There was no time for Josh Gandy to celebrate Signal Mountain's first trip to the TSSAA state baseball tournament.
The Eagles coach hurried home from a 3-0 Friday night sectional win at Sweetwater to begin hunting for transportation and hotel accommodations.
"Hotels are a little steep, aren't they? You think they know something's going on Murfreesboro this week?" he said.
Gandy, whose team opens this afternoon opposite 45-5 Christian Academy of Knoxville, wound up going to Franklin - 30-45 minutes from Murfreesboro - for his team headquarters. The Eagles will have plenty of room on their charter bus because all he could find given the short notice was a 50-seater.
As coaches are fond of saying as the postseason approaches, "The hay is in the barn," so Gandy let his players have Saturday off before a batting-practice session Sunday evening.
McCallie is the only other Chattanooga-area team in the baseball portion of the Spring Fling.
"You're not going to learn anything new," Blue Tornado coach Tim Costo said Monday. "We didn't practice Sunday because of graduation. We just got a good workout today, fine-tuning our skills."
Signal also hit the field for one last practice Monday, and Gandy called it a "sun tan" practice, letting those on the team who wanted go shirtless. It seemed to fit well with those who showed up sporting new hair styles - from mullets to Mohawks, not to mention the already-dyed coloring.
While the Eagles and CAK got a first-game opener at Blackman High, McCallie drew a second-game assignment against Briarcrest Christian (24-18) at Wilson Central in Lebanon - another 30- to 40-minute drive from Murfreesboro.
It is an improved team that Briarcrest will tackle. The Blue Tornado took to heart Costo's near-daily verbal hammering about the process.
"Do the reps and do them the right way; make it fun and maintain discipline," he says.
"We're still a fairly young team, and for a lot of the kids there is a huge learning curve," Costo said. "Our region is extremely competitive, and for freshmen, sophomores and even a junior who hasn't played much, it can be intimidating. Once you get comfortable, things start to fall into place."
Contact Ward Gossett@wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.