By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
When you’re hot, you’re hot.
And both the Union City High School softball and baseball teams have heated up in recent days.
The Lady Tornadoes ran their winning streak to five straight following wins over Obion Central (6-0) on Tuesday and 9-6 vs. South Fulton on Monday.
UC climbed back to the .500 mark (7-7) with its two most recent victories following consecutive triumphs over District 14-2A foes Gibson County, Peabody, and Westview.
The youthful Union City baseball team has likewise put together a string of solid outings, beating South Fulton twice (3-2 and 6-5) to win four of their last five and three straight.
The Twisters, who regularly start five freshmen, are now 6-14 after losing 13 of their first 15 games to start the season.
The following is a recap of Monday’s and Tuesday’s games:
HIGH SCHOOL SOFTBALL
UC 6, Obion Co. 0
Mattie Smith was outstanding in a complete-game four-hitter as UC avenged an earlier loss to the Lady Rebels.
The senior righthander fanned seven and walked just three to improve her personal mark to 7-4 on the season after notching her second win in 24 hours.
Smith helped herself at the plate, too, with a single, double, and two RBIs. Kylie Mayes, who has a team-leading .439 average, continued to swing a hot bat with two hits and a pair of ribbies while reaching base four times and scoring twice.
Whitley Jenkins went 2-for-4 and drove in a run for the victors.
UC 9, South Fulton 6
The Twister girls spotted South Fulton a 6-0 first-inning lead on Monday, then gradually chipped away to claim a comeback victory behind home runs from Mayes and Hadley Smith.
Mayes cracked a three-run dinger over the leftfield fence in the second to draw Union City within 6-5, before Smith hammered a solo shot to rightfield to account for the final Lady Tornado run.
Mayes went 3-for-4 with a double and a single. Mattie Smith, Whitley Jenkins, and Heaven Marshall all tripled as six of UC’s nine hits went for extra bases.
Kylee McClure and courtesy runner Letti Carson scored two times apiece for the victors.
Mattie Smith pitched all seven innings, whiffing a half-dozen and giving up four earned runs to get the victory.
Union City will now take the rest of Spring Break Week off before returning to action next Monday at home against Milan at 5:30 p.m.
HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL
UC 3-6, South Fulton 2-5
The Tornadoes recorded a pair of one-run wins against South Fulton – holding on in Monday’s contest, then plating the game-winner in the bottom of the seventh on Tuesday when Preston Creswell drew a bases-loaded walk.
Union City led Monday’s contest 3-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth before the Red Devils scored single runs in their final two at-bats and had the bases loaded with just one out in the seventh.
Freshman reliever Mason St. Germain then came on and wiggled out of a bases-loaded jam to preserve the victory. First baseman Will Kail threw out the tying run at home for the second out of the inning before St. Germain retired the final batter on a grounder to short to record the thrilling save.
Starter Ben Howell picked up his second win in four days with 6 1/3 stellar frames, allowing just one earned run and four hits. Howell, who also had a run-scoring double, struck out four and walked five.
Jack Theobald, Brayden Marshall, Jackson Huffstutter, and Howell each had two hits as UC doubled SF’s total with eight.
UC 6, South Fulton 5
The Tornadoes finally prevailed in a back-and-forth encounter that saw both teams hold, then blow two-run leads.
Up 1-0 after one, but down 3-1 heading into the fifth, Union City scored four times in that frame, highlighted by a two-run double by Sam Jones that put the Twisters back in front. Marshall made it 5-3 with another RBI two-bagger, his second double of the game.
South Fulton knotted things up in the seventh with two unearned runs before Creswell looked at four straight balls with the sacks jammed to force in teammate Howell from third with the deciding run.
Theobald, Howell, Jones, and Marshall each had two hits, with Howell and Jones scoring twice. Marshall, like Jones, accounted for a pair of ribbies.
St. Germain relieved Creswell in the fifth and got credit for the pitching win after Creswell was solid with five strikeouts and just one earned run allowed.
Union City will play at Jackson South Side on both Thursday and Friday, facing the host team first, then squaring off against Adamsville on Friday.