Ooltewah’s ticking timebomb of an offense was fairly dormant through the first four innings of Wednesday’s District 5-AAA high school softball game at Soddy-Daisy. Then one pitch in a certain situation of a tie game could’ve tipped the balance either direction.
Thanks to Mabry Carpenter’s lined shot down the left-field line, things tipped the Lady Owls’ way and just kept on going.
A five-run fifth inning – along with Carpenter tacking on a two-run homer in her next at-bat – powered Ooltewah into sole possession of first place in the district standings with an 8-1 victory over the Lady Trojans.
“We’re on top right now,” said Ooltewah coach Jon Massey, whose team improved to 26-4 overall and 6-0 in the district. “But every day is a new day. We’re trying to work toward May. Then you start all over. There are times we can do things a lot better.”
Until the fifth, the Lady Owls’ only run was in the first, and their only hit that inning was an infield single when Kayla Boseman was called safe on a close play. Carpenter walked that inning, which started with Tiera Lemon getting hit by a pitch. Lemon scored when Tyler Sullivan was plunked with the bases loaded and two outs.
After that, Soddy-Daisy starter Shonna Penney retired 10 consecutive batters. Then one-out singles by Lemon, Shelby Sutton and Boseman loaded the bases.
A strikeout kept the game 1-1 and brought Carpenter to the plate. Then, with a full count and the runners off with the pitch, her double cleared the bases.
“That’s a good team; good pitcher,” Massey said of the Lady Trojans (15-3, 4-1). “Two straight innings we went up there and made outs on the first two pitches. We planned to be aggressive. She’s going to throw strikes. But we wanted to put the bat on the ball hard instead of hitting little bloopers. Finally we kind of ‘hit them where they ain’t.’ Our attention, our mental focus was really good today.
“They don’t lose many up here. They don’t lose many anywhere.”
Sullivan followed Carpenter with an RBI double and, after a pitching change, Marissa Forrester greeted reliever Jordan Woodward with a run-scoring single.
“She did a great job,” Soddy-Daisy coach Wes Skiles said of Penney’s outing. “It was my fault. I left her out there too long. I’ll take responsibility for that. She did exactly what we needed her to do. She kept it close. She did a tremendous job. By the time I put Jordan in, they already had momentum.”
Boseman picked up the pitching victory. The run she allowed was a home run to left-center field in the third by Alexis Trimiar, who finished 2-for-4 with a double. Boseman gave up five hits and three walks while striking out 11.
Trimiar almost had a second home run, which would’ve been a two-run shot. But left fielder Bailey Kennedy made a catch above the top of the fence for the game’s final out.
“I think that last play of the game says a lot, too,” Skiles said. “It just wasn’t our day. I’m not saying the home run would’ve changed anything by any means. It just lets you know how our day went.”
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.