Soddy-Daisy, GPS, Bradley go 3-0

photo Ooltewah first baseman Elizabeth Novelli, 15, reaches out for the ball as a Whitwell player dives back to first Friday at Soddy Kids Park.

Four teams went 3-0 on Friday in the opening day of Soddy-Daisy's 24th Lady Trojan Classic high school softball tournament, including the host team.

Soddy-Daisy edged Central 1-0 in six innings, beat Grace Academy 5-0 in five and defeated Meigs County 10-1 in five during pool play at the Soddy Lake Kids' Park.

GPS, Bradley Central and Wilson Central were the other unbeaten teams in pool play.

Single-elimination begins this morning at 9 in Gold and Silver divisions, set up by teams' pool records. The Gold championship game is scheduled for 3 p.m. The Silver final is set for 1:30.

Savannah Moore was among the offensive leaders for Soddy-Daisy (22-6). She hit a double in the first game and homered and had three RBIs in the second game. Brooke Hale singled in the run against Central with two out in the fifth inning and went 2-for-3 and scored twice in the last game, when Hannah Smith was 2-for-3 with a home run and five RBIs.

"We preach the fact that hitters get themselves out," Soddy-Daisy coach Wes Skiles said. "I thought we did a much better job of being patient and waiting. Don't work against yourself. Where we did really well was with two-strike hits and two-out RBIs."

Shonna Penney was the winning pitcher in the first and third games for the Lady Trojans, totaling 13 strikeouts and allowing six hits in her two outings. Emily Edwards threw a one-hitter with seven strikeouts in the middle game.

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GPS again posted a perfect record in a Friday tournament under coach Susan Crownover.

"All we need to do is schedule all our games on Fridays," Crownover said.

The Bruisers got past Whitwell 7-6 in four innings before beating Ooltewah 5-3 in six. They won 7-2 over Hixson in five in their third game.

"We fought back," Crownover said. "In two of our three games we got behind. We had some kids step up that hadn't had that opportunity -- Haley Richardson being one of them. We were aggressive on the bases, and Hannah Smith is really coming along hitting the ball."

Smith hit a two-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the third that was the difference in the Whitwell game. Richardson was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored against Ooltewah. They each went 2-for-2 in the third game with Richardson driving in two runs and Smith scoring two.

Shelby Walters was the winning pitcher for GPS (15-5) in its first game. Madi Stanley, who drew praise from Crownover for her pitch location, had 10 strikeouts against Ooltewah and eight in three innings of relief against Hixson while recording both pitching victories.

Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him at twitter.com/KelleySmiddie.

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