Lady Cougars start state/region tourney
Cleveland State is seeded ninth and faces eighth seed Motlow State at 2 p.m. EDT today in beginning the TCCAA/Region 7 softball tournament at Gallatin, Tenn. Their winner meets top seed Walters State at 1 p.m. Monday, when No. 2 seed Chattanooga State plays at 5 against today’s winner between Dyersburg State and Southwest Tennessee.
Cleveland State is seeded fourth in the baseball tournament, also in Gallatin, and is scheduled to face host Volunteer State at 8 p.m. EDT Monday.
Chattanooga State’s baseball Tigers are seeded sixth and play third seed Jackson State at 2 p.m. Monday, after Motlow challenges No. 2 seed Columbia State at 11 a.m. Roane State and Southwest Tennesssee meet today at 2 for the chance to face top seed Dyersburg State on Monday.
The Cleveland State sofball team (15-33, 8-27) has eight players batting over .300: Emily Banks (.420, 18 RBIs), Macy Bryant (.366, 29 RBIs), Adri Jones (.364), Rachael Pierce (.360, 20 RBIs), Grayson Brown (.346, 19 RBIs), Hannah Jones (.333) and Brittany Arnold (.311, 19 RBIs).
Chattanooga State’s Lady Tigers are 40-10, 28-6.
Kaleigh Wynne is coach Blythe Golden’s top pitcher (17-3, 1.53 ERA, 144 strikeouts in 123 2/3 innings) and leading hitter with a .481 average, .949 slugging percentage, 20 home runs, 13 doubles, 76 RBIs and 55 runs scored. Also above .400 are Colbie Thomas (.438, 20 steals, 51 runs), Alaeni Ray (.417, 45 runs) and Devan Brown (.404, 10 homers, 53 RBs, 42 runs).
Lillie McCrary is batting .384 with 11 homers, 45 runs and 44 RBIs, and Jennah McElheney is hitting .341 with 35 runs.
Abbey White and Abby Hicks are 10-2 and 9-3 with ERAs of 2.31 and 2.66.
The Chattanooga State baseball team (25-23, 11-15), coached by Greg Dennis, is led in batting by a trio of sophomores. Conner Morro has a .423 average, 21 extrabase hits, 12 steals, 48 runs and 42 RBIs; Nico Lares has a .347 average, 13 extra-base hits, 48 RBIs and 35 runs; Brody Thomasson is hitting .373 with 47 runs and 25 RBIs. Freshman Tyler Maskill has a .329 average, 39 runs and 31 RBIs.
Freshman Joe Dalmolin has a 6-2 pitching record with a 1.89 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 52 1/3 innings, second-most innings on the team to sophomore Hugo Casilla.
The Tigers’ opening opponent, Jackson State, is 32-18, 16-11 in league play.
Cleveland State coach Mike Policastro said “we had a pretty good season” but acknowledged that his Cougars “did not play well down the stretch.”
Sophomore pitcher Jake Rogers is 9-1, having lost only to Dyersburg State, with a 3.51 ERA, and freshmen Grant Crosby (5-3, 2.27) and Ryan Lloyd (5-2, 3.32) have allowed only 38 and 29 hits. Another freshman, Greg Tye, hsa five saves.
Sean McDermott is batting .371 with eight homers, 13 doubles, two triples and 35 RBIs, and fellow sophomore John Hennen is hitting .352 with nine extrabase hits while freshman John Sharpe has a .308 average, 12 extra-base hits and 28 RBIs. Other leaders are Brandon Mason (.349), Cameron Payne (.345), Jordan Ransom (.343) and Brett Browning (.333).