Ooltewah, Central keep winning

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SYNC Night @ Travs' Game

SYNC sponsored the Arkansas Travelers baseball game Wednesday, July 25

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- The Lady Purple Pounders were getting soaked in the hotel pool. The Lady Owls were getting wet on a softball field just as extra innings were about to begin.

The Central and Ooltewah teams can both sleep in this morning. Both remain in the winners brackets of their respective state tournaments.

"We get to sleep in and rest for most of the day," said Central coach LeeAnne Shurette, whose Lady Pounders play in the Class AA winners' final. "Just being part of the winners bracket at this point is huge. It's a semifinal of a state championship."

Central defeated Creek Wood 4-0 in an afternoon game that began with a sprinkle. Ooltewah defeated Bearden 5-0 in a morning game, rested in the afternoon and then returned for a classic. The Lady Owls defeated Dickson County 3-2 in nine innings.

"I'm going to sleep until game time tomorrow," said freshman Kayla Boseman, who threw every pitch for Ooltewah on Wednesday and allowed just two runs in 16 innings. "I kept on pitching my pitches and throwing strikes."

Central pitcher Brooke Parrott had similar success before taking an early rest. She struck out seven and followed a home run by Samantha Scott in the third inning by racing around the bases. Parrott's single slipped under the right fielder's glove and she kept running until she touched home. Kerri Sylvester drove in the other two runs.

"Yeah, I was out of breath," Parrott said. "I wanted a win real bad."

Boseman and her teammates had similar sentiments in the morning and evening. The Lady Owls had little trouble with Bearden. Dickson County proved to me a more formidable opponent, almost dropping Ooltewah into the losers bracket and forcing an early-morning wake-up call.

Dickson County leadoff hitter Selena Crafton singled to open the sixth. She advanced to second on a passed ball and took third on a groundout. Then she came home on the second passed ball of the inning. Two batters later, a double put Ooltewah down 2-0.

"We've come back against really good teams before, like Jefferson County, Maryville and teams in our district," Ooltewah coach Jon Massey said. "So we knew we could do it."

They did.

Sophomore Jadyn Raschke drove in Mabry Carpenter and Aubrey Collake to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth.

"Our small ball -- getting on and getting over -- worked," Massey said. "And Jadyn is coming through."

The teams advanced to the bottom of the ninth, which began with a Shelby Sutton single. Senior Allie Jones followed with a single. Then Boseman hit a grounder to the shortstop, who tried to beat Sutton to third. The defensive effort didn't pan out.

Two batters later -- and after four hard-hit balls out of play to the left -- Collake dropped the ball right in front of the right fielder to end the game.

"My freshman year, I saw the potential this team had and I'd watch the seniors talk about when they won big things," Jones said. "We've been looked at as a team that can't get over the district hump the last couple years. I'm glad to be part of a team that takes it to state semifinals."

Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP.

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Concert for "Safe Places"

a concert to benefit "Safe Places" was held at the Governor's Mansion Grand Hall Tuesday night.