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They usually do play during the dead period, and most coaches will have a couple of parents that will fill in during that time. The teams usually include all high school grade levels, including upcoming freshman. We do not have to have a roster and if needed you can pick up additional players at your convenience. Each Tuesday night there will be a double header beginning at 6pm with the 2nd game being at 7:30pm. The games are played at the Lebanon Girls Softball Complex.

Lebanon is looking for area high school age softball teams that would like to participate in a weekly league. Double-headers will be played each Tuesday night. We would like to begin playing on Tuesday, June 15th. Your team will be guaranteed 5 weeks, but possibly 6 weeks. There is a team entry fee of $350. Balls will be furnished. Please respond with an email address and we will contact you about entering your team in the league.

Lebanon beat Hendersonville 5-4 in a battle through the 11th inning. Hendersonville got the lead early 3-0, but Lebanon being down 3-1 at the top of the 7th was able to come back and tie it up sending the game into extra innings. Senior Jordan Tate pitched a great game for Hendersonville. Lebanon's freshman pitcher Beth Swartwout never gave up and ended up with the win. In the 10th inning the tie breaker runners scored for each team, tying it up at four. In the top of the 11th Lebanon's Tori Brewington put down a sacrifice bunt putting the tie-breaker runner in scoring position. Then Kathryn Ludwikowski's single to left field knocked in the go ahead run for Lebanon. At the bottom of the 11th with the tying run for Hendersonville at 3rd base and two out, Lebanon's senior Jessica Lingnau made an amazing catch on a line drive to right field to end the game. All I can say is "Wow! What a game!"

Two freshmen to be looking at are pitchers from Lebanon. Bethany Anderson and Beth Swartwout. Beth is 3-1 and Bethany is 4-2. Bethany pitched against Dickson County today and won 2-1. Beth pitched against Oakland today and won 2-1. Of course they were backed up by some great defense and timely hits, but you will be hearing a lot about these girls in the future.

You can't forget what you don't know. Inform us on what you are talking about.

As far as the horns, drums, and other noisemakers go...unless the other team elected to make noises during the play, the fans at Riverdale for the most part, made the noise between plays, between pitches (if it was a strike!) and between innings. But, go ahead and complain if it makes you feel better because again, all you're doing is bringing more attention to a wonderful school that has the most supportive fans anywhere in the state of Tennessee! /roflol.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflol:" border="0" alt="roflol.gif" /> Don't get so defensive about it. Actually, the 2 games I witnessed, the drum beating was non-stop in crucial and intense parts of the game including but not limited to the whole time the opposing teams pitcher was pitching and trying to stay focused. It really is no big deal and I am not complaining, just suggesting that you might want to re-think that. I couldn't do it, but that is an individual decision. You do have great fans and hard-working volunteers and you should all be congratulated. Enjoy your success and don't worry about what everyone else says.

ha! ha! /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /> Good response! Never thought of it that way. I always thought the band was trying to encourage the defense and get the crowd into the game, not get into the head of the offense. Yes, I think the kids should be able to block out all distractions. But when you have 1 pitcher concentrating on her next pitch and someone is sitting less than 40 feet away beating a drum, the only motive I thought was to make noise and shake her up. Pitchers have to be tough, that is for sure. But I guess the motive was to encourage your batter. That makes sense, but is it right? I like the drum and tamborine ya'll have. The horns are good too. I like seeing the boys there supporting the girls. I just said the timing needs to be controlled. Riverdale always has a good team and I am very happy for your state championship.

I think the "artificial noisemakers" are fine if they are used at appropriate times. I don't think they should be used during actual play time, like when a pitcher is pitching, a batter is batting or maybe on a defensive play. This is only done to get into the head of a player and that is going too far. Wait until the play is over, then blow your horn or beat your drum in between innings. I am all for that and it makes it more fun. Have fun and support your team, but don't try to get into the heads of the opposing players, they are just kids after all.

Congratulations to you and your team on this victory. I have always felt that the Riverdale Warrior's softball team was a fine tuned machine. I have watched you coach them the last few years and to be honest I love your coaching style. Keep up the good work!

Luckily, when we went to Riverdale to play a regular season game we had been "warned" by another team in our district about the horns. We brought some horns of our own and tried to compete with the loudness. It is fun to see such team spirit. We got a lot of strange looks with our horns, but we just tried to drown out the noise of their horns, drum and tamborine. I think it is all in fun, however I don't think they should beat the drum when the other team is on defense and try to get into the head of the opposing pitcher. I think that is disrespectful and I wouldn't go that far. It is okay to celebrate after a hit or an out has been made, but be quiet during the acutal at bat. I think our strategy of trying to compete with their noise might have worked, we only lost 1-0 and their 1 run was unearned. Our team played great defense againt them. We just didn't produce in the hitting department. Congratulations to Riverdale on their state Championship. This team is very well coached and obviously works hard. Next year we will face Beech in our new district and I will be able to compare the teams on a regular season level. To me it would be hard to compete with Coach Breeden in his dedication to the game.

I think you knew the game was postponed before you wrote the post. ha! ha! I have never figured out who you are. But this season, I really missed your personal prediction of each game. What happened? All we could get was a top 10 list. Not that I wanted to put any stress on you, but it was fun reading your game by game predictions each day last season. Did you decide not to do the daily losers thing because of all of the complaints?

Watched this game last night and it was great. Papini pitched a fabulous game! She was backed up by some great hits and defensive plays. Both teams played hard. The players on each team that stood out to me were the SS and second base on both teams. The SS for Siegel was covered in dirt from her chin to her toes. Now that shows some dedication to the game. I am happy for Blackman that they came out of this game with a win. Their fans have always been nice and respectful. Good sportsmanship sometimes isn't talked about much, but I think Blackman, win or lose, does it with class. This comes from the parent of another 7AAA school. /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

From Lebanon - pitcher Kathryn Ludwikowski and shortstop Kelly McKeon - both of these sophomore girls have a bright future.

