Eagles, Lady Lions surprise region-final participants

Rhea County baseball coach Rusty Ray watches from the dugout during their prep baseball game against Soddy-Daisy at Soddy-Daisy High School on Thursday, April 21, 2016, in Soddy-Daisy, Tenn.
Rhea County baseball coach Rusty Ray watches from the dugout during their prep baseball game against Soddy-Daisy at Soddy-Daisy High School on Thursday, April 21, 2016, in Soddy-Daisy, Tenn.

Today’s Region Championships

BaseballRegion 3-AAABradley Central at Rhea County, 7Region 3-ASilverdale Baptist at Boyd-Buchanan, 5:30Region 2-AMeigs County at Knox Grace Christian, 5SoftballRegion 3-AAASoddy-Daisy at Ooltewah, 6Region 3-AARed Bank at Central, 5Region 3-AMarion County at Silverdale Baptist Academy, 5Region 2-AMidway at Meigs County, 6

Rhea County and Red Bank appeared early to be teams going nowhere but quick exits from their respective district baseball and softball tournaments.

"We were a team that hadn't been picked to do so well. We'd graduated seven seniors and had just two on this year's team," Rhea County baseball coach Rusty Ray recalled.

His Eagles, though, are playing tonight for the Region 3-AAA title, having already tucked away the school's first district baseball championship. They will be hosting Bradley Central.

Red Bank's Lady Lions, meanwhile, were seeded third in the District 6-AA softball tournament yet reached the tournament finals with a winners-bracket-final win over Central. That's the team they play again today at 5 p.m.

"We're pretty young and we have taken some bumps along the way," coach Mandi Munn said. "I think the team has learned from some mistakes and built on them. They seem to be feeling comfortable and are realizing they can be good if they play within themselves and stay focused."

Beyond the actual championships, today's games are to decide who will host and who will travel for sectionals later this week.

"It helps that this is not an elimination game," Munn said. "It's the first time any of these girls have advanced, so we want them to go out and enjoy each other and see what happens."

Unlike the Lady Lions, Ray's Eagles are not familiar with tonight's opponent.

"I don't know a whole lot about them other than they have some good pitching," Ray said. "But Bradley always puts out a good team overall. We can expect good pitching and just a hard-nosed baseball team."

Playing good baseball teams and winning games via walk-offs is nothing new now for the Eagles.

They started the season 4-8 and sat late one night after a 1-4 finish in a tournament in Gatlinburg and for two hours hashed out where they were, who they were and where they were going.

"They set some goals and we told them what they needed to do to attain those goals," Ray said. "They don't take anything for granted - bought into the idea of taking nothing for granted, that each game might be their last. These guys are scrappy.

"We're not a great team but the kids stepped it up. What they've accomplished is a tribute to them and how hard they've played."

Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him on Twitter @wardgossett.

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