District 6-AAA’s baseball powers that be are now the powers that were.
Top-seeded Soddy-Daisy and No. 2 seed Red Bank, who each swept 6-AAA rivals Ooltewah and Central during the regular season, were upended Friday in district openers. Soddy-Daisy lost to Central 4-2 and Red Bank fell 8-3 to Ooltewah.
Central rallied from a 2-2 tie in the sixth, scoring the go-ahead run on a balk and adding an insurance run on an RBI single by Preston Womack. Starting pitcher Jeff Frederick went the distance for his first win of the season.
It has been a long year for the Pounders, who picked up just their third win in 25 games.
“We beat Ooltewah in my first year when (first-round draft pick) Kyler Burke was there, and we beat Dobyns-Bennett last year when they were ranked, but this is a big win,” said Central coach Glen Carter, who has poured as much heart and soul into upgrading the team’s facilities as he has the team itself.
“There was a spell of 18-19 games without a win — games we could have won. The difference was all year we had played not to lose and tonight we played to win.”
Frederick did his part. Pitching in his 10th game, the junior pitched a five-hitter, striking out six while walking two.
“We have played tough teams this season, but tonight everybody was ready for it,” he said. “I’m kind of speechless, but we never lost the faith. We kept our heads up, and as long as we keep it together and play hard we have a chance for success.”
Four of the five hits he allowed came in the first two innings — three in the second when Soddy-Daisy countered Central’s 2-0 lead on RBI singles by Dakota Price and Bubba Haney.
Central made the most of its four hits off losing pitcher Andrew McWilliams, getting two in the first when the Pounders took a 2-0 lead and the other two in the sixth when they took the lead again.
Cody Moore led off with a single, stole second and moved to third on Alex Ferney’s sacrifice. Andrew Chadwick then reached on a dropped third strike when the catcher held the ball to keep Moore from scoring. However, Chadwick stole second and the attempt to get him sailed into center field, allowing Moore to score. Ronald Freeman then laced a single to right to score Chadwick.
In Central’s sixth, Chadwick reached on an error and moved to second on Freeman’s bunt single. Johnny Key sacrificed them over, and Chadwick scored on a balk before Ben Long’s single scored Freeman.
Though he was hitless, Chadwick scored two runs. The only Pounder with more than one hit was Freeman with a 2-for-3 night. Soddy-Daisy got a two-hit night from leadoff man Price. McWilliams, who struck out seven, gave up no earned runs.
The teams are scheduled to continue their best two-of-three series this afternoon.
In Red Bank’s game, Ooltewah knocked around Lions ace Brandon Ward, touching him for four solo home runs — shots by Jamie Gawthrop, Brady Reed, Zach Smith and Garrett Baugh — in their win. Ryne Shumaker was the Owls’ leading hitter with a 3-for-4 game. Winning pitcher Remo Tinti went six innings, scattering seven hits. Craig Baker homered and Ward doubled and singled for the Lions.
Ward Gossett is an assistant sports editor and writer for the Times Free Press. Ward has a long history in Chattanooga journalism. He actually wrote a bylined story for the Chattanooga News-Free Press as a third-grader. He Began working part-time there in 1968 and was hired full time in 1970. Ward now covers high school athletics, primarily football, wrestling and baseball and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling. Over a 40-year career, he has covered ...
