Turns out there’s a silver lining to all those rainclouds that softball players, coaches and fans for Baylor and Chattanooga Christian School had to deal with this week in Tennessee’s mid-state region.
They’re coming home to finish a championship matchup that could be over quickly once it resumes, or lead to another long day on the diamond.
After competing from Tuesday to Friday in Murfreesboro and Smyrna — when they weren’t waiting out delays for inclement weather, including a Wednesday washout — Baylor and CCS are set to wrap up the TSSAA Spring Fling’s Division II-AA state tournament this weekend in Chattanooga.
The DII-AA final will be resumed at 2 p.m. Saturday at Jim Frost Stadium at Warner Park, where the Lady Chargers will come to bat in the top of the sixth while locked in a 3-all tie with Baylor. The teams had just finished the bottom of the fifth inning — CCS senior ace Kylie Black recorded the 900th strikeout of her prep career on a nasty changeup to strike out the side — when the bottom fell out of the sky at Middle Tennessee State University’s softball stadium just before noon local time Friday in Murfreesboro.
CCS (28-8-1) — which beat Baylor 11-2 in Tuesday’s first round of the double-elimination tournament at McKnight Park in Murfreesboro, then defeated GPS 3-1 on Thursday at Cedar Stone Park in Smyrna — needs only to win the suspended game to secure the program’s second state title a year after earning its first. Meanwhile, the Lady Red Raiders (25-10-2) would have to win this game and a second one, which is also currently scheduled for Saturday at Frost Stadium, to add a record-extending 18th TSSAA softball state title to their haul.