On the brink of the District 6-AA high school softball tournament, Red Bank’s Lionettes have a different view on the competition this season. It’s from the top.
The Lionettes enter this year’s postseason as the district regular-season champions, interrupting Central’s string of No. 1 tournament seeds throughout the careers of the current six seniors on Red Bank’s team. The tournament is being held at Signal Mountain and begins today at 4:30 p.m.
Today’S area TSSAA Division I District Softball Tournament games
(All times Eastern)6-AAA at White County: 6—Warren County vs. Rhea County5-AAA (at McMinn County after first round): 5—McMinn County at East Hamilton, Bradley Central at Soddy-Daisy; 6—Cleveland at Ooltewah7-AA at Marion County: 7—Cumberland County vs. Sequatchie County; 9—Bledsoe/Grundy County winner vs. Marion County6-AA at Signal Mountain: 4:30—Tyner vs. Signal Mountain; 6:15—Hixson vs. East Ridge; 8—Brainerd vs. Central5-AA (all at higher seedings): 5—Loudon at McMinn Central; Polk County at Sequoyah5-A at South Pittsburg: 5—Van Buren vs. South Pittsburg; 7—Van Buren/South Pittsburg winner vs. Whitwell, championship4-A at Lookout Valley: 4:30—CGLA vs. Arts & Sciences; 6—Copper Basin vs. Lookout Valley
Umpiring assigner Larry Bateman, left, shakes hands with Red Bank coach Mandi Munn after presenting her with the Terry Cordell Memorial Softball Sportsmanship award before the Lionettes’ home game Monday against Tyner.Staff photo by C.B. SchmelterUmpiring assigner Larry Bateman, left, shakes hands with Red Bank coach Mandi Munn after presenting her with the Terry Cordell Memorial Softball Sportsmanship award before the Lionettes’ home game Monday against Tyner.Five other district tournaments involving area teams also begin today at various locations. The District 7-AA tournament began Thursday with Grundy County defeating Bledsoe County 8-4 in a play-in game.
All seven tournaments have games scheduled Saturday, although the National Weather Service is forecasting a 60 percent chance of afternoon showers in the area that could cause some reshuffling of schedules. There are other factors that could cause schedule changes, like in District 5-AAA where Bradley Central has its prom on Saturday night and East Hamilton has class night on Monday.