Pardon Brady Reed if he was late to school this morning.

The Ooltewah junior had an unscheduled appointment with his dentist after a home-plate collision on the first day of Tennessee high school baseball. The Owls’ quarterback in the fall probably thought he was back on the football field.

“Half of his tooth was gone. He had a nerve dangling,” new Ooltewah coach Brian Hitchcox said.

Hitchcox took Reed out of the game and told the youngster and his parents to head for the emergency room but was then surprised to see Reed still in the dugout.

“He said it didn’t hurt at all even though it looked terrible,” Hitchcox recalled.

Reed’s parents had called their dentist, who didn’t seem too concerned based on the description of the injury, and made the appointment.

So Hitchcox — likely prodded by his slugger — allowed Reed to reenter the game and the outfielder/catcher responded with a three-run homer in the Owls’ 11-1 win over Ringgold.

While Reed was trying to eat after the game, Soddy-Daisy coach Jared Hensley was celebrating his team’s 2-0 win over Baylor, a game in which starting pitcher Andrew McWilliams struck out nine while going the distance.

“We’re at Zaxby’s celebrating with my parents, and they picked up the tab. First win and all that, you know,” said Hensley, who succeeded Steve Garland as the Trojans’ coach this year.

While the loss was surely disappointing to Baylor coach Gene Etter, he had to be reminded of the last season opener his team lost to the Trojans. That was in 2006, and Etter’s Red Raiders went on to win the Division II state championship that year.

As for McCallie, senior pitcher Chase Brookshire got a no-decision in the Blue Tornado’s 11-4 win over McMinn County but struck out nine in four innings of work.

Red Bank, one of the area’s favorites to make this year’s Class AAA state tournament field, opened with a win, but the 14-6 victory over Chattanooga Christian came only after a struggle.

“We played for a while like a bunch of goats,” Red Bank coach Bumper Reese said.

The Lions used neither Garrett Adkins nor Allan Walden, their Division I-signed pitching aces, but got some offensive production from Andy Christopher. Returning to baseball after taking off last season to concentrate on quarterbacking duties in spring football, the junior knocked in five runs.

Lookout Valley’s Ian McDade also opened with a good offensive showing. Lookout Valley’s senior centerfielder went 2-for-3 with five RBIs while scoring three runs and stealing a base.

Polk County, last year’s 5-AA runner-up, committed a handful of errors but held on for a 9-6 win over Sequoyah in Jared Allen’s 2009 pitching debut. The Wildcats’ Steven Jackson, a shortstop/third baseman, has, by the way, signed with Motlow State.