Ooltewah staged a miraculous comeback on the first weekend of the Tennessee high school baseball season to shock Boyd Buchanan with a 7-6 victory Saturday.
The Owls trailed 6-1 headed into their final at-bat in the bottom of the seventh and looked to be put away after the Buccaneers retired two of the first three batters.
The resilient rally began with an RBI single by Nick Sullivan, which was followed by a three-run blast to center by Harrison Mills to cut the deficit to 6-5. Gavin Williams then doubled and was brought home to tie the game on Austin Robinson’s single to left.
Robinson scored the winning run as he advanced to third on a wild pitch and sped home on an error by the catcher.
Sullivan also homered in the victory and drove in two runs.
Boyd Buchanan’s Cooper Jones went 3-for-3 with an RBI, while Perry Griffin went 2-for-4 with a homer. Brodie Lowe drove in three runs for the Bucs, Caden Henry had two hits and Griffin fired six innings of one-run ball.
Sale Creek 5, South Pittsburg 5: Sale Creek’s Camden Penny went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, and Garrett Pickett also went 2-for-3 with an RBI in the tie game. Jayden Mount drove in a pair of runs for South Pittsburg, while Jace Stone reached base three times and scored twice. Luke Rector also had two hits for the Pirates, whose Coy Hackney hit a solo home run. Jakob Elrod struck out four batters in two scoreless innings of relief for the Panthers.
Sale Creek 4, Greater Gwinnett Christian 1: Jakob Elrod dominated with 10 strikeouts in a complete game, and Gavin McGlocklin went 2-for-2 with a pair of RBIs. Drew Hillian had two hits and scored a run for the Panthers (4-0-1) in their win over the Georgia program.
Pace Academy 13, McCallie 2: Atlanta’s Pace scored 11 runs over the fifth and sixth innings to roll to the victory. McCallie’s Olin Johnson allowed one earned run in four innings and struck out five batters. Reece Jordan had the Blue Tornado’s lone hit.
Notre Dame 9, South Pittsburg 4: Fighting Irish senior Abraham Shull led the way to victory by going 3-for-3 with three RBIs. David Brownlee homered and Jacob Eargle and Braylon Hammond each drove in two runs in the win. South Pittsburg’s Jayden Mount and Austin Jackson each had two hits. Brownlee picked up the win, allowing one earned run and striking out seven in five innings.
SOFTBALL
Meigs County 2, Alcoa 1: Madylin Johnson drew a leadoff walk to begin the game and scored right after off a Kennedy Majors home run. Lainey Fitzgerald was a star in the pitching circle, striking out 11 batters in six innings of two-hit, one-run ball.
Meigs County 8, Shelbyville Central 0: Sierra Howard allowed one hit and struck out six in four innings, and she also had two hits along with Lainey Fitzgerald, who was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs. Kenzee Couture drove in a pair of runs as well.
Hixson 3, Meigs County 0: Zoie Sullivan had one of the game’s only two hits and drove in a run while striking out seven in four scoreless innings for the Lady Wildcats. Ryleigh Quarles also drove in a run as Hixson scored all three in the top of the third. Lainey Fitzgerald had Meigs’ lone hit and struck out the side in a perfect inning of relief.
Union County 4, McMinn County 1: Sadie Brazzell hit an RBI double in the defeat.
BOYS’ SOCCER
Baylor 1, Science Hill 0: Guig Gragnano scored off a cross from Jon Ryan Godbehere in the 46th minute. The Red Raiders (4-0) also got standout play from Jake Kellerhals, Mac Hickman, Eric Fossen, Aleksi Peltonen, Anthony Weekley and Zach Ubamadu.
Baylor 5, Father Ryan 2: Both teams scored a pair of goals in the first half, but the Red Raiders could not be contained after the break in Friday’s win at the Meet Me in the Middle tournament at the Siegel Soccer Complex. Gui Gragnano and Riley Shankle each scored two goals, with Shankle landing the go-ahead score in the 48th minute off a Jon Ryan Godbehere cross. Baylor also received standout performances from Aleksi Peltonen, Eric Fossen and Anthony Weekley, while Phelipe Spielman scored a goal and Nathan Andreotti and David Mitchell had assists.
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @PMacCoon.