Well-rounded Red Bank High School senior Tyler Stott signed Wednesday to continue his baseball career at Tennessee Wesleyan College.
Stott, Red Bank’s reigning homecoming king and a member of the student council core group and newspaper staff, pitches and plays first base for the Lions. A left-hander, he was a reliever last year but probably will be one of the top starters this season, Lions coach Trey Hicks said.
“Going to the next level is a big deal, no matter where you are going, but Tennessee Wesleyan is one of the top NAIA programs in the nation,” Hicks said. “I’m really proud for Tyler. He’s a great kid.
“He has a very good changeup and has developed a pretty decent curveball in the last year.”
Stott, who played in the Chattanooga Baseball Club select program, is 6-foot-1 and weighs about 225 pounds, and Athens school’s coaches expect him to get stronger in their weight program.
“He’s a big kid, and hopefully he can grow into his body quite a bit,” said Josh Renick, one of two Bulldogs assistants who attended the signing. “And he’s a dual guy. Hopefully he can help us right away as a left-handed pitcher, but we like having guys who can play other positions.
“His ability to throw strikes will be a big plus for us.”
Stott attended a camp at Tennessee Tech and was invited back for another one next month, but he said when he visited Wesleyan that he “just really liked it. I felt that’s where I wanted to be.”
Temple gets Whiteside
Tennessee Temple University coach Kenrick Liburd was delighted Thursday to have signed Chattanooga Christian’s Rebecca Whiteside for his women’s soccer program.
“We feel like she’s a gift,” Liburd said. “We feel she’s more than ready to compete at the college level. She’s got the physical prowess and the technical ability to play for any NAIA program I’ve seen. I think she’s one of the top three [high school girls’] players in this region.”
CCS coach Cal Sneller said the 5-foot-7 Whiteside played “pretty much every position” except goalkeeper for the Lady Chargers.
“She has huge potential,” Sneller said. “She has the gifts, the leg strength, the body and the attributes of a great player. And she has great knowledge of soccer.”
Whiteside, who also considered Denison University in Ohio, said she preferred to play an attacking position. She wanted to go to a Christian college, and she picked Temple for two main reasons beyond that.
“I wanted to stay close to my mom and my sister, so they and my friends can come watch me play,” she said. “But mainly Temple is giving me an opportunity to make a difference in a program.”
Liburd said the Lady Crusaders made notable progress in his first season as head coach of the third-year program but still have a long way to go. And Whiteside, with her skill and versatility, is a great start on that, he said.
Shifts for boys’ teams
This week The Associated Press released its second state polls for the 2010-11 high school basketball season, and much more change involved Chattanooga-area boys’ teams than girls’ teams.
Local boys’ teams making the biggest moves were McCallie and Baylor in Division II and Arts & Sciences in Class A. The Blue Tornado moved from 10th to seventh in their classification, and previously unranked Baylor is now No. 10. CSAS went from being the team receiving the most votes outside the top 10 to tied for eighth in its class.
Previously No. 8 Red Bank fell a spot in Class AA, and Ooltewah went from being No. 10 in AAA to the team with the most votes not in the top 10.
The only change among area girls’ teams was Class AAA Walker Valley gaining a spot to No. 5.
GPS and Baylor remain Nos. 1 and 2 in Division II, and McMinn Central and Polk County still are second and seventh in Class AA. Bradley Central stayed No. 10 in AAA.
Soddy-Daisy hosting
The Soddy-Daisy bowling teams both won TSSAA Division I Region 3 tournaments Wednesday and will host sectionals at Holiday Bowl Hixson.
The Lady Trojans will face Columbia Central at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, when Walker Valley’s girls challenge Smyrna at 4 EST at the Smyrna Bowling Center. The Trojans will host LaVergne at 2 p.m. Monday, when Bradley Central bowls at Smyrna.
The state tournament is set for Jan. 27-29 at Smyrna.
Two Soddy-Daisy seniors, Matt Lyon and Kaleb Langston, are among the state’s three finalists for Mr. Bowling, along with Smyrna’s Brandon Barnes. Lyon won the honor the last two years.