Area sports notes: Vincent Yarbrough guest speaker for Bradley youth all-stars

Assorted Sports Equipment on Black
Assorted Sports Equipment on Black

Former University of Tennessee athletes Chamique Holdsclaw and Inky Johnson have been part of the all-star lineup of special speakers for the annual Bradley County Youth All-Stars tournament at Ocoee Middle School in Cleveland, but this year organizer Bartlee Norton is bringing a homegrown ex-Vol to make the key speech: former Cleveland High School basketball All-American Vincent Yarbrough. Yarbrough, who played in the NBA and Europe and is still involved in the sport, will keynote the 5:30 opening ceremony Friday.

Softball

* University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior catcher Amanda Beltran was selected the Southern Conference softball player of the week after batting .583 with seven runs batted in during the Mocs' 3-1 weekend in their Chattanooga Challenge. East Tennessee State junior Kelly Schmidt was the pitcher of the week. UTC swept the honors the previous week with Aly Walker and Celie Hudson. Beltran gave the Mocs back-to-back POWs for the first time in seven years. She had a grand slam and three doubles among her seven hits in the Challenge and is batting a league-high .500 for the season, with SoCon highs also of three home runs, 12 doubles and a .962 slugging percentage.

photo Jordan Britt

Golf

* Former Signal Mountain state champion Jordan Britt is returning to the school's golf program while continuing her professional career on the Symetra Tour and working to earn an LPGA card. Signal Mountain coach Rodney Mitchell announced that Britt, who became a SoCon player of the year for UTC, will be working with the Eagles and Lady Eagles as a volunteer assistant coach - "as her schedule allows." Mitchell noted that Britt was a TSSAA individual champ the year the school opened - and part of the Lady Eagles' first of six team titles, to go with one for the Signal boys. "The demands on a young pro are greater than many understand. The fact that Jordan will make time in her schedule to help our young athletes says so much about her," Mitchell said. "We are fortunate. I can't tell you how excited I am for our golfers. At the same time, we are rooting for Jordan's (playing) success."

Baseball

* A six-pitcher four-hitter and Ryan Beamish's sixth-inning three-run homer gave Lee University a 4-1 NCAA Division II baseball win Monday over visiting Carson-Newman, which is 10-3. Thomas Zazzaro allowed two hits and the Eagles' run in four innings, and Lance Hamilton, Ian Turner, David Pattinson (2-0), Randall Coxwell and Brandon Thompson handled the remaining five innings for the Flames (6-5). Fernando Ortiz was 2-for-4 for Lee and Keyshaun Smith was 1-for-2 with the triple that set up Parker Stahlman's RBI groundout in the third. Beamish's fourth homer of the young season came off a reliever who has six saves and had a 0.93 earned run average coming in. Ethan Goforth was 2-for-3 with a sacrifice fly for CNU.

* Cleveland State lost 12-8 to Gordon State on Monday with the visiting Georgia team scoring 10 runs in the fifth and sixth innings. Rhett Baldwin was 2-for-5 with two RBIs and Andrew Carpenter was 2-for-4 with a homer and three runs scored in defeat for the Cougars (4-5), while Jonathan Hickman also was 2-for-4, scoring once. Starting pitcher Justin Morris allowed four hits and two runs while striking out five in his four innings.

* Sewanee sophomore Trey Holland made an NCAA Division III national team of the week after his first mound start of 2019, and his second start this past Saturday led to the honor of Southern Athletic Association pitcher of the week. He pitched seven shutout innings against MacMurray, and he allowed only two hits while striking out 11 batters. He is 2-0 with 17 strikeouts this season and has not allowed an earned run in 23 innings going back to last season.

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