H.S. SPORTS: 5 takeaways from last week's Spring Fling

The week of Spring Fling sporting events comes and goes like a whirlwind. With five baseball teams, four softball teams, three tennis teams and two soccer teams — along with individual athletes in tennis and track — watching top-level competition was an everyday thing all week.

But now that the weekend has past, and I have had an opportunity to look back on the Spring Fling events, here are five storylines — in no particular order — that made me appreciate at the West Tennessee athletes involved in Spring Fling:

1The Sacred Heart boys' soccer program hasn't been looked at as one of the premier teams in West Tennessee before this season.

But this season has definitely turned some heads.

Coming from a school of 80 students, the Knights played a tough schedule against some of the best in West Tennessee. Sacred Heart held their own through the regular season schedule.

But the more eye-opening games came in the postseason. Sacred Heart opened the postseason with a win over Harding Academy to earn the program's first sub-state appearance.

The Knights went on to finish third in the region and win at Webb School of Bell Buckle in a sub-state match.

Sacred Heart's draw in the state tournament was not a favorable one against a powerhouse like Knoxville Webb, but the Knights performed well on the big stage, eventually losing 1-0.

2The Class AA softball tournament is always loaded, and that makes winning the opening game essential to not be forced to play out of the losers' bracket.

Lexington fell in its opener, and the Lady Tigers had to win four games to get back in the championship game.

Those four games were won over a three-day period. Pitching had to be consistent for that to happen, but the offense had to come up with clutch hits.

Lexington got those clutch hits in the form of home runs from five players in the batting order. Meghan Maness and Abbie Nowell hit their first home runs of the season at the state tournament.

And the three power bats for the Lady Tigers also followed through as senior Iesha Kizer, sophomore Sam McDaniel and freshman Kaitlyn Kelley all had home runs.

With four of those five players back next season, Lexington could again be a power-hitting team.

3Injuries are always going to play a part in sports. For University School of Jackson tennis player George Markos, a knee injury kept him out of tennis at the beginning of the season.

As he healed from that injury and started to get back on the court, he suffered an elbow injury. Many athletes looking to the future would have decided to sit out and get healthy.

But not Markos. He wanted to be on the court with his teammates and try to lead the Bruins to the Division II-A state tennis championship.

Markos helped lead USJ to the championship to finish runner-up, but the real reward came on Friday when the doubles team of Markos and Cade Reasons won the Division II-A state championship with a win over a team from Knoxville Webb.

4To get to the state tournament, the USJ tennis team had to have a strong group of players that could compete against tough competition coming out of Memphis.

Hollen Spencer played football and basketball for four years at USJ, and he did not want his athletic career with the Bruins to end. So in December, he made the decision to talk to USJ coach Ted Measley about playing tennis.

When Measley asked Spencer if he had ever played tennis, Spencer replied, "Once when I was 10."

Spencer played as the Bruins' No. 5 singles and as a member of the No. 2 doubles team. During the postseason, Spencer picked up key wins that helped the Bruins reach the state tournament.

5The Trenton Peabody baseball team reaching the Class A baseball state tournament for the first time in the TSSAA era was a spotlight within itself.

But the actions of one player made the state tournament run to the semifinals even more special.

During the Region 7-A championship game, a missed call on a pitch had Kendrick Malone throwing a fast ball instead of a curveball. The ball hit sophomore catcher Will Pickard in the knee. Pickard, Peabody's second string catcher, went down in agony. He tried to continue to play, but he was unable to do so.

Peabody had to rely on a third-string catcher in sectionals — Ethan Richardson. The problem was Richardson is also one of the Golden Tide's top four pitchers and would be necessary in the state tournament.

Pickard returned for Peabody's second game of the state tournament at catcher, and he went 6-for-9 in the Golden Tide's final three games.

Michael Odom, 425-9754