At first glance nothing much has changed for Soddy-Daisy’s softball team. The Lady Trojans still are relying on strong pitching and defense to win at an impressive rate, and with eight of nine starters back from last year’s state championship team, they’re still the team to beat in Class AAA in Tennessee.
The only visible difference is that after 23 years of helping build Soddy-Daisy softball into one of the state’s top sports programs, Clifford Kirk no longer is perched atop a bucket inside the dugout, or griping at umpires from the coach’s box on the field.
Kirk retired after leading the Lady Trojans to their eighth state championship last spring and a No. 11 national ranking. But just four months later, realizing retirement didn’t really suit him yet, and knowing he would miss the game too much, the 74-year-old Kirk came out of retirement literally to start over again.
He is now in charge of trying to build Sale Creek’s program into a Class A contender. Sale Creek principal Tobin Davidson convincing Kirk to return to the diamond was perhaps the slickest recruiting move in area history, considering Kirk’s resume of taking 13 teams to state finals. His 10 state titles rank second all-time, and in the 34-year history of the state softball tournament, only five Class AAA teams won back-to-back titles, and Kirk was the coach for three of those (Hixson 1987-88, Soddy-Daisy 1999-2000 and 2006-07).
But his departure has done nothing to change expectations for the program. Six-year assistant Wes Skiles now heads the program along with longtime assistant Lamar Lasley, and with the exception of a few minor tweaks to fit their coaching style, Soddy-Daisy continues to follow the same formula for winning that the program has used for nearly a quarter century.