Area sports notes: Mariah Smith nips Jenna Burris for State Women's Amateur title

University of Tennessee sophomore Mariah Smith from Clarksville edged Middle Tennessee State senior Jenna Burris from Manchester 1 up Friday for the 86th Tennessee Women's Amateur golf championship at The Honors Course. Smith won the final two holes. She led 2 up as late as hole No. 12, but Burris got one hole back on No. 13 and took the lead by winning Nos. 15 and 16. Burris, a former St. Andrew's-Sewanee standout, earlier won in 20 holes against 13-year-old Sophie Linder from Carthage in a semifinal that began Thursday, while Smith completed a 5 and 4 defeat of University of Memphis senior Sydney Colwill. Charleston's Maggie Scott defeated Nashville's Evelyn Blackmon 1 up for the first-flight title, Erica Chappell beat Karin Rader-Carson 3 and 2 in flight two, Elizabeth Trinkler topped Rhonda Manous 4 and 2 in flight three, Pam Presnell prevailed 3 and 1 over Chattanooga's Georgia McCravey in flight four and Patty Johnson downed Carol Hornstra 5 and 4 in flight five. "Honestly, I think I can say I've never been in a situation as stressful as these matches," Smith, who won the TSSAA Class AAA title in 2016, said in a Tennessee Golf Association release. "I've been in some pretty stressful situations, like when I was playing in the high school championship, but this was definitely a real test for me and my mind. I knew that I was tired, I knew my body was tired, but I knew in the end there was nothing I could do. I had to keep pushing. My legs didn't have any choice but to keep walking."

* Nicole Adam, whose grandparents Jim and Nancy Sims live in Red Bank, is a 16-year-old high school junior in Pinehurst, North Carolina, who committed at 14 to play golf collegiately for North Carolina. She will play July 16-21 in the U.S. Girls' Junior at Poppy Hills in Pebble Beach, California, and Monday through Wednesday she will be playing Pinehurst courses in the Junior North and South Championship. The field includes international players, one from Alaska and others from Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas and Texas.

Shotgun Sports

* On Friday, for the second year in a row, Soddy-Daisy High School graduate Eli Christman finished second to Team USA teammate Nic Moschetti of Colorado in a shootoff for the men's skeet title at the Shotgun National Junior Olympics at Fort Gordon in Colorado. Christman hit 120 of 125 targets and then 53 to Moschetti's 54 in the shootoff. Earlier in the week, 13-year-old Crossville resident Carey Garrison won the women's trap gold medal with 29 hits in a row for a 44-of-50 final round. She was 112-of-125 the first two days. Garrison won the junior women's trap title at the 2017 nationals and will be the youngest-ever USA Shooting team member at this year's worlds.

Fishing

* Harrison resident Jacob Wheeler had the seventh-best haul Friday - 16 pounds, 12 ounces - in the first round of the Bassmaster Elite tournament that ends Monday on Lake Oahe in South Dakota. Wesley Strader of Spring City was tied for 61st at 9-6. David Fritts of Lexington, North Carolina, led at 19-7.

* Dayton's Michael Neal moved up to 31st Friday at 39 pounds for two rounds of the FLW Tour bass tournament on Lake St. Clair near Detroit and received $10,000, and Buddy Gross of Chickamauga, Georgia, and Dayton's Andy Morgan were 57th and 59th at 37-0 and 36-13 and got $9,200 each. The top 30 hit the lake again today, led by Minnesota angler Chad Grigsby at 50-1.

Soccer

* Chattanooga Football Club will host Greenville FC from South Carolina tonight at 7:30 at Finley Stadium in a National Premier Soccer League Southeast game, and general admission tickets are $10. CFC will be trying to regain its first-place rhythm after losing to the Georgia Revolution last Saturday and having Wednesday's site-shifted match against the Atlanta Silverbacks stopped in the opening minutes by stormy weather. CFC (5-2-3) is now in second place with 1.80 standings points a game, a shade behind New Orleans' 1.82, while Greenville (3-5-3) is seventh at 1.09.

Baseball

* In addition to catcher Hunter Oliver signing a professional contract with the Cincinnati Reds, 10 Cleveland State baseball players from the 2018 season are moving on to four-year college programs, including second baseman Noah Hill from Heritage High School and pitcher Hooper Mills to NCAA Division I member East Tennessee State. Pitchers Greg Tye and Ryan Lloyd are headed to Carson-Newman, shortstop Trey Vanderpool to Trevecca Nazarene, first baseman Joey Roberson to Savannah State, catcher/first baseman Logan Peterson (from Gordon Lee) to Alabama-Huntsville, pitcher Tyler Zak to Limestone, third baseman Trey Martin to Bluefield and pitcher Corey Linz to Emmanuel.

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