Bears, Cherokees Roll Into 5AAA Finals
Season Comes To A Close For Hurricanes, Blue Raiders Saturday, May 8, 2021 - by James Beach
The McMinn County Cherokees incorporated a little bit of the Bradley Bears playbook and now the Bears will need to utilize a part of the Cherokee scheme as both teams took care of business on Saturday to close out best-of-3 5AAA semifinals season extenders.
Third-seeded McMinn dropped second-seeded Cleveland, 11-3, and top seed Bradley was 5-1 better than seventh-seed East Hamilton as both winners advanced into Monday night’s 7 p.m. championship tilt. The win also qualified each for a region berth with home and away sites the remaining debate. And a District championship trophy, of course.
Bears, Cherokees Win 5AAA Semis Openers
Record Shutouts Over Hurricanes, Blue Raiders Friday, May 7, 2021 - by James Beach
An ace and an ace-in-the-hole did their jobs Friday night and because of it, the Bradley Bears and McMinn County Cherokees find themselves on the brink of a region berth.
Bradley’s ace Cooper Casteel and McMinn’s closer-turned-starter Ollie Akens both twirled two-hit masterpieces as the Bears shutout East Hamilton, 2-0, and the Cherokees blanked Cleveland, 5-0, in the opener of best-of-3 District 5AAA semifinal bouts at Ooltewah’s AC Bud Ball Field last night.
The semis will continue on Saturday with McMinn and Cleveland playing at noon and the Bradley-East Hamilton series slated for a 3 o’clock first pitch.