Entering Tuesday’s baseball game at Soddy-Daisy, Walker Valley was hoping to extend a trend within District 5-AAA.
Soddy-Daisy, which split with district rival Cleveland last week, was having none of it and posted a 6-4 victory to improve its district record to 7-1.
Walker Valley had lost the first game in each of its first three two-game league sets but had come back every time to salvage a split, including two games with district leader Ooltewah.
Soddy-Daisy rallied after giving up two first-inning runs and limited the Mustangs to two more runs, both in the seventh inning. The win boosted the Trojans’ overall record to 17-2.
Walker Valley’s Jared Koenig and Dustin Stowers worked Trojans starter Adam Hodges for walks and came around to score, Koenig on a William Zierenberg groundout and Stowers on an error. The Mustangs first two hitters in the seventh, Brandon Sajac and Zierenberg, reached after being hit and wound up scoring on an error and Corey Stuman’s groundout.
“You walk two guys and they’re going to score,” Soddy-Daisy coach Jared Hensley said. “It’s baseball — like sitting back on a grounder when you know if you do it’s going to take a bad hop.”
In the second through sixth innings, Hodges and reliever L.J. Rowden kept the Mustangs at bay.
“Hodges didn’t have his A-plus game but he battled,” Hensley said. “And Rowden did a fantastic job coming in and getting out of a bases-loaded jam.”
Rowden, a lefty, entered the game in the fourth and got a fielder’s choice for out one and then left fielder James Fowlkes charged a fly for out No. 2 and then nailed a runner who had tagged up at the plate. Rowden also stranded runners on second and third in the fifth before getting a 1-2-3 sixth inning.
Ryan Johnson came on in the seventh and hit two Mustangs, and both scored with two outs. He got the final out when third baseman Blake Stewart snagged a sizzling line drive off the bat of Josh Lawson, who already had delivered two singles.
The Trojans were hitting the ball, but their run production was off. They had 12 hits but stranded nine runners (eight in scoring position).
“We didn’t score in bunches like we did Monday but we executed, and Dalton Rogers stepped up with some great at-bats,” Hensley said.
Rogers, the Trojans’ designated hitter, went 4-for-4 with three RBIs and two stolen bases. Zach Stephens had a solo home run in a 2-for-4 night, and Hayden Clark picked up a big RBI in the fifth on a perfectly executed squeeze bunt.
Soddy-Daisy and Ooltewah will play Monday and Tuesday. The Trojans will play Bradley Central the following week.
“It only gets tougher from here,” Hensley said. “We have to make sure we’re focused, because we’ll be facing some really good pitching.”