Host Soddy-Daisy and GPS were the early pace-setters during pool play Friday in the 20th Lady Trojan Invitational high school softball tournament at Soddy Lake Kids’ Park.
Based on pool-play results, teams will be placed in Gold and Silver brackets for today’s single-elimination play, which begins at 9 a.m. Both championship games are set to start at 6.
Soddy-Daisy outscored four opponents 34-3. The Lady Trojans scored at least five runs in one inning in each of their last three games.
“We can be rocking along and all of a sudden just explode,” Soddy-Daisy coach Clifford Kirk said. “It’s been that way all season.”
The Class AAA power started its day with a matchup against Grace Academy, an unbeaten Class A team.
The Lady Trojans managed to touch Lady Golden Eagles left-hander Lacye Walker for six hits, including Mariam Wood’s inside-the-park home run leading off the top of the seventh that made it 3-0. Three of Walker’s six walks came when Soddy-Daisy scored twice in the second.
“I thought we hit the ball well,” Kirk said. “We probably hit the ball better off them than most people have. We tried to stay off the bad pitches and wait and hit something good. Then we made a couple of errors and they jumped back in it.”
Kaitlyn Eldridge singled in a run one out after the miscues, and Jessie Parker’s groundout drove in another. Winning pitcher Kelsey Nunley ended it with the tying run on second with the last of her seven strikeouts.
Perhaps the biggest news of the day was that Marion County’s second-inning run against the Lady Trojans’ Tori Denayer was the first earned run they’ve allowed while compiling a 16-1 record. Soddy-Daisy’s Brooke Ward went 4-for-4 in that game and joined an exclusive club by hitting three triples.
GPS outscored its three opponents 34-8.
“We scored a lot of runs,” GPS coach Susan Crownover said. “To hit the ball the way we did was good. We’re still shuffling our lineup a little bit because of the people we’ve had in and out with injuries.”
Tory Lewis, who recently returned from injury, and Madison Boyd set the stage for the Bruisers’ sluggers. Each went 8-for-12. Lewis scored eight runs and Boyd scored seven.
“We were flat at times, but we had a good day I’d say,” Crownover said. “To be 3-0 is a good place to be.”
Central played Creek Wood and Bledsoe County played late games in matchups of 2-0 teams. Brentwood High, also 2-0, played Bradley Central in a late game.