Area softball teams are adapting

Fashion, foliage and Fahrenheit aren’t the only things on the brink of transformation in the Chattanooga area. Spring is about to bring plenty of changes on the local high school softball scene, too.

The season gets under way Monday across the state. Silverdale Baptist Academy will be first locally to get its season going when it hosts Murphy, N.C., at Tyner at 4 p.m.

Warner Park being under repair is causing the most alterations. Its grand reopening won’t take place until the summer.

Two districts have held their tournaments there in recent years. District 6-AA is holding its tournament this year at the Jasper City Complex, moving to Marion County’s new facility for the final. District 6-AAA will play its at Ooltewah.

The city has also allowed schools with no field to use Warner Park for regular-season games. Those teams were left to negotiate elsewhere.

“I heard CSAS might be using one of our fields,” said Red Bank coach Mandi Munn, who has a complex behind her school. “I don’t know if they’ll be using our field or not. The distances of the fences on those other ones aren’t high school regulation in all places, but I guess it’s better than nothing.”

With Notre Dame athletic director Howie Sompayrac leaving softball to help with track and field, Jennifer Redman is stepping in to head the Lady Irish program. Redman said school officials from Notre Dame and GPS are trying to work it out so the Bruisers’ field can become the Lady Irish’s home away from home.

Jennifer’s sister, Lindsay Vinson — both played at Baylor under the maiden name Pledger — is lined up as the Lady Irish assistant for a second straight year. However, a job transfer has her currently in Cookeville. She has put in for a transfer back with the hope that she and her sister can be together on the bench for the full season.

Redman has since been hired as softball and volleyball coach at Signal Mountain, which opens next school year.

“When I took the Notre Dame job, I didn’t have the Signal job,” Redman said. “My taking the Signal job was a case of hopefully being able to teach there, coach two sports and provide a better opportunity for my family. I love softball, which is why I wanted to get back in it this year.”

There were other coaching changes among city schools, but area schools had more turnover. One place is Rhea County, which hired former Cumberland County standout Brittany Hayes.

She’ll get plenty of on-the-job training. She’s a 2007 graduate of Maryville College, where she was once an All-Great South selection and twice an academic all-conference member.

Another notable change is the TSSAA’s allowing of girls to wear spikes rather than rubber cleats. Since there are safety issues, Baylor’s Kelli Smith is one coach who said she was shocked by the TSSAA’s decision to allow their use. She’s not complaining. Others may feel differently.

“I’m thinking from a player’s perspective,” Smith said. “I wore them in college and I’d have loved to have had them in high school. My girls are excited about it, especially the pitchers. We ordered them as a team. We’re all in them.”

Although it won’t affect regular-season play, Baylor and fellow local Division II-AA team GPS will deal with a new playoff format, thanks to the TSSAA’s combining of East and Middle Regions this school year.

First-level playoff games will be played for seeding purposes only. D-II has now incorporated a sub-state round and will follow the same format used in basketball season, except best-of-three series played at four home sites will decide the teams that advance to the state tournament.

The Lady Red Raiders, Bruisers and Knoxville Webb will play each other twice each in the regular season. The coaches agreed to let records from those games, using tiebreaking procedures if necessary, determine which two will advance to postseason from the East.

If there’s one local team with sights set on creating change, it has to be Class AAA Ooltewah. The Lady Owls return eight starters in trying to end Soddy-Daisy’s decade of dominance in District 6 and Region 3 play.

“I think this team is going to be very good,” Ooltewah coach Norma Nelson said. “We have good pitching and defense. To get where we need to be, we’re going to have to hit.”

Ooltewah was ahead 4-2 and three outs away from putting a stop to the region-title reign last May at Soddy-Daisy but wasted away the lead and the game. As a result, the Lady Owls had to travel in the sectional round to Murfreesboro. There they lost to Riverdale and Tennessee-bound pitcher Cat Hosfield, who will be a senior for the Lady Warriors this season.

Holly Thomas was the losing pitcher in the sectional but said the region-final loss is even more haunting because the Lady Owls’ own errors led to their downfall. Thomas, who is bound for Tennessee Tech, is one of five returning seniors with playing experience.

“I think we’re fully capable of winning state,” Thomas said. “That’s definitely reachable. I do think we have all the capabilities. It’s right in front of us. We just have to go grab it.”