OOLTEWAH — The Walker Valley softball squad is off to one of the best starts in program history and continued that success on the road Wednesday afternoon at East Hamilton.
Improving to 10-1 on the young campaign, the Feisty Fillies posted a 5-4 win over the Lady Hurricanes, who slip to 1-2.
Walker Valley will take a few days off before hosting Clinton Monday, traveling to McMinn County Tuesday for a District 5-4A battle and welcoming cross-county rival Bradley central Wednesday, at Larry Haney Field.
Veteran Feisty Fillies wrangler Lauren Limburg is thrilled that her girls are playing great softball this early in the season, saying she "can’t remember the last time her team got off to such a solid start.
“We got down early (Wednesday), but we just kept fighting back and that’s what I love about these girls. It was a back-and-forth game, but we just beat a really good East Hamilton team as we finally got things together.
“I thought 'Boogs' (Ryann Presswood) pitched a great game, but I’m so proud of how well we’re playing right now. We always want to play the best teams we can as that only helps us get better for tougher games down the road, but we just have to keep working to keep getting better,” Limburg concluded with a smile.
FEISTY FILLIES 5
LADY HURRICANES 4
Scoring two runs in the third and three more in the fourth was more than enough support for junior righty Presswood, who went the distance for the win. She improves to 9-1 on the season with 41 strikeouts in 50 innings pitched and has only handed out eight free passes, while posting a 0.88 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP.
Take away those two middle innings and East Hamilton was right in the middle of the fight.
Senior right-hander Ashlynn Watkins was a tough-luck loser, but she pitched well enough to win after allowing those five runs on seven hits. She also had six strikeouts and four walks.
East Hamilton coach Norma Nelson knew her team was facing a really good Walker Valley team. She also knows that they played toe-to-toe with those girls from Charleston and were within striking distance of possibly coming back for a big win.
“We had our chances and that’s all I wanted, but take away those two innings and it’s a different story,” the veteran coach stated.
“I’m pleased with how Ashlynn bounced back after those two bad innings as she only allowed seven hits and probably pitched well enough to win, but we know what we need to work on and we’ll keep getting better,” Nelson nodded.
East Hamilton took the early lead when Faith Wadley raced to third on a Walker Valley throwing error. Henley Apps followed with a single to drive her in for an early advantage in bottom of the first inning.
Watkins retired the first six hitters she faced before Brylie Davis led off the third with an infield single.
Watkins then retired the next two hitters and looked like she might escape further trouble before Karly Blackwell and Amy Benson ripped back-to-back RBI-singles to put Walker Valley up 2-1.
Bailey Poschke led off the East Hamilton third with a double and went to third on a single by Wadley before tying the game on another RBI-single from Apps.
East Hamilton had runners on base in every inning and left at least one runner stranded in all seven, but Presswood did a great job of making key pitches at critical moments to prevent the Lady Hurricanes from having bigger innings.
Walker Valley took the lead with three runs in the fourth with only one hit. The first run scored on East Hamilton’s second error of the inning, while the last two scored on bases loaded walks.
The Lady Canes kept chipping away and made things interesting with single runs in the fifth and sixth innings.
Watkins got a walk with one out in the seventh, but East Hamilton left her on first as Presswood struck out Yulai Woodruff for the second out, before getting Madeline Evans on a liner to first to end the game.
Evans was the leader for East Hamilton with three hits, including a leadoff double in the sixth. Wadley and Apps both had two hits while Alana Johnson drove in the last run in the sixth after Watkins had driven in the third with a single in the fifth.
Addison Woodall and Benson both had two hits for Walker Valley, with Benson also driving in a pair.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)
— Banner Sports Editor Joe Cannon contributed to this story.
