Ooltewah overwhelmed East Hamilton in the hits column Tuesday in the season-opening high school softball game for both teams. But since the runs column is the only one that matters, it took the Lady Owls some extra effort to dispose of their neighborhood rival.
Ultimately, a single up the middle by Mabry Carpenter in the bottom of the 10th inning enabled Ooltewah to edge the Lady Hurricanes 6-5 in the District 5-AAA game.
The Lady Owls had at least one hit in every inning except the ninth. Mabry's hit was their 15th.
Meanwhile, sophomore right-hander Kayla Boseman seemed firmly in control with a 2-0 lead after two innings and a string of six consecutive strikeouts over the first three innings. East Hamilton's first hit was a single leading off the fourth by Miracle Gorman, who stole second and eventually scored on a passed ball.
The Lady Owls stretched their lead with a three-run fourth, capped by Aubbie Collake's two-RBI double to center.
East Hamilton's second hit came off the bat of Syndie Rogers with two out in the sixth. It came after Boseman hit two batters and walked one in between, and it bounced off the top of the scoreboard behind the fence in left field.
"That gave us a huge, huge lift," East Hamilton coach Norma Nelson said of Rogers' tying grand slam.
However, that would be the Lady Hurricanes' final hit, too. Boseman's two-hitter featured 14 strikeouts but also included four walks and the hit batsmen.
"She found herself after that," Ooltewah coach Jon Massey said of Boseman giving up the home run, "but that was a big blow. We let them hang around."
Ooltewah, which returns most of its players from last year's state-tournament team, ended up stranding 12 through eight innings. The total ended up 15, considering the bases were loaded when Carpenter delivered in the 10th.
"Hitters have got to know when the count is 2-0, 3-1, you've got to look for something you can drive," Massey said. "We've got to figure things out. And we will.
"We hit way too many fly balls. I haven't really been happy, I won't say with the effort, but the mindset. The girls are thinking way too much about last year. Last year was gone long ago. We've got a lot of potential, but we don't do the things we need to do. Mabry came through, and really, that's all that matters."
Despite the big differential in hits, Nelson was particularly pleased with her team's defense when Ooltewah had runners aboard.
"We played about as well as we could play," Nelson said. "We go down 5-1 but the kids didn't give up. They showed a lot of heart, a lot of guts. I'm proud of them."
Boseman went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored for the Lady Owls. Collake finished 3-for-5.
Marissa Forrester was 2-for-4 with a double. Tyler Sullivan was 2-for-5 with a run scored and Carpenter ended 2-for-6 with a double.
Contact Kelley Smiddie at sports@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter.com @KelleySmiddie.