Lady Owls turn tables on Soddy-Daisy, force second final

What a difference a day makes.

Ooltewah's offense was stymied in the winners-bracket final of the District 5-AAA high school softball tournament by Soddy-Daisy relief pitcher Jordan Woodward, who came on with one out in the third inning and pitched hitless ball the rest of the way. But on Tuesday in the first game of the final, it was a different story.

Soddy-Daisy again started Shonna Penney in the pitching circle and she lasted into the fifth, when with a three-run lead she hit Addy Keylon and then gave up a single to Tiera Lemon that was misplayed in the outfield. Woodard then came in, but five batters later the Lady Owls had rallied and tied it on the way to a 5-3 victory.

The teams will play again today at Ooltewah at 6 p.m. for the championship. The district champion will play at home in next week's Region 3 semifinals scheduled for Monday. The loser will visit the District 6 champion.

Kayla Boseman greeted Woodward with a sacrifice fly. After Aubbie Collake walked, Mabry Carpenter hit a dribbler up the first-base line that turned into an RBI single. After Tyler Sullivan walked with the bases loaded to make it 3-3, Soddy-Daisy coach Wes Skiles brought Penney back into the game.

Skiles said it's often a gut feeling when making a pitching change. The idea is to slow momentum.

"It's almost like a timeout in basketball," Skiles said. "Last night it worked. Tonight it didn't."

Bailey Kennedy broke the tie with a second sacrifice fly in the inning. Shelby Sutton's run-scoring single in the sixth added the final run.

"That fifth run was big. They had Cameren coming up in the seventh and Brown," Ooltewah coach Jon Massey said of the Lady Trojans' Nos. 2 and 3 batters Cameren Swafford and Grayson Brown. "All they do is hit rockets. Their big first baseman (Macy Bryant) hit us hard the couple of games, too. They're very, very dangerous."

Skiles feels the same about Ooltewah (38-5), which beat McMinn County 15-7 in the losers-bracket final earlier in the day. Soddy-Daisy (27-9) won the winners-bracket final Monday 6-0.

"We knew three runs wasn't going to be enough," Skiles said of Tuesday's rematch. "They're explosive. Heck, I didn't know if six runs was going to be enought last night."

Lemon ended up 2-for-4 with a double for the Lady Owls.

Meagan Beasley was 2-f0r-3 for the Lady Trojans and Brown was 2-for-4 with an RBI.

Winning pitcher Boseman, who threw the last three innings of the losers-bracket final and earned a save, allowed six hits - but none in the last two innings.

Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him at twitter.com/KelleySmiddie.

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