Sonoraville falls to Ringgold 7-2 in first home game not at Recreation Complex
After 12 straight games on the road to start the season, Sonoraville finally got a chance to play at home on Saturday.
The Lady Phoenix welcomed Region 5-AAA foe Ringgold to their brand new field, but came up short in their home debut, falling 7-2.
The new field, which is just off the west end zone of the Sonoraville High football field, will now host all the Lady Phoenix home games, after the team played at the Sonoraville Recreation Complex the last few years.
“I think it was a little bit of a distraction finally being at home after starting with 12 road games,” said Sonoraville coach Chad Hayes. “Playing in front of a big crowd on our new field, I could tell there were some jitters early. Plus, we were playing a really solid team.
“We settled down, though, and scored some runs to make it closer.”
The Lady Phoenix (66-1, 2-3) fell behind early as Ringgold struck for four runs in the top of the first inning. Sonoraville battled right back with a run in the first and second to pull within two, but Ringgold finished it off with three runs in the sixth before holding on for the region win.
For the Sonoraville offense, Allie Beasley had a double and an RBI, and Lily Hayes had a hit and an RBI. Savannah Jones added a double a run scored, and Eady Beth Connally, Tiffany Vowell, Bree Edwards each had a hit apiece.
On the mound, Hayes went the distance in the loss, giving up seven runs (five earned) on 10 hits.
Hayes said that despite the loss, the day itself opening the new home field was a really good day for the program.
“Four our team, this is great, especially for these seniors,” said Hayes. “All these girls have been waiting for several years to have something of their own. They loved playing at the Rec, but to have their own home field is something they are extremely relieved and excited about.
“And hopefully, we can have the kind of crowd we had today to continue to come support the girls here.”
The game was the third of a six-day stretch with five games. The Lady Phoenix defeated Adairsville, 3-0, on Thursday, and followed that up on Friday with a 14-3 win over rival Gordon Central. They then welcomed North Murray on Monday and Coahulla Creek on Tuesday to their new home field. (For details from those games, see Saturday’s Calhoun Times.)
Hayes said he would’ve liked to be over .500 at this point in the season, but believes his team is still in good position to accomplish their goals.
“We would’ve liked to have been sitting above .500, but we’ve played several teams that are in the top 10 in their classifications so it’s been some stiff competition,” said Hayes. “We just need to refocus and hopefully get some momentum going for the stretch run.
“We need to get the bats going and sure up a few things defensively, but overall, we’re close to being at the level we want to be.”
In other prep action recently:
The Lady Phoenix got their first region win behind a strong performance on the mound by Lily Hayes.
Hayes went the distance, throwing a shutout and only allowing four hits while striking out six.
At the plate, Morgan Allen had two hits and two runs scored, Eady Beth Connally had a hit and Avery Beason had an RBI on a sac fly.
The Calhoun Lady Jackets played in their second tournament in the last two weekends, and faced some stiff competition at the Allatoona Tournament while going 2-3.
On Friday, Calhoun (4-8) opened play in the tournament with two games at Woodland. They lost to Woodland, 43, in the first game of the day, but followed that up with an 8-4 win over Sprayberry.
They traveled down to Allatoona on Saturday to complete the tournament. They defeated Union Grove, 6-3, in the first game of the day before falling to Harrison, 9-5, and Allatoona, 10-2, in the final two games of the tourney.
The highly touted Sonoraville volleyball team experienced some growing pains over the weekend at the Bradley Bash played at Bradley Central High School in Cleveland, Tenn. Playing without the services of both setters (Kristi Vaughn and Bre Horner) the Phoenix fought their way into the semi-finals and were just points away from upsetting eventual tournament champion Bradley.
“I’ve never lost so many matches in one tournament and left feeling so happy about it,” said head coach Nathan Smith.
“Nikki Eitutis had never played setter before, but she did what seniors do, and stepped up and performed extremely well.”
After struggling through pool play with losses to Boyd-Buchanan (22-25, 18-25), Eastside, VA (19-25, 25-23, 15-25), Rhea County (23-25, 20-25), and host Bradley (18-25, 1525), the Phoenix began to put things together in the tournament with a win over Eastside (28-26, 25-15) and then giving a talented Bradley team a scare with a split (16-25, 25-13, 12-25).
Team leaders for the Lady Phoenix were Eitutis with 49 assists, 38 digs and 12 aces; Carrie Cheeks with 38 kills, 12 blocks, 54 digs and 7 aces; Jennilee Gentry with 22 kills, 58 digs and 5 aces; Savannah Wilbanks with 11 kills, 46 digs and 3 aces; Haley Ponder with 8 kills, 6 blocks and 3 aces; and Delaney Bell with 40 digs and 3 aces.
“We grew tremendously from this tournament,” added Smith. “We played with three freshmen much of the time, and they gained great experience. This will serve us well later in the season.”
Vaughn was out of the tournament due to an injury suffered in practice on Thursday. Horner missed due to other obligations.
The Phoenix are now 8-6 on the season.
The Lady Jackets traveled to Rossville for a tri-match and came away with wins over Ridgeland and LFO.
Calhoun defeated Ridgeland 2-1 (23-25, 2520, 25-21) and LFO 2-0 (2518, 25-16).
Taylor Palmer once again led the way with eight aces, 15 kills, and six blocks. Molly Palmer added six aces, four Kills, and a block.
Other Scorers for the Lady Jackets were: Olivia Wilkey- one ace, Tess Wright- one ace, Tamia Wade- two aces, Amber Parker- three aces, and Bailey Edwards- six aces.
The two wins raised Calhoun’s record to 7-2-1.