Clarksville stifles Daniel Boone's Power 5 stars to advance in TSSAA state softball tournament

MURFREESBORO — Brian Rush is not unlike a lot of softball and baseball coaches. He's not overly superstitious, but does have his tendencies and what he's developed as reliable habits.

One of those is maintaining a detailed scouting report, which may or may not have helped his team's 9-4 victory over Daniel Boone in Tuesday's first game of the Class 4A state softball tournament at McKnight Park.

When Rush poured through newspaper articles and Twitter, trying to glean any information he could, he learned more than he wanted.

"It's one great hitter after another," he said. "Daniel Boone has two players who are going to Tennessee and another who is going to Virginia Tech. I wish I had just ignored the scouting report."

Yet Clarksville senior Emberly Nichols was unfazed, guiding the Lady Wildcats (33-10) with nine strikeouts in a complete-game victory. Clarksville will face Wilson Central at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at Starplex.

Rush said he kept his scouting info from Nichols and was unsure if Nichols was aware of it prior to the game.

"I didn't have that conversation with her," he said. "And I wasn't going to have it."

Nichols said she was aware of Daniel Boone's talent on offense but was in the dark about its three Power 5 athletes. Centerfielder Brylee Mesusan and shortstop Camryn Sarvis signed with the Lady Vols, while third baseman Maci Masters is committed to the Hokies.

"I don't think about those things when I'm in the pitcher's circle," said Nichols, who also had a double and three RBI. "It's the state tournament. At this point, every hitter that comes up you have to assume is a good hitter. These teams wouldn't be here if they weren't."

Mesusan, Sarvis and Masters were a combined 1-for-11 Tuesday for the Trailblazers (32-9).

"Scouting reports are a much different thing than, say, basketball," said Rush, who also coaches that sport. "There's a lot of film in basketball. Softball it's a lot of searching for video. Twitter is big though. Everybody posts at-bats on Twitter."

While Rush joked before the game that his pregame anxiety made him wish he hadn't known about the Trailblazers' lineup he kept his feelings to himself.

"Coach just told us that this was a great team and it was going to take a great effort to win," Nichols said. "We don't get caught up in who is going to what college. Whoever is at the plate, that's the out we need to get."

Want to stay informed on the latest high school and college sports news? A subscription to The Leaf-Chronicle gets you unlimited access to the best information and updates on prep sports, Austin Peay and the ability to tap into over 200 local sites in the USA TODAY Network.

Reach sports writer George Robinson at grobinson@gannett.com or (931) 245-0747 and on Twitter @Cville_Sports.