Chattanooga is hosting the Amateur Softball Association's 14-under girls' fastpitch national tournament this week at Warner Park and The Summit of Softball complex. Some of the 127 participating teams representing 32 states registered Saturday; others will do so this morning. Today's registration will be followed by a managers' lunch. Opening ceremonies at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's McKenzie Arena will begin at 5 p.m. Dewayne Gass will be the master of ceremonies as each team is recognized. UTC softball coach Frank Reed will welcome the athletes to Chattanooga. Pool play is set for Monday and Tuesday, starting each day at 8 a.m. Double-elimination bracket play is slated to begin Wednesday morning at 8. The winners- and losers-bracket finals are scheduled for Saturday afternoon at Frost Stadium, as is Sunday's final at 9 a.m. A second game would follow, if necessary. Admission is $10 per day or $45 for a tournament pass. Senior citizens and students ages 7-17 will be admitted for $8 per day or $25 for a week's pass. Children 6 and under will be allowed in free.
Fishing
- New Harrison resident Jacob Wheeler caught 20 pounds, 12 ounces in his five-bass limit Saturday - all smallmouths - and took the two-day lead at 38-10 in the Bassmaster Elite on Lake Champlain. He moved up 29 places from Friday, while Seth Feider of Minnesota rose 30 spots to second at 37-8 with a 19-15 haul. Another Tennessean, Brandon Lester of Fayetteville, is in a three-way tie for third at 37-7 after a 17-8 day. The top 51 pros will go back on the lake from Plattsburgh, N.Y., for today's final round. Wheeler, who moved to Hamilton County in June from Indianapolis, is a 26-year-old former BFL All American and Forrest Wood Cup champion and won a Bassmaster Elite tournament this year on Cherokee Lake. "Obviously it was a heck of a day," Wheeler said in a B.A.S.S. release Saturday evening. "I caught about 50 bass today and had the fish on to have a legitimate 22-pound bag of smallmouth. I think there's 20 more pounds in that same area."
Golf
- The 2017 Golf Capital of Tennessee Women's Open golf tournament came down to a three-way playoff Saturday at Stonehenge in Fairfield Glade, and Sarah Hoffman gained her first victory as a professional on the second extra hole against fellow Michigan native Samantha Troyanovich, who led after each of the first two rounds. Eastern Kentucky University standout Elsa Moberly exited on the first playoff green but earned the low-amateur award. Each of the three finished at 215 for 54 holes, Moberly with a final-day 70. She was Kentucky's high school Miss Golf in 2014 and the Kentucky Women's Amateur winner in 2016 and began her college career at Mississippi State. Hoffman's final round was a 72, Troyanovich's a 74. Amateur Nadine White from Australia and Campbell University finished fourth at 217, and 13-year-old Kynadie Adams from Gallatin, Tenn., was fifth at 219. Chattanooga's Blakesly Warren closed with a 78 and was 12th at 224, and Winchester's Malia Stovall tied for 13th at 225.
- The Project Access Golf Classic on Aug. 21 will combine competition with viewing of the total solar eclipse from Chattanooga Golf and Country Club. Gift bags for the one-round tournament starting at 1 p.m. will include eclipse viewing glasses. Registration costs $800 for a four-player team or $200 for an individual, and all proceeds will go to Project Access, a physician-led program providing specialty care for low-income families without medical insurance. The tournament is presented by the Vascular Institute of Chattanooga. Registration is at www.paclassic.eventbrite.com.
Track & Field
- Lee University's Cayce Bryan, Audrey Smith and Josiah Brooks and Carson-Newman's Tiana Mills from Chattanooga and Girls Preparatory School were named NCAA Division II all-academic individuals this past week by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, and both Lee teams received all-academic team recognition. The Lady Flames had the 13th best aggregate grade point average in Division II for 2016-17, 3.52, and the Flames had a 3.01. All-academic individuals had to have a 3.25 and qualify at least provisionally for national indoor or outdoor competition. Bryan qualified provisionally for the outdoor women's 800-meter run, while Smith did so for the 3000 steeplechase and joined Bryan as half of Lee's provisionally qualifying indoor distance medley relay. Brooks met provisional standards in nine events. Mills, one of four CNU honorees, ended her career with a 3.90 GPA and was all-region in long jump and triple jump.