Chelsea Reel readies to pitch vs Walker Valley. Reel has been a big factor for the Lady Eagles at the plate and on the mound during the district tournament play this week.(Photo:GaryBolden/TCM)
Rhea County Softball Plays in Finals After Upset Wins Over Walker Valley and Cleveland
5/8/23 Cleveland, TN
Rhea County High School softball team picked the right time to get hot. Coming into the district tournament with a losing record and not a good record against the top teams, it looked to be an uphill battle to make the championship game. This team was up to the task. The began the tournament with home game against McMinn and they won 11-4. Three players, Lakyn Lockhart, Chelsea Reel and Hattie Johnson each had 3 hits that game, with a big 5 run second inning accumulating all the runs that Reel would need for the win. Reel Pitched 7 innings, allowing 4 runs on 7 hits, while striking out 7. Lady Eagles rackedd up 16 hits on the evening.
The next opponent for the Lady Egles was the regular season champ, Walker Valley, as tournament shifted to Bradley Centeral for the rest of the tournament. Walker Valley finished the season at 24-9 and 11-1 in district play and owned 2 wins vs Rhea County. One game was a 5-1 win at Walker in mid-April and the other was a 3-1 win in late March. On the mound for Walker was Ryann Presswood and Rhea started Chelsea Reel. Walker struck first in bottom of 1st and Lady Eagle answered with a run in top of 3rd for the 1-1 tie. An error allowed Day to score and later in inning Reel stepped up and hit the second pitch of the at-bat over the right-field fence for the 3-1 lead. That run would prove crucial later in the game. Teams remained at 3-1 until the bottoms of the 7th, when Walker made their move. Lady Eagles got the first out on little looper down third base line. Then Blackwell hit an line dirve over second base for single and Davenport followed with another single. Benson flied to center scoring Blackwell to cut the lead to 3-2 with 2 out. Rhea walked the next batter, Woodall to set up force at second and third and that brought up Nicholes. Reel knuckled down and induced a grounder to Messer who threw out Presswood for the final out and Lady Eagles stormed the field with the big win.
On Saturday, Rhea would face another big challenge against Cleveland, but by now the Eagles were on a roll. But early it looked like it might ba similar to the Walker Valley game with Cleveland holding the 1-0 lead. Then in the top of the 4th inning, the Lady Eagles erupted for 5 runs and added 2 more in the 5th before sealing the deal with 3 more in the 7th to go against 3 single runs for Cleveland in the 5th and 7th. Lady Eagles had 10 runs on 10 hits and only 1 error. Cleveland had 7 hits and 5 errors on the night. Chelsea Reel threw another fine performance, giving up only 2 earned runs in 7 innings while striking out 6 and waling 1. Obryan took the loss for Cleveland with 4 1/3 innings pitched, giving up 7 runs. Shaver went yard for the Eagles and added a triple to lead the offense. O'Day added a triple and Lockhart added a double, while Kosek had 2 hits, 2 runs and 2 RBI on the night. Seven different Lady Eagles had hits on the night. The game lacked the drama of the Walker game, but beating a ranked team with only 4 losses coming into the game was huge.
Rhea was rewarded with a huge advantage as they are only unbeaten team and will play winner of loser bracket in game between Cleveland and Walker Valley. The winner earns spot in the Region Tournament and a rematch with Rhea County. Game is scheduled for 7 pm on Monday after the 5 pm Cleveland vs Walker game. Lady Eagles do not want a Tuesday game, since that would require a loss by Lady Eagles. Rain is a possibility, and if so, Monday's games will be moved to Tuesday and Wendesday's (if-needed) game will move to Wednesday. Lady Eagles will be looking to continue this historic post-season hot streak.