Soddy-Daisy avenged its lone District 6-3A regular-season loss in a big way Monday night to punch its ticket to the tournament championship game.
The ping of the Lady Trojans bats echoed throughout their 15-4 district tournament semifinal win over East Hamilton as Kelsey Nunley’s team set a season high for runs scored as well as hits with 17.
After sophomore Skylar Gooden was hit by a pitch to start the game, fellow second-year standout Abby Faires wasted no time as she launched a no-doubt two-run blast over the left field fence for her first home run of the season.
Reagan Rowan went 4-for-4 with three doubles and also delivered her 11th double-digit strikeout performance of the season. Soddy-Daisy’s junior right-hander has asserted herself as one of the top pitchers in the area this season, including complete game shutout victories over Baylor and Silverdale Baptist.
“We are really good in our lineup,” Rowan said. “We are stacked. We have Tatum (Massengale), Abby and Skylar who set us up so well at the top of the lineup. All the way down we are good. Everyone is capable of hitting home runs or even putting a bunt down. Tonight was a big for us since East Hamilton beat us by one run at home in our only other matchup this season.”
Soddy-Daisy improved to 26-5-1 overall and extended its win streak to nine games, while winning 13 of its last 14. Meanwhile, East Hamilton fell to 22-8 overall and will have to play Hixson in an elimination game Tuesday with the winner advancing to the 7 p.m. championghip game against Soddy-Daisy at Red Bank.
Sophomore Hannah Patterson also delivered a two-run bomb as one of eight extra-base hits for the Lady Trojans, who have yet to lose in the double-elimination district tournament.
“Our girls expect to make it to Murfreesboro,” said Coach Nunley, whose team won 35 games last year to reach the state tournament. “Since October that’s what we have said we are here to do. Last year being able to jump over the hoop and get to state was big. We know what it’s like to be there and believe we can get there even more.”
With a season-best showing from their offense, the Lady Trojans once again appear to be hitting their stride at the right time as they look to challenge for the ninth state championship in program history.
“We attacked the right pitches and stayed extremely disciplined at the plate tonight,” Nunley said. “We made them come to us and throw it over the plate. It was awesome to see our girls go out there and put up a dominant performance.”
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com.