Armour adds to Heritage pipeline at Chattanooga
For the past four seasons, even at times as a freshman, Reagan Armour has been a leader for the Heritage High School softball team.
For the next four seasons, Armour will have a chance to be a leader for the Chattanooga Mocs.
Armour made her future plans official this past Friday by signing her letter of intent in front of family and friends in the school’s auditorium.
A two-time All-region selection and a first team All-state player in her senior year, the 2018 Catoosa County Softball Player of the Year batted .437 for the Generals with 11 doubles, four triples, four homeruns and a team-high 42 RBIS. She also scored 29 runs, swiped six bases and had a .793 slugging percentage.
She ended her career with 96 career RBIS and, most importantly, helped lead the Navy-and-red to its first-ever state softball championship this past October.
“UTC is getting a steal,” said Heritage head coach Tanner Moore, who said he had begun recruiting Armour to play at Lee University during his stint as the Flames’ coach a couple of years before he returned to Heritage. “It’s kind of tough coming in late in the process and deciding at kind of a late age that you want to play college softball, but UTC found somebody that’s really going to benefit and impact their team for the next four years. I’m very proud of her and she still has plenty of room still to grow.”
Armour said the ball got rolling on her joining the Mocs after UTC head coach Frank Reed saw Heritage play in the 2018 GHSA State Elite Eight in Columbus as Reed was also there to watch his daughter Dana (Mull) coach Gordon Lee in its quest for a state title.
“He was at state watching their games and he watched all of our games too,” Armour explained. “He followed us around and I guess he talked to Coach Moore. He wanted me to set up a visit and it all worked out. When I went on my visit, I just fell in love with the place. Luckily, they had an open spot and I decided to take it because I knew I couldn’t hang my cleats up just yet.
“I’m just really excited about it and hopefully my bat will stay hot like it did this season.”
“I think she’ll immediately be one of their top five players in terms of arm strength and I think that translates to her playing third at the next level because she can get the ball across the infield very quickly,” Moore continued. “She could also play first base because she has the power to play it. Plus, she can get even stronger in the weight room and add even more power, which is something that’s really scary to think about considering what she’s already done in high school.”
More than anything, however, Moore said that Armour’s maturity and leadership skills have made her stand out and that she is highly thought of, both inside the Heritage softball program and throughout the Heritage community
“She been kind of the liaison between the team and the coaching staff,” he added. “She’s somebody that can hold conversations with people in positions of authority and her words hold a lot of meaning with our players. Whenever she spoke, people listened to her and she leads on the field and she leads off the field. I think that her (being a leader) is inevitable with her character and the kind of person that she is, along with her work ethic.”
Armour said she is considering majoring in education and that she has hopes of one day becoming a teacher.
She will become the third Heritage player to play for the Mocs, joining Heritage and UTC alums Jesslyn Stockard and Savannah Goldsmith.
Two hard-hit line-drive outs in the bottom of the first inning of Game 3 were followed up by back-to-back solo homers from Andre Tarver and Daulton Schley and Ringgold went on to thump the Bears in four innings and claim the first-round series win.
“You could see in those first four at-bats that our approach at the plate was different,” Ringgold head coach Brent Tucker said. “Tennant lined out to rightfield and Holden lined out to shortstop, and even though those were outs, it set the tone. Then Andre goes (opposite field) and Daulton (homers) to right-centerfield and that really set the tone.”
Ringgold would add a solo run in the second inning and two more in the bottom of the third to take a 5-1 lead into the fourth, when they really went to work.
The first seven batters of the 11-run inning reached base on hits. Tennant got it going with a triple and Tucker followed suit with an Rbi-single before Tarver mashed his second homer of the game, a two
run shot. Schley kept the hit parade going with a double before Broome made it 10-1 with a two-run clout of his own.
Taylor Pease later added an RBI on a groundout and Mills would score from third on a wild pitch moments later to make it 12-1 when the skies opened up over Bill Womack Field. But once the brief shower ended, and after a small delay to get the field back in playing condition, Ringgold picked up right where they left off.
Tarver dropped in a double to left-centerfield for his third and fourth RBIS of the inning. Schley walked and Broome collected a single to bring Camillucci to the plate with two outs. Camillucci sent a liner into left for his fourth hit of the game. It also brought in the final two runs to bring an end to the series.
Broome and Tarver both had three hits on the day, while Tarver drove in a team-high five runs. Schley and Tucker each finished with two hits, while Camillucci pitched all four innings. He gave up just the one earned run on two hits with four strikeouts.
Up next for Ringgold will be a best-of-three series against Hart County, who took out defending state champion Lovett in three games. The Bulldogs lost the opener, 3-2, but won Game 2 by a 4-2 count before a 7-0 road win on Thursday. Ringgold will host the series, which is slated to get underway on Wednesday (May 1) at 4:30 p.m.
Thursday’s win was also a milestone for Tucker as the Tigers’ skipper won his 300th career game.
“I really don’t keep up with that stuff,” Tucker said, “but if that’s the case, then that’s pretty cool.”