NoogaSoftball

I think Walker Valley at Coffee County, CSAS at Sale Creek, and Cookeville at Soddy Daisy are the ones I'm excited to hear about. The first matchup will be low scoring much like last year (2-0, Coffee). Walker seems to have the edge in the game with their hitting, but they have yet to face a pitcher that throws as hard as Jones. CSAS had a very strong year, and so did Sale Creek. Clifford Kirk said he really wanted to give the girls the taste of the postseason at the beginning of the year and so far he has done well. Soddy Daisy and Cookeville will also be a great matchup. Soddy Daisy is peaking at the right time, while Cookeville has been highly competitive this year and traded punches with Coffee. It will be a very exciting Monday in Region play.

Grace's run to the district tournament has been very impressive, having to rely on contributions from several 8th graders. Its nice to see Sale Creek win a district championship too with Clifford at the helm.

I'm glad to see my picks advance to the final round. It sounds like this has been a very competitive district tournament!

Soddy Daisy beats Walker Valley in the District 5-AAA Winner's Bracket Final, so Walker Valley drops down to the loser's bracket. I still see Walker Valley and Soddy Daisy advancing, but I think Soddy may be able to pull out the #1 seed going into the Region Tourney.

Actually it might be Friday, I've heard that Walker had a conflicting schedule issue with playing on Thursday, it might be their graduation.

Soddy Daisy upsets Walker Valley in the Winner's Bracket Final. Walker Valley will play Ooltewah/Rhea County on Thursday in the Loser's Bracket.

The Ravenwood pitcher is very talented. I wouldn't say the team overall is amazing, but with a pitcher like that they have a very good chance at the State Tourney.

There's no doubt in my mind that this region will be more competitive than years past because there is not a clearly dominate team this year, like Soddy Daisy the past four years. I am going off what I have seen. Some of these teams have more quality wins than others, but none of them have ran around playing A/AA cupcakes through the course of the year. Cookeville's schedule is not overbearing with softball powers and part of that has to do with there are a lot of programs that are down. I wouldn't count out Soddy Daisy out of District 5 either, they could make some noise too.

I agree with both Coffee County and Walker Valley going through. Coffee County isn't as strong offensively as last year from what I've seen. However, they have two pitchers with the Fury and both will sign to play in the future at the collegiate level. I would think they would ride Jones through the postseason as she was very tough last year during this time knocking off Walker Valley and losing a 1-0 game to Soddy Daisy during the region tournament last year. Walker Valley has a D1 pitcher that is signed with Austin Peay. They also have a backup sophomore that can be quite difficult to hit. They have recorded 34 homeruns as a team this year, and have one of the most potent offenses, 1 through 9, I've seen from all the tournaments this year. They haven't been quite the same down the back stretch, but have had alot of injuries. According to the other thread those players are returning, so they will be tough to beat. I think it depends on how Cookeville does in the District Tournament. They may be able to squeak in if they win their district, but I don't think they will advance as a #2 seed traveling to Chattanooga otherwise.

I really like the top two seeds to advance out of this district. However, from watching some of these teams play in tourneys, I will say that anything would seem possible out of this district and it will come down to which teams show up.

Does anybody see any upsets occurring in this district?

I could understand wanting to play select softball all season long, as that is truly where girls get seen and recruited by colleges. Very rarely will you see a college coach at a high school game, unless its a JUCO or local university/college. However, I think if the choice of not playing prep softball is because of politics then that is the wrong move. Politics are prevalent everywhere in society (sports, work, etc.), so somewhere along the line you have to move past that issue. Overall, prep ball is considered a fun time for serious select players. Playing school ball gives a girl a sense of pride for her school, and an opportunity to play with and for her teammates/classmates and not her coach. I think you miss out on some memories by skipping over prep ball.

It's not possible for Riverdale, Smyrna, and Walker Valley to all get to the Spring Fling because those two regions pair up for the Sectional Round. Personally, I like Ravenwood, Seymour, Halls, Smyrna, and Walker Valley. I've heard that Walker Valley is struggling with injuries that might hinder a deep run, in which case I would see Riverdale taking that slot.

There definitely is no way that Jones is throwing close to 67, she's more in the low 60's. Pitchers in the upper 60's in high school are very rare. As the post season begins, I think everyone will get a chance to make a better case for the best pitchers in the state. Great pitchers play their best in the post season and carry their team further in to the tournament. I think a great example is Nunley at Soddy Daisy last year. They were young and did not have the hottest bats, but she helped carry them to the State title.

Walker Valley has a very potent offense (30 Home Runs), and a Division 1 pitcher in the circle. They have a few quality wins. However, they don't have a signature win yet. The best team they played this year was Ravenwood in the Franklin Tournament. That game went into extra innings tied 0-0, then Ravenwood rattled off three runs. The one thing that might hurt Walker is their defense. They can be lights out one game, and then error-prone the next.

If Walker Valley chose to sit out a tournament to have their players recover or whatever, then that is their choice. If I recall, the Soddy Daisy and Ooltewah tournaments have their lowest turn out in years according to the head coaches. I also checked out Walker Valley's schedule on here and they participated in the Franklin and Riverdale Tourneys, both of which were more competitive of tournaments than the ones around here this year. I do agree that the late pullout is unfortunate as I would have liked to have seen Walker Valley against some of the teams there today.

Good mention quaddad. Meigs will definitely be strong this year, I think they'll be keeping the ball rolling on the recent success they've had lately. As far as pitching, I think prep ball pitching in the Chattanooga area will be weak this year compared to recent years. However, I believe that the next year we will see a new crop of pitcher when underclassmen get a little experience.

I don't think that Ooltewah will be that good this year. I believe they will be solid, but not as good as they have been in past years. They have solid hitting, but pitching will be a struggle for them with the loss of Baird. I certainly think that Grace, Whitwell, and East Hamilton will be good teams in their respective classifications.

I'll take a hack at the Top 5 Teams in the Chattanooga area this upcoming spring. 1. Baylor - Hands down I think this team has to be at the top of the list. They're loaded with many weapons and possess a roster full of college commits. Key Players: Moore (Berry), Birdsong (MTSU), Pickett (ETSU), Winkles (Kennesaw State). Of those four only one of them is a senior. They will duplicate the success they had this year and I think they will be able to make a run at a spot in the ESPN Rise National rankings. 2. Soddy Daisy - Soddy loses one of the best pitchers to come from this area (Kelsey Nunley), but I think Coach Skiles will have Soddy playing like Soddy. They played alot of underclassmen last year, so offensively they will be much better. I think the key question for Soddy is can either of their pitchers step up and be consistently solid? Key Player: Cassidy Hackney (Tn Tech) 3. Walker Valley - Walker Valley had a good year last year making it to region, after finishing 2nd in District 5-AAA. They have senior Sidney Hooper (Austin Peay Commit) leading them and are returning all of their key players from last year. Having had four freshmen contribute consistently to the success last year, they will be much improved this year. They definitely have a legitimate chance for the District Crown. 4. GPS - GPS will be solid like usual, they return a solid group of players. Of the five teams I have listed here GPS would be the team that I haven't seen play much, so someone on the board may be able to fill us in a little more! 5. Rhea County - I think Rhea may be dark horse for a region berth out of District 5-AAA. Alot of the talk at the beginning of the season will be about Soddy Daisy and Walker Valley. However, Rhea returns a strong core of players and displayed a great showing at the District tourney last year. They really progressed throughout the season in my opinion.