The Soddy Daisy Lady Trojans breezed through the District 6-AAA schedule to totally dominate the regular season in softball and they’re hoping to do the same in the district tournament being played at Signal Mountain.
The top-seeded Lady Trojans run-ruled every district opponent during the regular season and that trend continued Saturday afternoon with a 15-0, five-inning win over fourth-seed Signal Mountain.
Soddy Daisy coach Kelsey Nunley-Moore likes the way her team is playing at this point and she just hopes to keep the pressure on until it’s over.
“This was a do or die game for us, so it’s important that we won,” the veteran coach said after her team improved to 18-10-1 overall.
“We had a little miscommunication at times, but overall, I thought it was a well-played game. It was nice to see everyone contribute and even the two I put in to pinch-hit both got hits, so I’m happy about that. And I’ll be the first to admit that I’ll be disappointed if we don’t run-rule everyone in this tournament,” she said matter of factly.
It’s been a learning process for first-year Signal Mountain coach Kristen Mazza and her group of young Eagles. She didn’t appear to be too surprised at the results of Saturday’s game, but she just wants her girls to keep battling.
“We just have to keep our heads up because Soddy Daisy is a really good team,” Mazza said after her game ended.
“We hit a few balls hard, but just couldn’t find holes. All we can do is play in the moment and forget about the previous play, but we just want to keep playing as hard as we can as we continue to get better,” she added.
Losing pitcher May Collier reached on an infield hit to lead off the Signal Mountain second and Hannah Gill reached on a two-out infield hit in the same inning, but winning pitcher Izzy Webb avoided further trouble with a grounder to second and she breezed the rest of the way by retiring the next nine Lady Eagles in order.
Meanwhile, Soddy’s bats only produced one run in the first before adding six in the second and four in both the third and fourth innings.
Skylar Gooden led off the Lady Trojan first with a triple and scored on a groundout by Lilly Blaylock, but it was all Soddy Daisy from that point on.
Macie Diehl, the ninth hitter in Soddy’s lineup, finished the game with two hits and four runs batted in while scoring three times as she walked in her time time at the plate.
She had a two-run triple in the second before ripping a two-run single in the fourth.
Blaylock added a two-run single in the second while Abby Faires had the big blow in the third with a three-run double. Emmie Noles drove in run in the fourth with a double while Gooden drove in the last run with a bunt.
The Lady Trojans finished the game with 14 hits. Gooden led the way with three while Blaylock, Faires and Diehl all had two apiece.
Webb went the distance and got the win as she improved to 9-1 as she had four strikeout and no walks.
Third-seeded Central advanced with a 12-0 win over East Ridge in Saturday’s first game while second-seeded Hixson run-ruled the Lady Pounders by a 17-0 final in the last game. Action will continue on Monday with Soddy Daisy facing Hixson at 5 with the losers bracket game to follow. The championship game will be played on Wednesday at 5.
The All-District team was also announced between games on Saturday.
ALL-DISTRICT SELECTIONS: Abby Faires, Skylar Gooden, Hannah Patterson, Brooke Raines, Lilly Blaylock, Regan Rowan (Soddy Daisy); Allison McDaniel, Meghan Kernea, Gracie Quarles, Lexi Turner, Ryleigh Quarles (Hixson); Emma Lakin, Kennedy Saab, Amiyah Williams and coach of the year Blake Wachtveitl (Central); Donnya Woodruff, Rickya Myles (Red Bank); Sarah Corn, May Collier (Signal Mountain) and Caitlee Arms, Morgan Ezell (East Ridge).
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN 000 00 – 0 2 0
SODDY DAISY 164 4x – 15 14 1
Collier and Dodson; Webb and Blue.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)