Ooltewah's Jadyn Raschke not only had a stellar day at the plate with four straight singles in the Lady Owls win over Walker Valley, she made several impressive plays in left field. Ooltewah won twice Tuesday night in the District 5-AAA tournament, forcing the "if needed" game with the Lady Mustangs at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Bradley county's Bob McKenzie Field.
photo by Dennis Norwood
CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- Tuesday was a Red Letter Day for the Ooltewah Lady Owls softball team.
Literally.
They won their two most important games of the season to this point here at Bradley Central's Bob McKenzie Field in the District 5-AAA tournament.
And there's still one more game to be played to determine the tournament champion.
The Lady Owls improved to 34-8 with Tuesday's two wins, but none were any bigger than a 5-2 victory over top-seeded Soddy Daisy in the loser's bracket final. Not only was it a big, big win over one of Ooltewah's biggest rivals, but it also clinched a berth in next week's Region 3-AAA tournament.
Then in the second game of the day, the Lady Owls sent 13 batters to the plate in the very first inning, scored a whopping eight runs before having to hang on for a 9-6 win over Walker Valley, the third-seeded team.
Ooltewah is seeded second.
And while those two wins were big and made Ooltewah coach Jon Massey a very happy man, his team's lack of defense may cause him to lose a little sleep before all is said and done.
"I've got very little to say after that defensive performance," Massey said in a serious tone after his team had won, despite making five errors.
"Our pitching was phenomenal in both games, but our defense was terrible against Walker Valley. We have to get that cleaned up really quick. We've lived and died all year with good pitching and strong defense, but we won that second game despite ourselves.
"Now we just have to come back tomorrow and play our best with hopes of winning and hosting a region game on Monday. It was nice to score eight runs in the first, but we started getting antsy at the plate and jumping at pitches. We got away from doing what we want to do offensively," he added.
Freshman Kayla Boseman was the winning pitcher in the game against Soddy Daisy and she earned a save in the second one as she improved to 15-2 for the season. Cameron Baltimore, the beneficiary of the great start, earned the win in the second game and improved to 11-4 after going 4.1 innings.
The second game against the Lady Mustangs turned into an offensive slugfest as the Lady Owls finished with 17 hits, including three players with four hits apiece.
Leadoff hitter Tiera Lemon had four hits, including a double, and scored two runs in that first inning while driving in three. Second baseman Shelby Sutton also had four, including a bunt and a two-run single in the first. Jadyn Raschke had four straight singles and also scored two runs.
That 8-0 lead was nice, but the Lady Owls left a bunch more base runners stranded as a single run in the sixth was the only other tally of the game.
The good news was that eight runs was enough.
The Lady Mustangs, limited to just three hits through the first four innings, came to life in the fifth when they scored all six runs as they batted around and collected five hits. The Lady Owls also helped out a lot as they made three of their errors in that inning, which led to have of those runs.
Boseman came in to get the final two outs and prevent Walker Valley from getting any closer. She also retired the side in order in the final two innings to force Wednesday's extra game.
The Lady Owls then added an insurance run in the sixth.
Raschke reached on a two-out infield single and advanced to second on a wild pitch. She then scored on Lemon's fourth-straight hit.
Walker Valley coach Lauren Limburg wasn't really very happy about the way her girls began the game.
"We've struggled all year with getting ready to play at the start of the game. Ooltewah has a great team and they came out ready to play, but we have to play a complete game if we want any chance of winning.
"We didn't come out ready to play, but even at the end, we never felt out of it. We need to be ready to play tomorrow night," she added.
While Lemon, Sutton and Raschke all had four hits for the Lady Owls, Allie Jones also had two.
Jones and Boseman both had run-scoring singles in the first while Mabry Carpenter had a two-run single before Lemon's double plated two. Sutton followed with her two-run single to complete the scoring.
Walker Valley finished with eight hits. Sydney Ventura was the only Lady Mustang with two. Ali King was the only one with an extra-base hit and that was a double to lead off the fifth.
OOLTEWAH 5, SODDY DAISY 2: Nobody scored for the first two innings, but Ooltewah broke the ice with a single run in the third. Raschke led off with a double and scored on a play where Soddy Daisy made two errors.
Ooltewah made it 3-0 with two more runs in the fourth.
Carpenter received a one-out walk before Aubie Collake singled. Both advanced on a wild pitch while Carpenter scored on a fielder's choice by Bailey Kennedy and Collake on a single by Raschke, who had two hits in this game as well.
The Lady Trojans finally took advantage of their opportunities when they scored their only two runs in the fourth.
Maddie Millwood and Lauren Thomas both reached with singles after two were out. An infield single by Gracie Ratledge loaded the bases while a single by Abby Walker drove in the first two. Boseman then ended the inning with one of her seven strikeouts.
The Lady Owls then added solo runs in the fifth and sixth innings for a little insurance.
A groundout by Collake drove in Jones, who had led off the fifth with a single, while a triple by Lemon in the sixth sent Tyler Sullivan home after she had reached on an infield single.
Soddy Daisy had one last shot when Walker reached on an error to lead off the seventh. Grayson Brown singled to bring the tying run to the plate, but Boseman was more than ready and got Meagan Beasley on a grounder to second before striking out Cam Swafford to end the game.
Soddy Daisy coach Wes Skiles had a long post-game chat with his players after their season ended at 28-9.
"I just hate it for our seniors that it had to end tonight," he expressed while Ooltewah and Walker Valley continued their warmups.
"We had runners on base all game long, but just couldn't get the big hit. I felt good about our chances, even when we were down to our last strike, but I feel sure we'll bounce back.
"I've said all along that we have one of the toughest districts in the state and this is just proof of that. But these top three teams are so evenly matched, you just never know who will win," he concluded.
Lemon, Boseman and Raschke all had two hits for Ooltewah as the Lady Owls finished with nine for the game.
Seven different Soddy Daisy players had one hit apiece with Walker's single in the fourth the most productive.
OOLTEWAH 001 211 0 -- 5 9 2
SODDY DAISY 000 200 0 -- 2 7 2
Boseman and Forrester; Penney, Edwards (4), Penney (6) and Swafford.
WALKER VALLEY 000 060 0 -- 6 8 2
OOLTEWAH 800 001 x -- 9 17 5
Raymond, Frost (1) and Chancey; Baltimore, Boseman (5) and Forrester.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@comcast.net)
Lady Owls pitcher Cameron Baltimore had a memorable day on Tuesday. That afternoon she inked a scholarship to play for Cleveland State Community College and in the evening earned the decision in Ooltewah's defeat of Walker Valley in the championship game of the District 5-AAA tournament. That win forces a second game with the Lady Mustangs Wednesday night at 6 p.m.
photo by Dennis Norwood