It was a busy Friday evening as District play hit full blast.
District 1-AA Softball
Elizabethton 2, Happy Valley 1
Alison Riddle drove Abbi McKinney across homeplate to push Elizabethton to a 2-1 victory over the Lady Warriors.
Runs were hard to come by in the game. EHS struck first in the home side of the third inning as Kennedy Richardson hit a homerun to centerfield. The top of the sixth saw Happy Valley even the score when Kenzi Davis pushed Emily Whitaker across the plate with a RBI double to left field. Neither team was able to add a run until Riddle’s walkoff hit.
Kelli Cunningham picked up the win in the circle for the Lady Cyclones as she recorded five strikeouts while allowing just one earned run on three hits. Kalee Johnson was handed the loss despite picking up five strikeouts and allowing just two earned runs.
The Lady Cyclones advance to Monday’s winner bracket finals, while HV will play in the losers’ bracket.
District 1-AA Baseball
Sullivan East 14, Elizabethton 8
Miscues plagued the Cyclones from the opening pitch as Elizabethton was upset in the opening round of the District 1-AA tournament. Elizabethton will now play in Sunday’s loser bracket game.
The Patriots opened up to a 3-0 lead in the first two and a half innings before EHS put a run on the board. Sullivan East, however, exploded for eight runs in the top of the fifth to take control of the game and never looked back.
Elizabethton continued to fight with four runs over the final two innings, but was unable to catch up with SEHS.
Michael Robinson was 3-for-5 at the plate, while Drew Wetzel and Ethan Eggleston went 2-of-4 batting.
Happy Valley 5, Johnson County 2
The Warriors picked up an opening round win in Friday’s nightcap with a solid performance over Johnson County.
Happy Valley will now play top-seeded Sullivan South in the winner’s bracket at 2:30 on Saturday.
HV took a 2-0 lead after three, and added two runs in the fourth inning. On the mound, Justin Morefield picked up the win while allowing just four hits.
District 1-A Softball
Unaka 11, Hampton 5
Katelyn Weaver launched a grand slam, and the Lady Rangers advanced with an opening round win over Hampton. The Lady Bulldogs were unable to keep pace with an early onslaught as Unaka took an 11-1 lead in the early going.
Unaka advances to play top-seeded University High on Saturday at 3 p.m., at Legion Field in Greeneville. The loss ends the Lady Bulldogs season.
District 1-A Baseball
University High 8, Hampton 7
The Bulldogs were unable to hold onto a late 7-3 lead as Cas Blevins hit a two-run inside the park homerun to power the Bucs past Hampton with two outs remaining in the game.
Hampton jumped out early as Jerry Lunsford, David Fleenor and Wyatt Lyons scored runs in the top of the first.
The Bulldogs steadily added to their lead, and a Lunsford sacrifice RBI in the top of the sixth gave HHS a four-run lead. UH, however, didn’t go down without a fight to set the stage for Blevins’ last out heroics.
