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Former Lady Vols standout Sarah Fekete Bailey leaves Catholic for Alcoa softball

Sarah Fekete Bailey was hired as the Alcoa softball coach on Monday.

Former Tennessee Lady Vols standout Sarah Fekete Bailey is now the Alcoa softball coach.

Alcoa athletic director Josh Stephens called Bailey one of the best young coaches in the state, saying bringing in the best is one of the school's priorities given the success of its athletic programs.

Bailey, who has been the coach at Catholic for eight years, was a two-time All-American while at Tennessee and also earned first-team All-SEC honors as an outfielder in 2005 and 2006. She helped the Lady Vols to the Women's College World Series in 2005.

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"I'm so excited to go coach some awesome kids," Bailey said. "Holy cow, Alcoa had such a great season and there are so many good players there."

Alcoa finished the season 18-9 and made it to the Region 2-AA semifinals before being knocked out by Gibbs.

Coach Mike Brown had told Stephens he planned to retire when his daughter graduated this year. Stephens reached out to Bailey during the season to gauge her interest and then brought her in for an interview once the softball season ended. They announced the hire on Monday.

Tennessee's Sarah Fekete scores against Florida during the SEC tournament May 13, 2004, in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Bailey, who lives in Blount County and is a graduate of Maryville, is excited to return home — she felt she was missing too much with her 9- and 4-year-old kids — but said saying goodbye to Catholic was hard.

"I have so many phenomenal people at Catholic that raised me as a teacher and helped me grow as a person," she said. "We established a competitive program. I'm so proud of what we did while I was there."

The Fighting Irish had won two games in two years when she took over. She finished her career there with a record of 111-111.

Bailey has played for some influential coaches, including Ralph and Karen Weekly at UT and Suzanne Singleton and Kim Bledsoe at Maryville, but her biggest influence was Carol Hutchins. Bailey played under the Michigan coach through the national team program.

"She's the Pat Summitt of softball," Bailey said. "I've really tried to emulate my coaching style after her."

To Bailey, that means coaching beyond the game. She tells parents that she expects to win every ballgame but she also wants players to leave her program and be strong, independent women.

Coaching hires

Sarah Fekete Bailey is one of many coaches hired and promoted recently.

► Bearden hired track coach Ashley Powell.

► CAK hired girls basketball coach Abby Williams and volleyball coach Mike Marcum

► Hardin Valley hired girls soccer coach Jess Stephens

► Karns hired softball coach Craig Webb

► Maryville promoted Nick Payne to softball coach

► Seymour promoted Blake Carr to boys basketball coach

► West hired softball coach Jeff Browning