Little things pace Owls in 5-AAA baseball win
CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Ooltewah cleanly handled 15 fielding opportunities. The Owls also turned a crucial double play, and catcher Andy Reed threw out a pair of runners.
It was the little things that led to their 2-0 victory against East Hamilton on Sunday at Walker Valley in the opening game of their bestof-three District 5-AAA semifinal series.
“That’s about how our games go,” Ooltewah coach Brian Hitchcox said. “We beat those guys 3-2 and 5-3 in the regular season. If we’re playing well, we’re going to play low-scoring games.
“We have to execute and make big pitches. Today the defense played well, Daniel (Willie) made some big pitches and we did just enough offensively.”
With another win today, the Owls will secure a championship game berth and a region trip. If East Hamilton wins, they’ll play again Tuesday.
In the other semifinal series, which also started Sunday, Walker Valley beat Bradley Central 7-4 behind three-hit days from Tucker Mendenhall and Blake Peterson.
Ooltewah’s Willie turned in a credible performance by striking out five in a complete game.
“He pitched well, but he’s had a lot of good outings,” Reed said. “His curve and his slider — he had good control of both. They were crowding the plate a little, so he was keeping it down and away in the zone.”
He was nowhere near his season high for strikeouts, but Sunday’s performance was satisfactory for the senior right-hander.
“I went out there with the idea of just getting batters out. Five strikeouts is fine with what we had to do today and with how many outs we got and how quick we got them,” he said. “The defense was amazing, and I love these guys and the way they play.”
The Owls’ lone double play proved to come at a turning point.
The Hurricanes’ Jacob Howard, who led them with a 2-for-2 showing, singled to open the third and was sacrificed over by Will Campbell. Daniel Dunn worked Willie for a walk — the only one the slender 6-foot-2 pitcher would allow — before Nick Woods’ hard grounder was speared by Andrew Manning to start the 6-4-3.
“He hit the ball hard, and we were able to get two outs of it,” Hitchcox said. “Reed threw out a couple of runners. It seemed like every time they got a leadoff guy on, we were able to come up with some good plays. And then Manning came up with a big two-out hit.”
In the second inning, the Owls’ Trevor Riggs had reached and advanced to second on a throwing error. He took off for third on a fielder’s-choice swing from Jackson Malcolm and came around to score when the throw to third went wide.
The insurance run Ooltewah sought came in the third. Jake Sullivan reached on a fielder’s choice and scored from first — he was well on his way on a steal attempt — on Manning’s single to deep center.
“The thing I’ve said about Ooltewah all year long — and this is a compliment to Brian and Wes Caldwell — is they don’t beat themselves. They just do the little things well,” Hurricanes coach Steve Garland said. “It was a well-pitched game on both sides, and we had a comparable number of hits.
“They made their hits count, and we didn’t. We made errors, and they didn’t.”
East Hamilton lefty Drew Cantrell allowed just five hits, and only one of the runs he gave up was earned.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423886-4765. Follow him on Twitter @ wardgossett.