Hixson High School’s Whitney Galloway signed Thursday to continue her softball career at Chattanooga State.
Galloway is a few games into her final season with the Lady Wildcats, who are playing games in the Knoxville area today against Gibbs and Powell. Chattanooga State’s nursing program, as well as its locality, were important factors in her decision.
She also said summer teammates Dawon Millwood and Courtney Patrick take pitching lessons from Lady Tigers coach Beth Keylon-Randolph and praised her. Millwood also plays for Hixson. Patrick plays for Grace Academy.
“It feels good to get it out of the way,” Galloway said. “Now I can just show up and play and help my team out.”
Galloway is coming off a junior season in which she batted .375 with two home runs among her 11 extra-base hits. Although a middle-of-the-order batter for Hixson, she walked more times (13) than she struck out (12). She said she’s always looking to improve her hitting.
“When she was a sophomore, people didn’t know too much about her, and she had a breakout season,” Hixson coach Janet Tate said. “By the end of the season, they were pitching around her.”
Keylon-Randolph, a former Hixson star, said she likes that Galloway has faced good competition throughout her high school career. The coach admitted to being fond of left-handers — Galloway bats and throws left-handed — and the perennial NJCAA power will have an opening at first base.
“We have targets on our backs here, so we get everybody’s ‘A’ game,” Keylon-Randolph said. “We need kids that can take it and give it right back. I love that she’s a pure hitter. She’s got good hands and reads the ball well. She’s a kid that knows the game.”
Tourney has 28 teams
The 18th Lady Trojan Invitational softball tournament will be held this weekend at the Soddy Lake Kids’ Park. Twenty-eight teams from East and Middle Tennessee are divided into seven pools for competition beginning today at 9 a.m. Five fields will be in use for today’s 42 games.
“This is the most teams we’ve had,” Soddy-Daisy coach Clifford Kirk said. “We usually have about 24. We’re using one other field down on the lower end this year. We had people that wanted in and we didn’t turn them away.
“I think there are some real strong teams in it. We’ve got all the local ones here and we’ve got some good teams from out of town. Anything can happen this time of year, especially playing that many games.”
Based on pool-play records, teams will be seeded in Gold and Silver single-elimination brackets for Saturday’s play, which will be held on four fields starting at 9 a.m. The Gold final will be on Field No. 2 and the Silver final will be on Field No. 3 with each scheduled to start at 6 p.m.
All-star games tonight
The sixth annual Pre-Game Academy Roundball Classic basketball all-star games will be held tonight at Tyner Academy. Girls and boys’ players from 17 area high schools are scheduled to compete beginning at 6 p.m. with the girls’ game. A 3-point contest will be held at halftime, and a boys’ shooting contest will take place before their game, with a slam-dunk competition at halftime.
The rosters feature several players who have already signed Division I college scholarships, including University of Tennessee at Chattanooga signee Kori Penland of Gordon Lee and Liberty University signee Carter McMasters of Grace Academy. Other participants will be hoping to draw the attention of the college coaches expected to attend.
“We have worked extremely hard in the past six years to put together a quality event that will attract coaches to see what this area has to offer in talent,” Pre-Game Academy co-founder Kelcey Watson said. “The coaches that have attended in the past have not been disappointed, and this year will be no exception.”
Morgan joins Signal staff
Signal Mountain High School’s football staff was completed this week with the hiring of longtime local coach Toby Morgan.
Morgan, who had coached with Signal head coach Bill Price at Lookout Valley, has been a middle school baseball and football coach at Chattanooga Christian the last four years. He will coach linebackers and receivers at Signal Mountain.
“I’ve known Toby for 25 years, and he’s been very instrumental as a coach in this area for a long time,” Price said. “We’re lucky to get a quality addition like this.”
Price’s father, Carl, has agreed to be a volunteer assistant.
Lady Hawks win title
The Hamilton Heights Christian Academy girls’ basketball team won the National Association of Christian Athletes Division III national championship last Saturday with a 52-39 victory over Orlando Eastland Christian. The Lady Hawks swept four games on their way to the title, and junior Raven Hunt was named the MVP after averaging 26.1 points and 12.5 rebounds a game for the tournament.
“It’s huge for the girls and for the school,” coach Shawn Stone said. “The girls are thrilled. This is something they’ll always remember. I really saw them change during this tournament. I saw a huge desire to win. They wouldn’t give up on anything, and Raven led the way.”
The Hamilton Heights boys were national runners-up after a 60-49 loss to Decatur Christian of Illinois on Saturday. Hawks senior Nick Wolcott was the offensive MVP, posting averages of 23.2 points and 18.7 rebounds for the tournament.
“We were pleased with the outcome,” coach Michael Stone said. “We lost to a very good team. And Nick really picked us up and put us on his shoulders. He was clearly unstoppable.”
State attendance down
Last weekend’s finals of the TSSAA boys’ state basketball tournament seemed to support the belief that attendance is affected more by the location of the finalists than those teams’ rankings or college prospects.
There were three Mr. Basketball finalists, three other underclassmen ranked in the top 60 prospects nationally by rivals and one nationally ranked team in the three championship games. The six tradition-rich teams had also combined for 11 championships before Saturday’s games. However, because four Memphis city schools, which bring notoriously poor crowds to Murfreesboro, were in the finals, attendance was down by more than 1,200 from each of the past three years.
Before Saturday, attendance for the previous three days’ sessions was up from last year. The most well-attended championship game was boosted by a huge crowd supporting Class A Union City, which capped a 37-0 season with the program’s fifth title.
TSSAA changes forfeit rule
The TSSAA’s Legislative Council voted unanimously that teams will no longer receive a forfeited win if it lost to an opponent that played an ineligible player. Beginning next school year, the team in violation will not be credited with a win or a loss, while the losing team will keep the loss on its record.
The rule stems from an incident involving Bolton High’s football team last season. Bolton was forced to forfeit several football games after using an ineligible player. Bartlett, which had qualified for the Class 5A playoffs, was knocked out of the postseason after other teams in its region moved ahead by earning forfeit wins from Bolton.
Satterfield resigns
Clint Satterfield, one of the state’s most successful prep football coaches, has announced he will resign at Trousdale County. Satterfield, who has won five Class 1A state championships in his 24 seasons at the school, was recently hired as the county’s director of schools and said his resignation will become official once he reaches a contract agreement.
He’s had two sons play college football for Sewanee.
He will remain the school’s athletic director and will choose his successor as football coach. Satterfield said he will have little involvement in the football program beginning this fall. The Yellow Jackets are expected to be one of the state’s top-ranked teams again.
