Hannah Wood leads Red Bank Lionettes past East Ridge

Staff Photo by Doug Strickland/Chattanooga Times Free Press - Gloves lie in a pile in the Lady Trojan Invitational softball tournament Friday, March 29, 2013, in Soddy-Daisy, Tenn.
Staff Photo by Doug Strickland/Chattanooga Times Free Press - Gloves lie in a pile in the Lady Trojan Invitational softball tournament Friday, March 29, 2013, in Soddy-Daisy, Tenn.

Red Bank junior Hannah Wood starred at the plate and in the pitching circle - with plenty of help from her defense - as the Lionettes earned an important District 6-AA win Thursday afternoon by beating visiting East Ridge 7-1.

Backed by error-free fielding, Wood improved to 5-0 and went 3-for-3 with two RBIs and scored a run for the Lionettes (5-0, 2-0), who turned several potential base hits into outs.

"We lost a couple of seniors from last year," Red Bank assistant coach Richard Long said. "A lot of these kids are juniors, and they've started since they were freshmen and they're solid defensively."

Long attributed much of the defensive success to finally having girls back to playing their natural positions after several injuries caused shuffling in the field last season.

The Lady Pioneers, who fell to 1-1 in district play, did not enjoy the same defensive success.

The Lionettes did not strike out and consistently hit the ball hard, and East Ridge committed four errors, three of which came with two outs in the fourth inning.

A leadoff double by Red Bank sophomore Casey Stewart looked like it would be wasted after Lady Pioneers pitcher Sabrina Thompson got the next two hitters to ground out, but hard-hit balls led to the fielding miscues and the Lionettes scored three runs to extend their lead to 5-1.

"We didn't execute when we should have, and they did," East Ridge coach Kerilyn Mongar said. "We made crucial errors on routine plays. That was the difference in the game."

Kati Kennedy's first-inning RBI single gave East Ridge the game's first lead. The Lady Pioneers loaded the bases in the third and fifth innings, but Wood escaped the jam each time, once on Lionettes shortstop Hanna Land's dazzling catch of a line drive.

"I thought Hannah did a great job pitching," Long said. "Her location as far as keeping hitters off balance, I think she did a great job with that."

The first four hitters for Red Bank led the way, going 7-for-14 with six runs scored and four RBIs.

Both teams will compete in the Jim Frost Invitational in Ooltewah starting today at the Summit of Softball Complex.

Upcoming Events