BY JEFF CATE (TEAM FYN SPORTS CONTRIBUTOR) – Furious comebacks, delays because of thunderstorms, and state champions being crowned made up most of the second day of the 31st annual TSSAA Spring Fling in Murfreesboro.

 

SOFTBALL

Walker Valley 12, Arlington 6 = After falling to Dobyns Bennett 4-0 on the first day, it looked like the Lady Mustangs were looking at an early trip home back to Charleston when they trailed 6-0 after 2 innings. After that, it was all blue and gold as Walker Valley scored 12 unanswered runs (in the 4th, 5th, and 6th innings) and starting pitcher Ryann Presswood did not allow a single run after the 2nd frame in a complete game performance on the mound.

 

“I can’t say enough about the girls”, Walker Valley head coach Lauren Limburg said by phone after the game. “They could have easily given up after being down 6-0. It shows their heart, and their fight, and their belief in each other. We talk all the time about being a family, about loving each other. And they put that love on display today”.

 

Presswood, Karly Blackwell, and Brylie Davis had 3 hits each, including 2 homeruns off the bat of Davis. The Feisty Fillies’ victory set up a meeting with Nolensville, but the game was pushed to 10am eastern on Thursday morning due to weather delays on Wednesday afternoon/evening.

 

Huntingdon 2, Meigs County 0 = After a blistering 14-1 drubbing of Riverside on Tuesday, the Lady Tigers bats cooled off a bit in a shutout loss. The loss set up another matchup between Riverside and Meigs County, but weather delays postponed this game as well to 10am on Thursday morning in an elimination game.

 

Gibbs 12, Soddy Daisy 2 = The Lady Trojans got off to a good start on Tuesday with a walk-off win in their first game, but struggled against Gibbs. The loss sets up a rematch with Creek Wood, who Soddy Daisy rallied from a 3-run deficit in the 7th inning to win 5-4. Due to the weather delays in Murfreesboro Tuesday afternoon and evening, the game will be played at 12 noon on Thursday.

 

Silverdale 9, USJ 0 (top of the 4th inning) = The Lady Seahawks will have to wait until Thursday morning at 10am to find out if they will be competing for back-to-back state championships as weather delays postponed this game as well.

 

Baylor 4, St. Benedict 0 (bottom of the 4th inning) = The Lady Raiders got off to a quick start with a 3-run homer off the bat of Xahara Willis before weather delays forced the postponement of the matchup to Thursday morning at 10am.

 

CCS 2, CPA 0 (bottom of the 5th inning) = Chattanooga Christian had a 2-run lead in this matchup, trying to keep their season alive in this elimination game. Weather delayed the game to Thursday at 10amwith the winner taking on the Baylor-St. Benedict loser at 12 noon Thursday.

 

BASEBALL

 

South Pittsburg 6, Union City 2 = The Pirates stayed alive in the 1A tournament, scoring all 6 of their runs in the bottom of the 5th inning. Zach Tierney got the win from the mound while Jace Stone went a perfect 2/2 at the plate. South Pittsburg meets their first-round opponent, Oakdale, with the win (Oakdale won the first meeting 5-2). The game is being played as of this notebook, currently a 6-1 South Pittsburg lead in the 6th inning.

Station Camp 7, Signal Mountain 6 = The Eagles put on their rally caps in the 7th inning, cutting a 7-2 Station Camp lead down to 1 but hold on for the win which ends Signal Mountain’s season. Ben Timblin went 3 for 4 from the plate for the Eagles and scored 3 times while Barrett Anderson went 2 for 3 with 4 RBI’s.

 

Oak Ridge 8, Bradley Central 3 = The Wildcats are making the most of their first Spring Fling appearance since 1972 by staying alive in this elimination game vs. the Bears, who were making their first Fling appearance since 2019.

 

Providence Academy 4, Boyd Buchanan 3 (8 innings) = Providence had a 3-1 lead only to see the Buccaneers tie it up at 3-3 in the bottom of the 7th inning, giving the fans in Murfreesboro some free baseball. Cooper Jones and Xavier Embry each had 2 hit games for the Buccaneers, who made Spring Fling for the first time since 2015.

 

Briarcrest 4, Baylor 0 = The Red Raiders bats weren’t able to get going despite double digit strikeouts by Tomas Valincius, setting up a rematch with Christian Brothers (Baylor won the first game 6-4 on Tuesday). Christian Brothers holds a 2-0 lead over Baylor in the 4th inning as of this notebook.

SOCCER

 

Boyd Buchanan and Notre Dame win semifinal matches, will play for state championship = The Buccaneers and Irish will play in an all-Chattanooga final match for the DII-A soccer crown on Thursday at 5pm. Boyd Buchanan pitched a 2-0 shutout of Lausanne with both goals coming from Fiston Mungisha while Notre Dame had to go to extra time to dispose of USN with goals from Luke Rosellini, Joshua Bonk, and Lucas Johnson.

 

McCallie 2, MBA 1 = The Blue Tornado stays unbeaten in 2024 by knocking off MBA, and getting the opportunity to compete for championship number 4 on Friday night at 7:30pm vs. Christian Brothers. Brandon Mathurin and Brooks Hilger pushed the ball in the net for McCallie while Blue Tornado goalkeeper Ryan Larrabee stopped 5 MBA shots on 6 attempts.

 

CSAS 4, Memphis Business 1 = CSAS got two coaches in each half to setup their 1A championship match vs. Gatlinburg-Pittman at 5pm on Friday.

 

Ravenwood 2, Howard 0 = The Hustling Tigers season comes to end in a shutout to Ravenwood, who will play for the 3A vs Bearden on Friday at 2:30pm, who knocked off Walker Valley on Tuesday.

 

 

 

Follow Jeff on “X” at @TheJeffCate