Soddy Daisy baseball coach Jim Higgins is well aware of the difficulty of making a district tournament final as well as the prize for doing so: more baseball.
The 6-3A regular season champs punched a ticket to next week's Region tourney with a convincing 13-2 win to complete a two-game sweep of rival Hixson Thursday night in the semifinals.
"Two years in a row we fell short at this juncture and it hurts. It's such a good feeling to punch that ticket, and I'm really happy for these kids," said Higgins, who will play in a region tourney for the first time since his first year at the Trojan helm in 2019.
And then there is Signal Mountain, who has to plan vacations around the region tourney. The Eagles swept their semifinals last night against host Red Bank with a 9-3 victory to earn a tenth consecutive berth in the district finals.
"We base our whole season on getting ready for May when it counts," said Signal Mountain boss Josh Gandy, who has made the region tourney in all eight of the seasons the Eagles have been under his direction.
Soddy Daisy (29-6) will meet Signal Mountain (23-8) in the 6 o'clock championship at Red Bank's field and it should be a good one after the top two seeds split in the regular season. Neither program has to throw its ace to reach the finale as Signal's Ben Timblen and Soddy Daisy's Cooper Poe have yet to throw a pitch in the district and could match up if neither team decides to go in another direction. The Eagles beat the Trojans 5-0 and Soddy Daisy returned the favor with a 10-5 triumph in the season split.
Signal Mountain 9, Red Bank 3: The Eagles set the tone early with a five-run first that had a little bit of everything. Signal Mountain worked a pair of walks to open the game, bunted into an out at third, bunted for a base hit to load them and then got a two-out soft liner to left from Blake Woffard to make it 2-0. Max Rachel then lined a liner through the first baseman's outstretched glove for an RBI-double and came around to score on a dropped ball at first.
"The big first inning got us going for sure. We had a bunch of timely hits today and it started with the two-out one in the first," said Gandy.
"You can't give a team like that free stuff because they are going to get enough on their own. The first got us behind the eight-ball, but I was proud of the way we responded and got back in it," said Red Bank coach Matt Roberson, who has turned the Lions' program around in two short seasons.
Red Bank answered with three runs in its first at bat. Eric Hill led off with a single and Logan Denton put runners on the corners with his safety back up the middle. A perfect hit and run execution by Sean Brune plated Hill as Denton stole second and Brune hit a grounder where the vacated second baseman had been. A walk loaded the bases and Tay'veon Bonds worked a walk to drive in another run. Cordell Howard followed with an infield single before the Eagles were able to strand the bases full and stop the damage.
The Eagles responded, though, with three more in the second to make it 8-3 and Eagles' starter Carter Gayton pitched two perfect innings to get it into the fourth. An error and a hit by Jake Edmondson put runners on second and third for Barrett Anderson to deliver another two-out single to plate a run, and the Lions third error allowed the third run in.
"I thought Carter (Gayton) settled down after the first inning and got us some outs, but we had to make some plays out there. Red Bank battled to the end," admitted Gandy.
Red Bank's Denton threw up three scoreless innings after the rough start and the Lions added a run in the fourth and had another runner thrown out at the plate or it could have been an 8-5 game. The Lions opened the fourth with back-to-back singles by Bond and Howard and after a double steal, tried to steal a run after a dropped third strike at the plate. Instead it turned into a double play when Eagle catcher Brune threw down to first and Anderson was quick enough with the relay back home to nail Bond on a bang-bang play.
"That was a tough one. We are very aggressive and I thought he made it home before the tag. Tough break," said Roberson.
Hill followed the double play with a grounder that was misplayed to make it 8-3, but the momentum was gone. Edmondson came in to relieve Gayton and closed the door, going four hitless innings and retiring the final eight hitters. Signal added a run in the sixth after a Cash Keene single and wild pitch moved him to second in front of Anderson's dying liner to right.
Anderson, Wolfard and Rackel each had two hits and two RBI while Keene also added a pair of hits in an 11-hit attack. Howard had two of Red Bank's six hits.
The Lions end the season at 18-16, their first winning season since 2011 and the most wins since 2012 in Roberson's second year after inheriting a team that won just four games the year before he arrived.
"It hurts right now, but just super proud of the guys, especially the five seniors who bought into everything we are doing. They leave the program better off than they found it," said Roberson.
Soddy Daisy 13, Hixson 2: The Trojans and Wildcats were locked up in a battle befitting two programs who don't like one another, knotted at 2-2 heading into the sixth. Soddy Daisy had ridden the lively arm of Sai Vickers and his dynamite slider through the first three innings in which he allowed just one base runner. Hixson, meanwhile, made some nifty plays on the Trojans' aggressive base running and hung tough with the regular season champs.
The Trojans broke through with runs in the third and fourth innings for a 2-0 advantage after getting runners thrown out on the base paths in the first two innings to cut threats short. Troy James singled to open the third before an error moved him to second. A 6-4-3 double play got him to third and AJ Florio singled off the pitcher to get a two-out RBI. Poe worked a walk to open the fourth, and Gabe Ferguson singled to put runners on the corner. Another caught stealing got the first out but Gage Hardy delivered a laser to right for the RBI and 2-0 lead.
The Wildcats answered immediately, getting to Vickers for two runs. Cooper Bailey got the second of his three hits and a pair of errors set up Blayne Harbin's two-run single and it was knotted at 2-all.
The Trojans, though, sent 12 men to the plate in an eight-run sixth, banging out five hits to put it on ice. A walk, a sac bunt that was thrown away and a two-strike liner off the bat of Hardy got things going to push across the first two, and it was contagious. Brayden Maynor followed with a run-scoring single and two walks later Florio did his thing with a two-run single to center. Poe and Ferguson each added RBI knocks before the damage was done.
"We had some sloppy play, but the boys rallied up. We had some better at bats as the game went along and the middle of the lineup has been killing it of late. We got a mistake on their part, and these guys know an opportunity and how to take advantage of it," said Higgins of the big inning.
Vickers shut the door through six innings, striking out eight in the process and Taylor Hughes closed with a scoreless seventh.
"A lot of people say things like we saved pitching, but Vickers is a dude. He's got so much run on his pitches, just a really nice job. And Hughes shut it down, and that was important. We didn't have to say much to get them up for these guys. Just a really nice rivalry and I'm super proud of them. They can say they won all four games against them this year," said Higgins. "We were close last year, so getting the opportunity to continue to play more baseball is really appreciated when you get close but don't finish."
The Trojans lost on a walk off to Signal Mountain in last year's semis, giving up three in the bottom of the seventh to end their season.
The Trojans pounded out 12 hits with eight of the nine hitters getting at least one. Florio had three of the hits and four RBI while Ferguson and Hardy each had two. Bailey had three of Hixson's six hits.
The 29 wins for Soddy Daisy is its most since it won 30 in 2010.
Signal Mountain 530 001 0 -- 9 11 1
Red Bank 300 100 0 -- 4 6 4
Gayton, Edmondson (4) and Wilburn; Denton, Carter (6) and Brune.
Records: Signal Mountain 23-8; Red Bank 18-16.
Soddy Daisy 001 108 3 -- 13 12 2
Hixson 000 200 0 -- 2 6 3
Vickers, Hughes (7) and James; Barnard, Frazier (4), Harbin (5), Rucker (6) and Lott.
Records: Soddy Daisy 29-6; Hixson 19-14.
(Contact James Beach at 1134james@gmail,com)