Keeping track of the dozens of teams and hundreds of area athletes still competing for a berth in next week's Spring Fling can be confusing. Like an air traffic controller's screen of blips seemingly moving aimlessly, the coming and going happens fast this time of year.
So we're here to help.
Each morning for the remainder of the spring sports season - which runs with this week's playoffs and next week's state championships - the Times Free Press will summarize the top prep stories of the day. We'll highlight the outstanding performances, include links to features and game stories, sprinkle in some opinion and run a complete list of scores from the previous day as well as that day's schedule of games.
Call it your breakfast blitz of area prep sports news.
5 takeaways from Monday:
Familiar territory
The Gordon Lee baseball machine continues to roll along. The Trojans won their series-deciding game Monday to earn the right to play for a possible third consecutive state title in a best-of-three series that begins Friday at Savannah.
Senior pitcher Riley King - who had been the team's No. 2 starter most of the season - was given the chance to rebound from a disastrous quarterfinal outing (allowing seven runs in 1 1/3 innings) and did just that. King tossed 4 2/3 innings of scoreless, hitless relief which allowed his team to rally.
Thinning the herd
Seven baseball and softball teams had their season ended in Monday's region semifinal round. That left six baseball and nine softball teams still with a shot at reaching the state tournament.
Those surviving teams are guaranteed a spot in Friday's sub-state round, regardless of what happens in Wednesday's region championships. The region champions earn the right to host on Friday, while the runner-up teams must travel for a sub-state game.
Monday's hero
With two outs in the eighth inning and Sale Creek's win-or-go-home region semifinal against Harriman tied at 3, senior Hannah Skiles lined a grounder that took a bad hop and allowed Shelby Sullivan - who had doubled off the centerfield fence - to score the winning run.
Skiles had been hitless in three previous at-bats and Harriman had intentionally walked Brooke Raines - who had two hits and three RBIs - to bring Skiles to the plate. The win was all the more dramatic considering the team has dedicated this season to its late coach Clifford Kirk, a legendary figure in the softball community who died in November.
Meigs County kept its softball season alive in similarly dramatic fashion when freshman Sierra Howard drilled a grand slam with two outs in the seventh inning to rally past Signal Mountain 9-6.
Tough coaching call
After building his alma mater, Polk County, into a consistent winner for 19 seasons, Davis was unable to get the same result in two seasons at McMinn Central and on Monday the veteran coach announced he was resigning to join the Rhea County staff as a defensive assistant.
The weight of back-to-back losing seasons with the Chargers weighed heavily on Davis, who is known to stress over every aspect of his programs. He had inherited a program that had just one winning season in the 11 seasons prior to his arrival. In fact the Chargers had twice as many 0-10 finishes as winning records in the previous decade. Davis will now be a part of a program that ranks among the area's best when it comes to community support and has nine defensive starters returning.
McMinn Central now joins Tyner in searching for a new head coach with just over three months remaining before the season kicks off. There could be even more area programs facing a coaching change soon as well.
Baylor DL making a name for himself
Before he's even played a single down for the Red Raiders, Bridger Knee, a star transfer from Bowling Green, Kentucky has already put himself among the area's top college prospects. The 6-foot-2, 250-pound senior defensive lineman has committed to Army, becoming the second Red Raiders player to have committed to an FBS program, with two other teammates also having college scholarship offers.
Monday prep scoreboard
BASEBALL
Region 2-A semifinal
Coalfield 5, Sale Creek 3
Region 3-A semifinal
South Pittsburg 7, Trousdale County 3
Region 3-AA semifinals
Hixson 8, Sweetwater 4
Signal Mountain 3, Loudon 2
Region 4-AA
DeKalb County 4, Sequatchie County 3
Watertown 4, Marion County 3
Region 3-AAA
Bradley Central 6, Warren County 0
McMinn County 5, Cookeville 0
GHSA state semifinal
Class A public
Gordon Lee 15, ACE Academy 6
SOCCER
Region 4-AA semifinal
Red Bank 1, East Hamilton 0
SOFTBALL
Region 2-A semifinal
Sale Creek 4, Harriman 3
Region 3-A semifinal
Gordonsville 9, Whitwell 8
Region 3-AA semifinals
Red Bank 4, Sweetwater 3
Meigs County 9, Signal Mountain 6
Region 4-AA semifinals
Sequatchie County 20, Macon County 4
Upperman 11, Bledsoe County 0
Region 3-AAA semifinal
Soddy-Daisy 2, Rhea County 1
Tuesday's schedule
SOCCER
Region 3-A semifinals
Arts & Sciences at Cascade, 4:30
Community at Signal Mountain, 6
Region 4-AA semifinal
Sequoyah at Howard, 7
Region 3-AAA semifinals
Warren County at Ooltewah, 6
Cleveland at Rhea County, 6
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.