Jordan Britt from Chattanooga won the inaugural Fort Rucker Open, a National Women’s Golf Association tournament in Alabama, in a three-way playoff. The former Girls Preparatory, Signal Mountain and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga standout won $5,000 for her victory on the U.S. Army installation’s Silver Wings Golf Club. Britt shot 74, 72 and 73 for her three rounds and won with an eagle on the first playoff hole. The NWGA, formerly known as the SunCoast Ladies Pro Golf Tour, is doing a military appreciation tour.
Baseball
* Chattanooga State’s annual fall baseball instructional league was pushed back this year to be more in the fall and avoid some of the weather issues of past years, and registration has reached almost half of the desired 75 players. The plan is for six teams with 12 or 13 players, and Tigers coach Greg Dennis said Saturday that “about 35” have signed up. Evaluations for the purpose of player placement will be done on Thursday, Sept. 10, but Dennis said participants can be accepted into the following week if the maximum hasn’t been reached. “We’re going to use Tuesday and Thursday of that week as instruction days and then set the teams, and the actual league starts up the following Monday (Sept. 21). We’ll play three nights a week, two games a night.” The league will take a rest the week of Hamilton County schools’ fall break and “then get in three or four more weeks,” Dennis said. The cost is $200 for first-time participants in the league, $150 for second-year players, $100 for third-year players and $50 for seniors taking part for the fourth time. “About half every year are returnees at some level, and the other half are usually ninth-graders or maybe 10th-graders joining us for the first time,” Dennis said. “We hope for a nice smattering of both.” Forms are available at www.chattanoogastate.edu/athletics/baseball, or anyone interested can email Greg.Dennis@chattanoogastate.edu or call 697-2418.
Softball
* UTC coach Frank Reed will teach hitting and Chattanooga State coach Blythe Golden will teach catching at a free clinic for area fastpitch softball coaches next Sunday at Connect Training Center, from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Brandon Carr will led the pitching instruction. The center, which founders Jill and Jeremy Higdon call “Chattanooga’s first nonprofit softball skills training facility,” is a 6,000-square-foot indoor facility at 4253 Cromwell Road, Suite 419, and opens for registration Monday. CTC helped the city of Chattanooga with its RBI League softball players’ development this year and has a teaching partnership with Golden and the Lady Tigers. Register at connecttrainingcenter.com.