“Extra”ordinary Effort: Bradley Claims 5AAA Title In 11
Vasquez delivers Walk Off To Back Burnette, Flowers Pitching Monday, May 10, 2021 - by James Beach
Everyone knew what McMinn County had coming into Monday night’s District 5AAA title bout against Bradley. The Cherokees were armed and dangerous with head coach David Ray having his choice among the four horsemen who had carried the pitching load to choose.
With all four of his DI pitchers ready and available thanks to Ray’s strategic handling of the staff, the Bears were guaranteed to see quality, and Cherokee starter Ollie Akens and staff ace Andrew Ronne delivered as advertised.
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.
Frank Foils Bradley As Cherokees Get Sweep
McMinn Wins Another One-Run Game Tuesday, April 6, 2021 - by James Beach
CLEVELAND, Tenn. – While it seems there may be tension and drama all around these days pretty much every time the McMinn Cherokees take the field, Tribe baseball skipper Mike Ray barely even breaks a sweat anymore. He might as well be coaching from his sofa, such is his comfort level.
The Cherokees got caught up in another one-run District 5AAA battle outing last night and once again did enough right things to claim a 3-2 thriller against host Bradley Central. In fact, it was the second straight series sweep for the Cherokees after opening the year with splits in their first two series and they find themselves entrenched atop the league standings at 6-2. And get this: of the eight league games, five of them have been one-run affairs.