Class AA at Starplex No. 2
CHATTANOOGA CHRISTIAN 7, WESTVIEW 3
CCS 130 200 1 — 7 11 2
Westview 010 000 2 — 3 7 1
WP: Jennifer Long, 6 Ks, 0 BB. LP: Shanna Chappell. HR: Jennifer O’Dell (CCS). 2B: Laura Curtis, O’Dell (CCS); Mckenzie Norris (W). Highlights: O’Dell 3-3, 2 RBIs, 3 runs; Curtis 3-4, 3 RBIs, run (CCS); Norris 2-3, RBI (W). Record: CCS 23-9.
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Chattanooga Christian was ready for its game Wednesday morning in the Class AA high school softball state tournament at Starplex No. 2. Senior Jennifer O’Dell made sure of it.
O’Dell not only put the Lady Chargers ahead with her first swing, she added a single and double before CCS completed a 7-3 victory Westview.
CCS (23-9) plays Covington (35-3) today at 11 a.m. EDT in a losers-bracket quarterfinal.
It didn’t take long for O’Dell to have an impact. Actually, it couldn’t have happened any quicker.
“Anytime you start a game with a leadoff home run on the first pitch, it sets the tone,” CCS coach Emily Pensinger said. “She is one we’ve seen so much improvement in over the course of the season. She now has four home runs in her career, and they’ve all come in postseason.”
Neither could O’Dell’s approach have been any simpler.
“Anything close, hit it,” O’Dell said of what she was thinking when she stepped into the batter’s box in the top of the first. “We did not want to go home. We knew we had to hit today.”
O’Dell drove in the Lady Chargers’ second run, too, with her single in the second inning. Courtney Hitchcock’s sacrifice fly and a run-scoring double by Laura Curtis increased the lead to 4-0.
O’Dell scored her third run of the game on a two-run single by Curtis in the fourth. She and Chelsea Sims had each reached on walks and advanced on a groundout.
Westview pushed across two runs in the bottom of the seventh against winning pitcher Jennifer Long, who had a six-run cushion with three outs to go thanks to Shelby Morgan’s RBI single to center in the top of the inning. Long, one of the team’s seven seniors, did not give up a walk and had six strikeouts.
“We’re at a point where a loss ends your season, but for us it’s been that way since the district tournament,” Pensinger said of the single-elimination format District 6 went to because of threats of rain the week it was held. “The pressure is there, but it doesn’t seem to bother them. They’re seniors and they believe in themselves.”
Kelley Smiddie is a sports writer who has worked at the Times Free Press for 12 years. He covers high school sports and softball. Kelley’s hometown is Chattanooga, and he graduated from Brainerd High School and graduated Chattanooga State and UTC. Contact Kelley at 423-757-6653 or ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com.
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