CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Bradley Central dominated the 2016 District 5-3A baseball regular season, rolling to 12 consecutive wins without a loss.
The Bears (22-6) earned the No. 1 seed for the postseason tournament that begins next Wednesday at Cleveland High School and an automatic spot in the Region 3-3A tournament that will begin on May 16.
That stellar season-long play paid more dividends Wednesday when the coaches from 5-3A gathered in Cleveland to discuss the upcoming tournament.
Bradley Central swept the top major awards when Travis Adams was named the Coach of the Year and pitchers Brandon Thompson and Gunnar Norwood, each with 7-0 records, were selected as Co-Players of the Year in voting by league coaches.
“Baseball is built around pitching and when you have two guys like I had this year everything else is a plus,” Adams said. “When you pitch it, catch it and scrap together some runs it can turn into a good season.”
Said East Hamilton coach Steve Garland, “For Bradley to finish with a three-game lead and undefeated is unheard of. Pitching has been so solid for them. They’ve only used three pitchers in their district games – Thompson, Norwood and their reliever, Charlie Hammonds. They’ve been so consistent.”
Dylan Standifer, Tyler Carpenter, Kylar Lynn and Cason Still were also selected to the all-district squad. (The rest of the all-district team is listed below).
The Bears, in Adams’ estimation, simply lived up to expectations and put together a sensational run through the district minefield.
“What you expect is always higher as a coach,” said Adams, who has been at Bradley Central for nine years. “You expect guys to make routine plays, pitchers not to walk people and guys to get hits and score runners. It all boils down to the kids meeting our expectations.
“(Tuesday, a 6-0 win over McMinn County in the league finale) was all about chasing history. I don’t know if anybody has ever gone through a season undefeated. That’s something no one can take from you.”
The Bears’ average win in district play was by an 8.2-1.8 margin. Four times Bradley scored in double figures, with a high of 18 against McMinn County and opposing teams were held to four or fewer runs in all 12 games, including four shutouts.
Bradley won’t play until May 6 in a best-of-three series. The Bears will have to wait a few days to know which team they’ll face in the series opener at 5 p.m.
East Hamilton (17-14), the No. 4 seed, plays No. 7 McMinn County (11-14) on May 4 at 5 p.m. to open the tournament. Cleveland (No. 6, 13-14) plays No. 5 Walker Valley (14-13) at 8 p.m. on opening day.
The winners of those first two games play on May 5 for the right to face Bradley the following day. Third-seeded Ooltewah (21-12) plays No. 2 Soddy-Daisy (24-5) in a series opener at 8 p.m.
“First, hats off to Bradley for putting themselves in a great position,” Soddy-Daisy coach Jared Hensley said. “For us and Ooltewah it’s a great opportunity. It’s always a battle when the two schools play and it’s going to be fun. Those guys at Ooltewah are my buddies, but when the first pitch is thrown on that Friday we’ll be trying to beat each other.
“It has never been a deal where there has been bad blood between the players or coaches. Everybody is trying to win. Our styles of play over the last few years have complimented each other, but it’s a matchup that’s always going to be tough.”
The Owls lost eight of their first 13 games, but go into a non-district game against Central on Friday having won 10 of its last 12. The losses were to Wilson Central in the Trojans Classic and to East Hamilton on Monday by a 10-2 score.
Ooltewah bounced back with a 10-3 win on Tuesday over the Hurricanes to nail down the No. 3 seed.
“We look at the game with Soddy-Daisy as a challenge,” Owls coach Brian Hitchcox said. “I looked at it as they were the favorites coming into the season with so many guys coming back, a lot of really good players that helped them go on a deep run in last year’s state tournament.
“We know that first series is going to be a challenge, but we’re going to play our best and see how it shakes out.”
The Owls and Trojans split the regular-season series, with Soddy-Daisy winning the opener 7-1 and Ooltewah taking the second game 4-3.
“We had a lot of kids grow up during the season and really come into their own,” Hitchcox said. “We’re definitely playing better and I’m excited to see how they show up against Soddy-Daisy. At the end of the day, one of us will move on and have a chance to have a good season and one of us won’t.”
East Hamilton, which went three games deep into the2015 state tournament, as did Soddy-Daisy, split the season series with coach Matt Ray’s Cherokees, winning by 4-2 at home and losing 6-5 in nine innings in Athens.
McMinn County will see a different East Hamilton squad this time around.
The Hurricanes, who beat Soddy-Daisy for the 2015 district tournament title and lost to the Trojans in the Region 3-3A championship game, are healthy after having 11 players miss playing time at one point in the season.
“We’ve been juggling our lineup and trying to find the right combinations of players,” Garland said, “and because of that we haven’t had the consistency Bradley enjoyed all year.”
District 5-3A Tournament Schedule
At Cleveland High School
Wednesday, May 4
McMinn County vs. East Hamilton, 5 p.m.
Cleveland vs. Walker Valley, 8 p.m.
Thursday, May 5
McMinn-East Hamilton winner vs. Cleveland-Walker Valley winner, 7 p.m.
Friday, May 6
Best-of-Three Series
Bradley Central vs. Early-round winner, 5 p.m.
Ooltewah vs. Soddy-Daisy, 8 p.m.
2016 All-District 5-3A Baseball Team
Coach of the Year – Travis Adams, Bradley Central
Co-Players of the Year – Gunnar Norwood, Brandon Thompson, Bradley Central
Bradley Central – Dylan Standifer, Tyler Carpenter, Kylar Lynn, Cason Still
Soddy-Daisy – Tre Carter, Gavin Rogers, Cale Morgan, Chandler Sulcer, Justin Cooke
Ooltewah – Mitch Duncan, Caleb Collins, Jake Sullivan, Andy Reed
East Hamilton – Nick Woods, Matt Watters, Garett Stone
Walker Valley – Jacob Chambers, Grayson Rountree
Cleveland – Hunter Oliver, Jake Griffin
McMinn County – Ethan Belcher, Dylan Leamon
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)