If East Hamilton’s Haylee Blalock leading off the game by reaching on an error wasn’t an omen, then the wild pitch that sent her to second had to be.
The Lady Hurricanes helped themselves with an efficient version of “small ball” while Hixson was busy making miscues of every kind, and the result was a 14-3 East Hamilton victory in an opening-round game in the District 6-AA high school softball tournament at Warner Park.
The tournament will resume Monday with East Hamilton (9-20-2) playing top-seeded Central and Red Bank (12-10) playing East Ridge (8-12) at 5 p.m. Hixson (8-20-1) will be in one of the two losers-bracket games at 7.
Of the Lady Hurricanes’ 14 hits, five were on bunts and two other singles stayed in the infield. That doesn’t count the number of times other various bunts and choppers led to bobbles and errant throws.
“Our problem has been timing. We’ve had trouble with both of Hixson’s pitchers,” said East Hamilton coach Carol McCance, whose team lost 1-0 to the Lady Wildcats in the district regular season and tied them at 2 in a pool-play game in the Ooltewah tournament. “We had no choice. We had to go with our bunting game. We’ve really been working hard on it.”
In what Hixson coach Brian Bray summed up as the Lady Wildcats’ worst performance of the year, they made six errors in the first four innings and totaled eight. Between two pitchers there were seven walks and six wild pitches. They went without a passed ball or hitting a batter — until the seventh inning.
Adding to their woes, winning pitcher Maria Walshe, who doubled home Blalock in the first inning, limited them to one hit and no runs over the last five innings.
“We didn’t do anything right,” Bray said. “We couldn’t hit it, we couldn’t pitch it and we couldn’t catch it.”
Morgan Scruggs paced the Lady Hurricanes with a 4-for-5 game that included a two-run, inside-the-park home run. McKenzie Mayes was 3-for-4, picking up an RBI with a walk. Shelby Wade was 2-for-3 and scored twice and Blalock singled, walked and also scored after those.
Lauren Bray had two hits for the Lady Wildcats and was robbed of another by Kelsey Payne’s diving catch in left field in the third inning. Two of Hixson’s runs came on Meagan Dagnan’s single in the second.