triple. Tatum Massengale added two hits as did Skylar Gooden and Rowan helped her own cause with an RBI-double.
Walker Valley 3, Rhea County 1
Rhea County's Chelsea Reel and Walker Valley's Ryan Presswood locked into a pitcher's duel but a two-run fourth inning by the Lady Mustanges proved to be too much. Presswood tripled in a run in the deciding frame and Kiarra Nicholes singled on an 0-2 count to plate Presswood for a 2-1 lead. Walker Valley would add an insurance run in the sixth on an error, but Presswood didn't need it, firing a complete game six-hitter and striking out six in the win. Reel wound up allowing just three hits in five innings striking out five.
Hixson 15, East Ridge 2
The Lady Wildcats banged out 10 hits and scored eight runs in the first and seven more in the second frame to make short work of the Lady Pioneers. Meghan Kernea had three hits for Hixson to drive in a run while Allison McDaniel, Ryleigh Quarles and Beth Moore each drove in a pair of runs with two hits apiece. Moore and Savannah Martin combined to strike out eight Pioneers. .
Scores and stats courtesy of Game Changer (gc.com)
(Coaches: Please send your results to sports@chattanoogan.com; report any schedule changes, corrections or additions to Prep Sports Editor Dennis Norwood at dennisnorwood56@gmail.com)