Having graduated one full-time starter off a softball team that finished third in the TSSAA state tournament last spring, Ooltewah entered the 2016 season with big plans for late May. But the Lady Owls' first goal along the way was to win the District 5-AAA regular season, something they accomplished Tuesday at Ooltewah.
Much like the first time Ooltewah played Soddy-Daisy in a district game this season, the Lady Owls broke the game open late. This time they tacked on three runs in the sixth inning and defeated the Lady Trojans 6-0.
Ooltewah coach Jon Massey said he talked with the team in January about the goals for the season. Earning the top seeding for the district tournament means getting a bye May 6, the day the tournament starts. Only the champion gets that extra day of rest before action hits full swing at Ooltewah the next day.
"We don't want any excuses," Massey said. "We want to be rested and ready to go. They've been playing hard. As long as you play hard, that gives you a chance to win. We feel good about the way we're swinging the bat."
And why not? Of the eight hits Ooltewah (31-4, 11-0) managed off three Soddy-Daisy pitchers, three left the park.
adyn Raschke and Aubbie Collake hit solo shots to center field in the second and fifth innings. Raschke also picked up an RBI in the third when she hit into a force play.
Addy Keylon, who had walked and advanced to third on Tiera Lemon's double, scored the first of the runs in the sixth when a return throw from catcher to pitcher went awry. Kayla Boseman followed with a two-run blast to left-center.
"We hit three home runs," Massey said, "but waiting around for those can sometimes come back and bite you. I think we can do a good job of playing small ball. We just haven't had to do that a whole lot."
Boseman was also the winning pitcher. She gave up four hits, all singles, walked two and hit one.
Two Lady Trojans advanced as far as third base, and two others reached second. But some of Boseman's 14 strikeouts helped leave those runners stranded.
Boseman (12-2) has been the ace of Ooltewah's staff. But Massey has pitched four others at various times this season with the hope of having her primed for postseason.
"That's by design," Massey said of pitching Boseman in fewer than half of Ooltewah's games. "We used her up a little bit last year. We're confident if we have to pitch Kayla on back-to-back days. If we've got to do that, then we've got to do that. We feel comfortable with that."
Despite the loss, Soddy-Daisy (22-7, 9-3) will be the No. 2-seeded team in the district tournament.
"I felt like the pitchers did their jobs," said coach Wes Skiles, whose Lady Trojans surrendered five runs in the fifth in an 8-1 loss to Ooltewah on April 13. "We've got to score runs, period. It doesn't matter if it's 1-0 or 6-0. We've got to score runs. We've got to put the ball in play more.
"She's a great pitcher. She keeps it around the plate. We've got to put the bat on it. If you can score for your pitcher. it gives them a little momentum. They start pressing a little bit if they don't have any runs."
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfree press.com. Follow him at twitter.com/KelleySmiddie.