Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 4/8/16. Dalton High School’s Harrison Norman (19) pitches against River Ridge at the Catamount’s home field on April 8, 2016. 
Dalton coach Rhett Parrott watches the game Wednesday, March 16, 2016 during the game at Northwest Whitfield High School.DALTON, Ga. – The Dalton High School baseball team returned to prominence a year ago, winning 24 games and reaching the Class AAAAA state Elite Eight before losing to powerful Gainesville in a tight three-game set.
The Catamounts under first-year coach Rhett Parrott accomplished all that without a senior, so, as Parrott knows all too well, the expectations for this season are off the charts in this sports-crazed city. The reality is, however, that matching or exceeding 2016 will be difficult for one major reason: The competition just took a major step forward.
Reclassification jumped the Cats to Georgia’s Class 6A and into a Region 6 that includes three other programs that made deep playoff runs a year ago. Harrison and Allatoona each won 25 games, while South Cobb made it to the Elite Eight by getting hot late.
“It will be tough with Harrison, Allatoona and South Cobb also in our region,” Parrott said. “They are teams that typically reload, so it doesn’t matter who they graduated. We play some great teams out of our region, and we look forward to testing ourselves against them.
“We know expectations are high, but that’s what we want. If everybody does their part and executes, we’ll be fine.”