Lady Owls Beat Lawrence County, 3-0
by Stan Crawley
posted May 17, 2008
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The Lady Owls defeated Lawrence County, 3-0, in a Class AAA fastpitch softball sectional at Jim Lovell Field and earned their second state berth in three years.
Nationally ranked Ooltewah (42-3-1) will play its first game on Tuesday at 6 p.m. eastern against Houston (30-10). The entire Class AAA bracket can be found at www.tssaa.org.
Thomas gave up only three hits and struck out 11 for the second straight game. She also had 11 in Wednesday’s region championship game against Soddy-Daisy.
“Holly was very good today,’’ Ooltewah coach Norma Nelson said. “They came out very aggressive against her.’’
Ooltewah took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second when senior catcher Kaitlin Neil led off with a single. She was sacrificed to second by Bri Shoemake and scored on sophomore Sara Kelley’s single.
“We’re all excited about going to state,’’ Neil said. “We knew all year we had a good chance. We’ll be OK if we keep playing like we are and start hitting a little better.’’
The Lady Owls moved their lead to 2-1 when junior Kristin Whitmire led off with a line drive home run over the left-field fence. It was Whitmire’s eighth home run of the year.
In the fourth, Shoemake singled and went to second on a throwing error. She stole third, then scored on an infield single by Kelley.
“Sara doesn’t hit it that hard, but she always makes something happen,’’ Nelson said.
Shoemake had a double and single for Ooltewah and Kelley added her two singles. Linley Gannon had a single in the second.
“I was pleased with our effort today,’’ Nelson said. “We had a little trouble with her (Lawrence County pitcher Allison Blackwood) changeup in the first inning, but we adjusted and did a good job.
“We’ll be OK at state if we get our bats going a little better, and you always need a little luck, too. We’ve got the pitching and our defense has been playing well. We’ve just got to step up our hitting a little more.’’
LINESCORE
Lawrence County………..000 000 0 – 0 3 2
Ooltewah…………………011 100 x – 3 6 1
Blackwood and Boyd; Thomas and Neil.
(E-mail Stan Crawley at wscrawley@earthlink.net)
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