The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga softball team will begin its season favored to repeat as Southern Conference champion, the league announced Thursday. The Mocs, 37-17 overall and 11-7 in conference play a season ago, are coming off their 14th SoCon tournament title and 11th NCAA tournament appearance. They totaled 35 points in the preseason balloting, including five first-place votes, with UNC Greensboro next with 28 points and one vote for first. East Tennessee State also got a first and matched Mercer with 22 points, followed by Samford with 20 and Furman and Western Carolina with 10 each. UTC outfielder Aly Walker and Celie Hudson were selected as preseason player and pitcher of the year, respectively. The seniors, who were first-team all-conference after last season, were joined on the preseason All-SoCon first team by sophomore infielder Emily Coltharp and junior pitcher Allison Swinford. Redshirt senior Emma Sturdivant and senior Hayleigh Weissenbach earned preseason second-team honors. UTC opens the season at home Feb. 8-9 with a three-game series against Austin Peay. Saturday's doubleheader and Sunday's finale are slated for 1 p.m. starts. Fans can "meet the Mocs" at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the team's indoor practice facility at Warner Park. The event is free and includes photo and autograph opportunities with the players and coaches, with schedule posters and cards available.
UTC's Aly Walker (11) scores on a teammate's home run during a SoCon tournament game against Furman on May 8, 2019, at Jim Frost Stadium. / Staff photo* Lee University begins the area college softball season with six games this weekend in the Gulf Coast Invitational in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The Lady Flames face Florida schools Saint Leo and Palm Beach Atlantic today, when Bryan College with two home games and Chattanooga State on the road against Georgia Highlands start the area baseball season. Lee, Cleveland State and reigning NAIA champion Tennessee Wesleyan open their baseball seasons with home doubleheaders Saturday.
Soccer
* The Chattanooga Football Club continued its series of player signing announcements Thursday with newcomer goalkeeper Alec Redington and returner JoWayne Laidley publicly added to the soccer organization's first professional roster. Laidley, a 27-year-old from Jamaica, recovered from a 2018 broken leg and showed great speed in his nine games for CFC last year, mostly as an outside back. "We welcome JoWayne back to Chattanooga FC," coach Peter Fuller said in a release. "He is a versatile player who helped us at multiple positions last year. He is a great locker-room guy and a fantastic teammate." Said Laidley: "It's a pleasure to be a part of this new professional journey with CFC. I am ready to put in the work on and off the field and be a role model to the community." He previously played for the St. Louis Ambush, and Redington is fresh out of St. Louis Community College, where he allowed only goal in five matches. He's 20. "This has been a dream come true, signing my first professional contract," Redington said. "I'm looking forward to starting my career here in Chattanooga." Said Fuller: "I'm very glad to have him. He comes from a good college program at UNC Charlotte (redshirt year) and has an excellent background growing up in St. Louis, a hotbed of soccer."
Basketball
* Lee University senior Lindsey Roddy reached the 1,000-career-points milestone in the first quarter and wound up with a game-high 17 as the sixth-ranked Lady Flames won 74-42 in a Gulf South Conference basketball game Thursday night at Mississippi College. The Lee men won 68-54. Taylor Boggess hit four 3-point baskets and matched Haley Schubert with 12 points for the Lady Flames (20-1, 12-1), and Schubert and Abby Bertram had four and three steals and four assists apiece. The Lady Choctaws (8-11, 5-8) played without two usual starters. For the Flames (16-4, 11-2), Quay Kennedy scored 20 points and Ryan Montgomery had 19 plus 10 rebounds, while Beyuan Hendricks turned in 12 points and five assists.
* Brandon Thomas had 24 points and 11 rebounds as Bryan College posted a 77-67 Appalachian Athletic Conference home win over Reinhardt. Keaton Dotson added 16 points with four 3s for the Lions (12-11, 11-8), and Justin Warner had eight rebounds.
Track & Field
* Lee's Celine Ritter and Christian Noble are the GSC track performers of the week after setting school records in Boston with times (women's 3000, men's 5000) that are the second best in NCAA Division II so far this indoor season, and the Flames' Jonah Mayes is the men's field performer of the week. He scored in four events at a largely Division I meet in Birmingham, tying his school record in high jump. The national coaches association listed Lee No. 9 in the D-II women's rating index and 25th in the men's this week.
Compiled by Ron Bush and Lindsey Young. Contact Bush at rbush@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291 and Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6296.