Baylor’s volleyball team has reached the TSSAA Division II-AA state final in Murfreesboro, with the Lady Red Raiders concluding Wednesday’s play at Middle Tennessee Christian School with a five-set victory over Knoxville Catholic in an elimination match.
The Lady Raiders (35-7) were swept earlier in the day by Briarcrest (33-6), but they will meet again for the title at 3 p.m. Eastern on Thursday at MTCS.
Baylor beat Knoxville Catholic by the set scores of 28-26, 25-15, 15-25, 13-25 and 16-14. Six seniors will try to help the Lady Raiders bring home their first state title since 2017.
Class AAA
Cleveland continued its postseason tear by sweeping Hillsboro in the state quarterfinals, 25-14, 25-19 and 25-9. The Lady Blue Raiders (47-5) — ranked second overall in the state behind Nolensville according to MaxPreps.com — have now swept all seven of their playoff matches.
Led by seniors Addison Hurst and Gracelyn Jackson, Cleveland will take on Collierville (36-8) in winners-bracket final at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at Rockvale High School.
Class AA
East Hamilton is knocking on the door of a second straight trip to the state title round after junior standout Tristin Sutton helped lead the Lady Hurricanes to a 3-1 quarterfinal victory over Dyer County, 25-14, 18-25, 26-24, 25-18.
East Hamilton (36-8) will take on Creek Wood (38-1) in the winners-bracket final at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at Siegel High School.
Signal Mountain (29-12) fell in its quarterfinal to Creek Wood in five sets, 23-25, 25-15, 25-19, 22-25, 11-15. The Lady Eagles will play Greenville (29-7) at 10:30 am Thursday.
Class A
Sale Creek (39-6) took care of business in the elimination bracket with a sweep of Halls, 25-14, 25-14, 25-11. The Lady Panthers will take on Eagleville at 1 p.m. Thursday at Blackman High School.
Arts and Sciences (34-4) earned the first state tournament win in program history with a sweep of Gibson County, 25-18, 25-7, 25-11. CSAS will look to keep climbing back out of that bracket when it faces South Greene at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Blackman.
GHSA SOFTBALL
Class AAAA
Heritage earned its fifth consecutive trip to the state tournament in Columbus with a 4-1 win over North Oconee Wednesday in the Westminster Super Regional.
The Lady Generals (23-6), who won three state titles in succession starting in 2018, swept three games to advance as one of the final eight teams in AAAA, culminating their impressive showing with Wednesday’s 4-1 win over North Oconee.
A four-run fourth inning included Macie Collins’ two-run double, Ella Blansit’s RBI double and a run-scoring single from Landry White, and it all went with another dominant outing from sophomor pitcher Addie Edwards.
Edwards, who allowed one run and struck out 15 in Tuesday’s 8-1 opening win over the same team, was even better Wednesday. Coming on in relief in the second inning, she did not allow a hit, walked one batter and fanned 14.
“Addie is a gamer,” Heritage coach Megan Crawford said of her ace. “She’s very mature in the circle and she keeps her composure the entire game even though she’s just a sophomore.
“Offensively, we are getting our bats going at the right time and we are competing as a team with high energy. Our pitchers are throwing unbelievably, and our defense is backing up our pitchers by making the routine plays.”
Northwest Whitfield, after losing its first game at the Pace Academy Super Regional on Tuesday, won three straight games to get within a win of Columbus. The Lady Bruins, after winning twice Wednesday, fell 9-3 to East Forsyth in the championship round.
Northwest (17-15) defeated Pace 16-6 in the losers-bracket final as Jolie Albertson went 4-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs and Aby Jarvi added four hits and three RBIs. The Lady Bruins then defeated East Forsyth 9-7 in eight innings as Albertson hit a pair of homers and drove in six runs while also earning the pitching win.
East Forsyth, however, won the winner-take-all game as Cadence Alberty had three hits and drove in three runs while also limiting Northwest to one earned run and five hits.
Sonoraville was eliminated with a 3-1 loss to Lovett at Walnut Grove.
Class AA
Murray County made it to the championship round before falling to host Union County, 10-8. The Lady Indians defeated Callaway 12-8 in the losers-bracket final to earn the title-round matchup.
North Murray, after splitting a pair of games Wednesday, was eliminated with a 10-3 loss to Banks County.
Class A (D-I)
Dade County and Trion lost in championship rounds at separate sites.
Dade went 2-1 Wednesday, defeating Rabun County 8-5 in a losers-bracket final as Raegan Page had a three-run triple and Karlee Welch had two hits and three RBIs. The Lady Wolverines defeated host Mount Vernon 6-3 in a must-win title-round game as Ali Thompson, Kaitlyn Stinnett, Falyn Baggett and Kendyl Phillips each had two hits.
Mount Vernon, however, won the deciding game 9-2 as Dade (18-12-1) committed seven errors that led to six unearned runs. Page had two hits and an RBI, with Alyssa Wilson adding two hits and Stinnett a RBI.
Trion earned its way into the title round at Prince Avenue Christian with an 8-2 win over Commerce as Aubrey Burke went seven innings and did not allow an earned run while striking out five while also adding a three-run homer. Lexi Baker added a two-run home run, with I’ziah McCutchins and Bailey Smith adding two hits each.
Prince Avenue ended Trion’s season with a 10-2 win. Baker had a two-run homer for the Lady Bulldogs (16-10) in the loss.
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com and follow him on Twitter @PMacCoon. Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com and follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.