The Ooltewah softball team is on quite a roll in recent weeks and the winning just continued at Signal Mountain Wednesday afternoon.
Using a seven-run third inning as a catalyst, the Lady Owls defeated the Lady Eagles by a 10-1 final in five innings as they improved to 14-3 overall with their eighth straight win.
Signal Mountain is now 3-7 overall.
Ooltewah coach Jon Massey knows that Signal Mountain is always full of surprises and normally has a team that will battle you right down to the final out.
“That was one of our most complete games of the season,” Massey said following Wednesday’s victory.
“I thought we hit it well and we played solid defense. And Jaeda Tucker threw it hard and threw strikes,” he complemented three major areas for his team.
“We are really young with eight freshmen and one sophomore starting, but these kids are also really talented. I always have that uneasy feeling when we come up here, but I’m really pleased as we did a good job of going the other way with our hitting and I thought we played hard,” he added with a smile.
Signal Mountain coach Kristen Mazza could only offer compliments to the Lady Owl team.
“Those girls have a really good program and an outstanding pitcher,” she began after watching the southpaw freshman Tucker limit her team to one hit while recording 10 strikeouts and walking three.
“It’s hard to win when you don’t get any hits. Despite only having one, I’m proud that we kept our heads up. We have lots of potential and I’m totally confident that we will bounce back tomorrow,” she added, knowing that she takes a road trip across town to face district foe East Ridge.
The Lady Owls got off to a 1-0 lead in the first, but it was a seven-run third where they sent 11 hitters to the plate that did the most damage. Then they wrapped things up with two more in the fifth.
Tucker struck out in the first, but reached base on a passed ball. Courtesy runner Emma Clark then scooted home with the first run on a single by catcher Lilli Newell, who paced the Ooltewah attack with three hits.
Then in the third, Hailey Schmidt, Savannah Mays and Newell all singled to load the bases with nobody out, leading Mazza to replace starting pitcher May Collier with Avery LaPorte. She didn’t fare much better as Addy Watts greeted her with a two-run single to start the scoring.
Keely Miller then drove in a run with a fielder’s choice before a bunt single by Kayleigh Balla drove in another. Schmidt’s second single of the inning then drove in the final two runs for the Lady Owls.
LaPorte then had her best inning in the fourth when she struck out the side, but couldn’t sustain that success as Ooltewah then scored the final two runs in the fifth. Kaylin Leblanc reached on an infield hit to lead things off and stole second before scoring on back-to-back wild pitches. Tucker then reached for the third time with a walk before Clark stole second and scored the last run on a Signal Mountain throwing error.
Signal Mountain stranded a runner in each of the first four innings before finally getting on the board in the fifth.
Gladys McCullough reached on a strikeout-passed ball and stole second before going to third on a groundout by Berkley Roddy. She then scored on a wild pitch.
Collier was the losing pitcher after allowing four runs on five hits. She also had three strikeouts and a walk while hitting one. LaPorte allowed six runs on eight hits. She also walked two while recording six strikeouts.
The Lady Owls finished the day with 13 hits as Newell led the way with three. Leblanc and Schmidt both had two each.
While Signal will travel to East Ridge on Thursday, the Lady Owls will be on the road again for a key district game at Hixson.
OOLTEWAH 107 02 – 10 13 0
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN 000 01 – 1 1 1
Tucker and Newell; Collier, LaPorte (3) and Stone.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)