Filed By Kelley Smiddie
Christian Hudgens will be headed to Cleveland State to continue her softball career next year. Lauren Hudgens would like to pursue basketball at the next level, and she has an eye on modeling in the future.
In the meantime, the two are among a recent outbreak of sisters who are or have played softball at different high schools.
“Everybody’s an individual,” University of Tennessee at Chattanooga coach Frank Reed said. “What might be good for one at one school might not be a good fit for the other.”
Christian is a senior at Boyd-Buchanan. Lauren is a junior at David Brainerd.
David Brainerd coach Chip Liner has a past connection regarding this development.
He coached Kay O’Kelley in slowpitch at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe where she graduated in 1994. Her sister, Kim, played for and graduated from Ringgold in ’93.
Kim went on to play fastpitch at Chattanooga State, where Liner said he believed she was selected the NJCCAA Region VII Player of the Year. She finished her career at Kennesaw State.
“Ironically, she came back to help me coach fastpitch at Lakeview,” Liner said. “That was in the fall of 2000.”
Reed’s daughter, Dana, is a former Lady Mocs player and currently the head softball coach at Gordon Lee High School. She is linked to two such sets of sisters.
Dana played alongside and graduated in 1996 from East Ridge with Holly Speiser, whose sister, Katie, played at LFO. Katie is currently a sophomore at Tennessee Tech, where her older sister also played.
Dana is also affiliated by having coached junior pitcher Kaity Holloway, the Times Free Press All-North Georgia Player of the Year, this past fall. Twin sister Kristen Holloway, the starting shortstop for GPS, from where Kaity transferred, has committed to play softball and run cross country at UTC.
Baylor and GPS are the most common local schools involved in this scenario.
Amy Cunnyngham graduated from Baylor in 1993. Ashley Cunnyngham graduated from GPS in 1996.
Amy can still brag to her sister about her Class AAA state-championship season in 1993. Their mother, Libby, said both work as government consultants in Washington D.C. in the same building on the same floor.
Junior Maddie Schmissrauter and eighth-grader Chariah Gordon are currently playing for Baylor. Blaes Schmissrauter’s senior season at GPS was 2003 and Cierra, who goes by C.C., Gordon is in her sophomore season with the Bruisers.
Additionally, Erica Coppinger last played as a senior at Hixson in 2004. Holly Coppinger is presently a senior at Soddy-Daisy.
E-mail Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com
