TSSAA DISTRICT TOURNAMENTS FIRST ROUND
(All times Eastern)Today* 7-AA: 6:30 — Notre Dame at Chattanooga Christian, Signal Mountain at Bledsoe County; remainder of tournament at Sequatchie CountyFriday* 5-AAA: 5 — Bradley Central at Soddy-Daisy, Walker Valley at East Hamilton; 6 — Cleveland at McMinn County; remainder of tournament at Ooltewah* 6-AA at Red Bank: 5 — Hixson vs. Tyner; 7 — Howard vs. Red Bank* 5-AA: Loudon at McMinn Central, 5:30* 6-A: 6 — Richard Hardy at Lookout Valley, South Pittsburg at Lookout Valley, Van Buren at Sale Creek; remainder of tournament at Lookout ValleyMonday* 5-AA: Loudon-McMinn Central winner at Polk County, 5:30* 5-A at Warner Park: 5:30 — Copper Basin vs. Silverdale Baptist Academy; 7:30 — Boyd-Buchanan vs. Arts & Sciences* 3-A at Rockwood: Rockwood-Knoxville Grace Christian winner vs. Meigs County, 5
Love was in the air moments before East Ridge hosted Central in a District 6-AA high school softball game on April 7.
Then the first pitch was thrown, and all of that vanished quickly.
As if the game didn’t have enough significance for its impact on the league standings, the head coaching matchup that day was sister versus sister.
“They were being friends before the game,” Central junior first baseman Tatum Morgan said of her coach, LeeAnne Shurette, and East Ridge coach Kerilyn Mongar. “Then once the game starts, they’re fierce competitors.
“It’s funny to watch. Coach Shurette is the older of the two. You don’t want your little sister to beat you.”
Presumably Morgan knows what she’s talking about, since she has a 12-year-old sister.
Mongar is hoping for another opportunity to take down her big sis, which could happen in the upcoming district tournament. The first opportunity could be in Monday’s winners-bracket final, because they are on opposite sides of the bracket as the two highest-seeded teams.
The spring’s first district tournament action involving Chattanooga-area softball teams is today, with Notre Dame playing at Chattanooga Christian and Signal Mountain playing at Bledsoe County in District 7-AA. Both are scheduled to start at 6:30 EDT.
The District 6-AA tournament begins Friday. Central and East Ridge have byes into winners-bracket semifinals. At 10 a.m. Saturday, the Lady Pounders will play Friday’s winner between Hixson and Tyner. At noon Saturday, the Lady Pioneers will play Friday’s winner between Howard and Red Bank.
All the runs in the Central-East Ridge game that day in April came via home runs. Alexis Grampp and Cheyenne Slaughter each had one for the Lady Pounders and Kati Kennedy hit one for East Ridge. Central won 4-3.
“It was a little bit awkward the first time we played them,” said Jerry Mongar, father of the two head coaches and an assistant to his oldest daughter. “But I had just a relaxed feeling. Between the girls, I don’t care who wins, other than I am closer to the girls at Central.”
Jerry’s wife, Cyndi, is a team mom at Central, but she and middle daughter Jalayne attend East Ridge games when they can. Kerilyn even made the home game against Central a breast cancer-awareness game so mom could wear a neutral-colored pink shirt.
The Lady Pounders went on to finish unbeaten in the league standings. It was the Lady Pioneers’ only district loss.
“We left some runners on,” Shurette said, “but they were right there with us the whole game.”
Since Shurette took over Central’s program in 2010, the Lady Pounders have made three trips to the state tournament. They haven’t lost a district regular-season game since a 5-3 defeat on April 16, 2013, to East Hamilton, which has since moved up to Class AAA.
The Lady Pioneers’ most noteworthy claim within the district in that same six-year span was bouncing Central from the district tournament in 2012 with a 1-0 victory in the losers-bracket final. They had been outscored 29-0 by the Lady Pounders the three previous times they played that year.
“All three years I had been here we had never played them a close game,” East Ridge senior second baseman Morgan Montieth said. “Even though we lost this year, knowing we could play with them was a big boost for our team. We’d love another shot at them. That would be really great. No matter what happened, whether we win or lose, the atmosphere would be really great.”
Central has been reliant on its senior class this year. Grampp, a shortstop, is the biggest power threat in a lineup that includes fellow senior Samantha Scott, a multi-year starter at second base. Other seniors include catcher Reagan Benedict, a transfer from Ringgold, and right fielder Emma Beach, whom Shurette said has increased her offensive productivity lately.
Junior right-hander Brooke Parrott anchors the pitching staff. She and left-handed senior Lexie Ainslie play center field when the other pitches.
“We have to play our best defense, that’s for sure,” Morgan said of what it would take to get to the winners-bracket final. “And we have to hit the ball with runners on. We’ve kind of been struggling with that. We have to help out our pitchers. Sometimes we don’t. They’ll be pitching a great game, and we don’t always make the plays behind them.”
East Ridge’s offense is sparked by the first two in its batting order, junior center fielder Mya Adams and freshman shortstop Sarah Hudgens. Sophomore right-hander Sabrina Thompson is featured in the pitching circle.
One thing that has helped the Lady Pioneers improve has been their ability to sometimes rally and win.
“In past years if we got down, we didn’t think we could fight back,” Montieth said. “The difference with this team is if we get behind we don’t go three up, three down every time. We never stop believing we can still win.”
Conversely, East Ridge has lost a few leads, too.
“My thing we’ve been working on all year is always giving one hundred percent,” East Ridge coach Mongar said. “You can’t slack off. You can’t score a few runs and think that’s going to do. Sometimes we struggle with finishing.
“They know they can do it. Everybody just has to be on the same page all seven innings.”
Shurette acknowledges that her sister’s coaching has been a key factor in the resurgence at East Ridge this season.
“She’s brought discipline to their program,” Shurette said. “She’s doing a good job teaching them the game. She’s had the athletes. She’s getting them to buy in. They’re scrappy. That’s for sure.”
So if the teams meet again, will older sister be a little more generous next time?
“I love her and all,” Shurette said, “but I’m way too competitive for that.”
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.