Natalie Pruitt pitches for Walker Valley in the game against Ooltewah Tuesday, March 28, 2017 at Walker Valley High School.
Ooltewah's Hadley Morrow pitches against Walker Valley Tuesday, March 28, 2017, at Walker Valley High School.
CLEVELAND. Tenn. - Ooltewah High School's softball offense was like a ticking timebomb that finally went off in the seventh inning Tuesday at Walker Valley.
The Lady Owls came back from spring break and resumed play Monday, only to be limited to one wind-aided hit in a loss to Central and pitcher Brooke Parrott. A day later Ooltewah managed a run here and there before ultimately breaking through with a seven-run seventh inning and defeated the Lady Mustangs 10-3 in a District 5-AAA game.
Walker Valley scored a run in the bottom of the first inning and, after the Lady Owls tied it in the top of third, retook the lead with a run in the bottom of the inning. Ooltewah (3-1, 1-0) went ahead the inning before the big uprising when Cheyenne Sales followed Mabry Carpenter's leadoff double with a blast over the fence in left-center.
"We got a very needed and timely long home run from Cheyenne Sales," Ooltewah coach Jon Massey said. "She's a sophomore who's very strong. Once that happened, we kind of started rolling a little bit. It just took a while."
Massey credited Central's Parrott, who will play at Tennessee Tech next season, as being "one of the best pitchers in the state." But he didn't like his team's repeated sluggish efforts at the plate Monday.
"We had a meeting today and I told them, 'Our performance today, given what happened yesterday, will kind of define us,'" Massey said. "We competed, even though we were down 1-0 and 2-1.
"We've got to find the right mix. We really need to play this weekend," Massey added, referring to the Jim Frost Ooltewah Invitational his team will be hosting at The Summit of Softball Complex on Friday and Saturday.
It was Lady Mustangs freshman left-hander Natalie Pruitt who kept the Lady Owls' offense supressed for five innings Tuesday. Kayla Boseman, also the winning pitcher in relief, and Aubbie Collake had homers in Ooltewah's big inning with Boseman's being a three-run shot.
"Natalie pitched really well for a freshman coming out against a state-tournament(-level) team in Ooltewah," Walker Valley coach Lauren Limburg said. "I think she did a great job. I'm very, very proud of her. They have a great team. They've got hitters one through nine. Their bats came alive. Sometimes you just have to tip your hat."
Tiera Lemon was 4-for-5 for Ooltewah, including two singles in the seventh - the last driving in two runs. Sales, Collake and Carpenter were each 2-for-4.
Kaylee Hughes and Laney Harris were each 2-for-3 for Walker Valley (6-4, 2-1), which is scheduled to complete a district game today at East Hamilton that was suspended by rain Monday. Hughes drove in the third-inning run, Riley Suits singled in the first run and Bailey Smith hit a sacrifice fly after the Lady Mustangs loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh.
"I'm so proud of the energy and effort," Limburg said. "We played good, solid defense. We kept fighting the entire game. We scored a run that last inning.
"If you lose, you've got to learn something. I think we learned a lot about ourselves and our unwillingness to give up."
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.