Soddy-Daisy Lady Trojans beat top-seeded Lady Owls, 6-4

Soddy-Daisy third baseman Aminah Wood steps on the bag to force Ooltewah's Tiera Lemon out and throws to first to complete the double play Monday, May 8, 2017 at Walker Valley High School.
Soddy-Daisy third baseman Aminah Wood steps on the bag to force Ooltewah's Tiera Lemon out and throws to first to complete the double play Monday, May 8, 2017 at Walker Valley High School.
photo Ooltewah's Kayla Boseman pitches against Soddy-Daisy Monday, May 8, 2017 at Walker Valley High School.

CLEVELAND, Tenn. - Soddy-Daisy used three intentional walks over the course of Monday's District 5-AAA high school softball winners-bracket final at Walker Valley. Each time the Lady Trojans escaped the inning without a run scoring.

In the top of the eighth Soddy-Daisy's hottest hitter, Alexis Trimiar, came to bat with two on and first base open, but Ooltewah chose to pitch to her. Trimiar's fourth double of the game drove in both runners and the Lady Trojans held on and defeated the Lady Owls 6-4.

Soddy-Daisy (29-12) advances to the championship game tonight at 7 at Walker Valley. Ooltewah (28-6) will play McMinn County, a team it beat 8-0 on Sunday, in the losers-bracket final at 5. Should a second championship game need to be played, it would be Wednesday at 6.

The Lady Owls were the district regular-season champion and beat second-seeded Soddy-Daisy 11-0 on April 13 and 12-2 on April 25.

"It's hard to beat a good team three times," Ooltewah coach Jon Massey said. "That's what we were up against. We knew they would be focused. They were aggressive early. They'll be aggressive early tomorrow. We just hope it's against us."

Soddy-Daisy coach Travis Hale said he felt like his team gained momentum by winning 6-1 on Sunday over a Walker Valley team that finished its season 22-13. He also admitted there was a pride factor after getting mercy-ruled by Ooltewah twice .

"They came in ready to play," Hale said of his players. "They wanted the tables turned this time."

Trimiar batted in the leadoff spot, and her first double got things going in the top of the first inning. She was sacrificed to third and scored on Cameren Swafford's groundout.

She also scored after her next two doubles, too, then delivered her tiebreaking hit down the left-field line after Kaylin Fugatt doubled, Hailey Woodcock reached on a bunt single and Breanna Britton sacrificed her into scoring position. Massey said he considered walking Trimiar in that spot, and there were other occasions during the game he thought about calling for a walk, but he said pitcher Kayla Boseman wanted to go after her.

Boseman is also the Lady Owls' top slugger and was the recipient of two of Soddy-Daisy's intentional walks.

"That's just respect for Boseman's bat," Hale said. "We hadn't stopped her all year. I think you can throw it in the left-handed batter's box and she'll still tattoo it."

Stephanie Blevins got the pitching win, limiting Ooltewah's potent offense to four hits and two unearned runs in the first five innings. The Lady Owls tied it with two runs in the sixth and threatened in both the seventh and eighth. Shonna Penney came in to pitch with one out in the eighth, and although Ooltewah loaded the bases she got out of the jam with a game-ending popout and earned the save.

Tiera Lemon went 3-for-5 with an RBI for the Lady Owls. Jadyn Raschke was 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored.

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

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