Team Tennessee had dominant pitching Tuesday in the 21st Tennessee-Georgia All-Star Classic softball doubleheader at Frost Stadium. The Georgia team failed to produce an earned run all night off four pitchers, and Tennessee won both ends of the Classic, 9-1 and 8-0, both in six innings.
As far as the starters, GPS right-hander and Duke signee Shelby Walters pitched well in the first game. Meigs County right-hander and Tennessee signee Ashley Rogers not only was better in the second game, she was perfect.
"It was a lot of fun," said Rogers, who drove in the first run in her pitching win with a first-inning sacrifice fly. "I'm sure glad I got to wear my high school uniform one last time."
Rogers, selected the Classic's most valuable player, threw five perfect innings in the nightcap with 10 strikeouts. And her outfielders could've taken those five innings off.
"You always want to take it seriously when you're competing," Rogers said. "But having fun and playing with your friends was the main thing."
East Hamilton's Sydni Rogers, a Shorter signee, pitched a clean sixth for Tennessee. That ended up completing the perfect game once Red Bank's Hannah Wood's RBI single in the bottom of the inning walked things off by the mercy rule.
Walters, who singled in two runs right after Rogers' sac fly in the second game, was selected Tennessee's player of the night. She pitched four innings in the opener and allowed three hits without a walk and totaled nine strikeouts.
Gracey Kruze, a University of Tennessee at Chattanooga-bound player from Gordon Lee, was 2-for-3 with a double in the first game and scored Georgia's unearned run on a passed ball.
Wood, a Berry College recruit, finished the opener with two shutout innings, allowing one hit and no walks. Earlier she contributed a two-RBI double in a four-run second inning, and with a three-run homer in the fifth inning of the nightcap she finished the night with six RBIs.
Another with a big offensive night for Tennessee was Ooltewah's Ally Chernak, who has signed with East Tennessee State. She was 3-for-3 with an RBI in the two games and scored three runs.
The Tennessee team was coached by Silverdale Baptist Academy's Tim Couch, who had guided the Lady Seahawks to the school's first TSSAA state title this spring. He said he had been involved with a couple of Tennessee-Georgia all-star football games before, but this was his first time coaching in the softball series.
"It was easy," Couch said. "You have about a one-hour talk with them and then tell them to go play. You let them do what they do. These are a lot of really good kids, and they're really good players on top of that."
The Georgia player of the night was Ringgold's Kaylee Womack. The University of North Georgia signee singled in her first at-bat but mainly was recognized for coming up with six putouts and three assists at third base, including turning a lineout into a double play.
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.