Tommy Laurendine resigns as Sewanee football coach and more regional sports news

Assorted Sports Equipment on Black
Assorted Sports Equipment on Black

Sewanee athletic director Mark Webb announced Monday that Tommy Laurendine had resigned as the Tigers' football coach "to pursue other professional opportunities," according to a release. "For the past six seasons, Coach Laurendine has led the Sewanee football program with great integrity and an unwavering commitment to the student-athlete experience," Webb said. "He leaves the university with our deepest gratitude and very best wishes." Laurendine, previously the offensive coordinator at The Citadel, leaves after six years with a 15-45 record, including 0-10 in 2016. The program has not had a winning season since 2000, but Laurendine went 5-5 in his first year, 2011, and was the conference co-coach of the year. His wife, Shawna, is Sewanee's volleyball coach.

Basketball

* Bryan College sophomore Amber Levi from Rhea County is the Appalachian Athletic Conference's women's basketball player of the week after her 42-point game that included a Lady Lions record of 10 3-point baskets in Saturday's win over St. Andrews. She also had nine rebounds, five assists and three steals in that game and scored 20 points with two 3s earlier in the week against Columbia (S.C.).

Softball

* Loaded with sophomores, although several are transfers, Chattanooga State began its fifth softball season under coach Blythe Golden with a 4-1 record at a tournament this past weekend at Panama City, Fla. The only loss was 9-7 to host Gulf Coast State, Golden's former team, and that was after the Lady Tigers fell behind 5-0 in the first inning. Before that they run-ruled Faulkner State 11-0, Andrew 9-1 and sixth-ranked Northwest Florida State, also 9-1, and after the loss they beat Spartanburg Methodist 19-9 after losing all of a 9-0 lead. That made Chattanooga State 189-56 under Golden, with a 45-20 record last year. Her new assistant coach is former Girls Preparatory School and East Tennessee State standout Jackie Baird, who came home to Chattanooga from Tennessee Tech's staff. Colbie Thomas went 10-for-16 with a triple, four stolen bases and seven runs scored in the weekend in Florida, and Lillie McCrary was 9-for-15 with three home runs, three walks, eight RBIs and eight runs. Alaeni Ray was 8-for-12 with a homer, seven RBIs and seven runs, and Tori Barnes was 5-for-12 with a homer, two steals, three RBIs and three runs. Two area freshmen getting their feet wet with good showings were Aimie Davidson from Ringgold (3-for-4, 2 runs, RBI) and Haley Johnson from Ridgeland (3-for-6, RBI). As for the pitchers, Abbey White was 2-0 and Kaleigh Wynne and Abby Hicks each was 1-0, all with good strikeout totals.

* Kelsey Payne from East Hamilton was 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs as Brenau beat Truett-McConnell 9-1 in NAIA softball Monday in Cleveland, Ga. The scheduled second game was rained out. That made Brenau 3-0 for the season.

Baseball

* Chattanooga State's baseball team is set to host West Georgia Tech in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Wednesday and then visit the Carrollton team for two games Saturday. The Tigers went 1-2 in their season-opening road series against Georgia Highlands this past weekend.

Golf

* Dalton State freshman golfer S.M. Lee shot a final-round 68 Sunday and moved up 20 spots to a 12th-place finish in the prestigious Jones Cup Invitational at Sea Island, Ga. Lee had a 75 on the first day, when the scoring average on the Ocean Forest course was 75.48, and a 79 in the tough weather of the second day, when the field's average was 79.88. The average was 75.88 on the last day, and Lee beat it by eight strokes. The top-20 finish gets him an exemption into next year's field.

Soccer

* The Premier Soccer Academy under-17 Las Leonas based in Red Bank won the under-17 girls' gold division in the Southeast College Showcase at Gatlinburg, Tenn., this past weekend. Las Leonas won 2-1 over Ohio Galaxies FC, 3-1 over Tennessee SC 2000 Select and 2-1 over runner-up FC Alliance OCG TSL2.

Upcoming Events