Area has 27 TSWA diamond all-staters

The Chattanooga area had 19 players listed on the four Tennessee Sports Writers Association all-state softball teams released this week, including eight from Baylor and GPS among the 14 total selections in Division II. Eight area players were TSWA all-state baseball selections.

Division II softball state champion Baylor was represented by pitcher Kaitie Sims, catcher Cassi Pickett, outfielders Braleigh Angel and Noelle Winkles and infielder Sarah Moore, and runner-up GPS had catcher Katy Richardson and infielders Morgan Lane and Madison Boyd as all-staters.

Soddy-Daisy’s Kelsey Nunley and Kali Henderson, Ooltewah’s Jessica Morgan and Coffee County’s Casey Vincent were Class AAA picks, and Bledsoe County’s Lydia Ritchie, Central’s Brook Womack and Sweetwater’s Beth Breeden were Class AA choices. Grace Academy’s Lacye Walker and Lexie Dean, Marion County’s Taylor Brown and Polk County’s Jordan Allen made the Class A team.

The Class AAA baseball team included two area .400-plus sluggers headed to NAIA World Series participants Lee and Tennessee Wesleyan, James Fowlkes of Soddy-Daisy and Brackton Smith of McMinn County, and Tennessee signee Jared Allen and Boyd-Buchanan’s Tyler Garner made the AA list after hitting .514 with 62 RBIs and .478 with 41 steals and 42 runs, respectively.

Vanderbilt signee Will Cooper from Baylor was a Division II all-stater after hitting .505 with 54 RBIs, and the Class A squad included the South Pittsburg trio of 11-0 pitcher Hunter Giles, infielder Jake Stone and outfielder Matt Allen. Allen hit .440 with 50 steals and 68 runs, and Stone batted .418 with 52 RBIs and 25 steals.