Thanks for the update! Will this season go down as one of the rainiest ever? We are very thankful to God for the rain and glad the drought is over, but I don't remember such a rainy softball season.

Where can you find a listing of the district changes? I have looked on the tssaa website and I can't find it listed anywhere.

How are the pitchers doing now? Will they be coming back next year? I now remember hearing about the injuries, but can't remember specifically what they were. That is hard for a team to overcome.

Thanks for clarifying that. This post was getting so confusing. When a person agrees to take on the job of head coach they must realize there are a lot of responsibilities and duties that go along with that job. It is not all about teaching softball fundamentals or making split second decisions on base running or calling pitches, etc. There is a lot of emotional and psychological stuff going on and dealing with 20 players on a one on one basis each day and handling parents and school administration and umpires etc. It takes a special person to do this and if they are not doing it for the right reason (love of the girls and love of the game) they need to get out. I am not directing this at any coach, I don't even know the Mt Juliet coach. It is not about coaches, teams, schools or parents getting glory, it is about molding girls into responsible, respectful, successful adults and having fun in the process. So, lets all focus on that. The old saying goes, "It is not whether you win or lose that is important, but how you play the game." I know everyone wants to win, but there is a lot of truth in that statement.

I am hoping to see some really close games in District 7AAA. I know the top 2 teams in this district don't want this, but a lot of people in 7AAA think on any given day, any team could win. I don't know how our team will do in the tournament, but I know that our girls have played hard. We have had some close games this year, with some really good teams. They didn't always turn out in our favor, but it has been fun just the same. Good luck to all of the teams in 7AAA. May the best team win - and I hope they are wearing royal blue and white! /wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink.gif" />

We have played Mt Juliet twice this year and I didn't notice any bad sportsmanship by the players. I think all teams have their ups and downs and some games are played with more emotion than others. I think we all have to remember we are all only human and sometimes we don't always react perfectly in an intense situation. Give the girls a break. I am sure they are working hard and it sounds like there are some pretty high expectations of them. Give them time to grow. Sometimes disappointment is hard to hide (even in adults).

Sad to hear this news! I hope she has a speedy recovery. She has a lot of hard work ahead of her, but it sounds like she has a strong support system. I hate to hear of injuries.

Who was the team that left a 2nd place trophy in the parking lot last year after a tournament? I remember hearing about it, but can't remember who it was. That was bad sportsmanship!

7AAA District tournament will be held at Riverdale High School - Murfreesboro. The games are scheduled to begin Friday, May 1 @ 2pm, 4pm, 6pm & 8pm. The next round of games will be Satuday May 2 @ 12noon, 2pm, 4pm & 6pm. Monday, May 4 @ 4pm, 6pm & 8pm, Tuesday, May 5 @ 5pm & 7pm. The championship game will be played Wednesday, May 6 @ 5pm & possibly 7pm. This is a double elimination tournament with the following teams participating: Blackman, Oakland, Riverdale, Siegel, Cookeville, Lebanon, Warren County and White County. There should really be some good games in this tournament. My question is this: With rain predicted to move in over the next couple of days, what do the teams do that have not made up all of their rain-out games? We have had or will have played 7 games in 9 days trying to reach this goal. What happens if any of our last three games are rained out? We only have 1 open day before the District Tournament begins.

If you missed the Lebanon vs Riverdale game, you missed a good game. The final score was 1-0 with Riverdale as the winners. Both teams played hard through 7 innings. It was a pitchers battle. Both pitchers were backed by amazing defense. Bre Thomas gave up 2 hits, 1 walk and 8 strike outs. Anna Mullis gave up 4 hits, 0 walks and 4 strikeouts. Riverdale's 1 run was scored on a perfectly laid squeeze bunt with that runner having reached base on an error. Lebanon threatened in the top of the 6th with runners at 2nd and 3rd and 1 out, but unable to get any hits through to score the tying run. I am proud of both teams and especially Lebanon because I am sure they were the underdogs in this 7AAA game. Good luck to both teams in the district!

Since I am involved in a way in this posting, I will have to comment and say that as the mom of a pitcher I never would insult any of the other players on the team. I don't really think that is what she was saying, but maybe we all read it differently. It takes the whole team to win or lose a game. Last year in Cookeville's tournament, we were playing Siegel. I believe it was a tie score and my daughter threw a wild pitch that allowed the winning run to score. Did she lose the game for them, I would say not. Did her error allow a run to score at a bad time, yes. So, as a pitcher you have to accept these things as part of the game. There are not many teams that have everyone batting 4-4, all players playing flawlessly or a pitcher with 21 strike outs. I am proud of each player on our team and love them all. I focus on the positive and compliment when I can. I like to build them up. Now, do I feel disappointment when there is an error or a missed play, or when we really need some hits and don't get them. Of course I do, but I don't express it. But I lump my daughter right in there too when she pitches too perfect of a pitch and someone hits a rocket to center field or over the fence (yikes!) and yes, my daughter makes errors on defense too. I have seen some players on our team make some amazing defensive plays and get some marvelous hits. Its all part of the game. After saying all of the, I really appreciate RBIMom complimenting my daughter, and encouraging her to continue working hard even if they don't win all of their games. I think that was her motive, not insulting anyone else.

Thank you for including Anna in this "trio." She is not dominating, but she works very hard and her heart is in the game. I agree with you about Connell and Papini. Also, Cookeville has some hard working pitchers. Anna will be encouraged that you have grouped her with such good "pitching" company. /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />