The Marshall County Tigerettes capped off a whirlwind winter sports season as the Class 2A state runnerup in basketball in early March of 2007, sending me outside for my favorite time of the year.

Baseball was all I wanted to know growing up.

I was one of those kids that literally slept with my baseball glove, I played all the time at the Sunset Park, and making the Nottingham Little League’s “B” League Balgowan’s Bicycle Shop team at eight years old was one of the biggest accomplishments of my early life.

Once you got to the “A” League at 10 years old, you had to tryout and make the cut or you did not play.

I was not going to be denied and was selected to play on the Mercer Contracting team, coached by Joe Vivier, who had lost one of his arms in the Vietnam War.

Those were some of the happiest years of my life, marching in the opening day Memorial Day parade with my team, debuting at second base, realizing I was a switch-hitter, and most importantly securing my first Hank Aaron baseball card.

I never got the coveted Mickey Mantle card.

First game

Anyway, on Thursday March 8, 2007 I covered my first baseball game for the Tribune with the Lewisburg Middle School (LMS) Tigers hosting E.A. Cox at the Babe Ruth Field in Lewisburg.

On the mound for LMS that day was Dylan Kilpatrick, who tossed a 53-pitch, one-hit gem over the first five innings before Ethan Chapman came on to finish up the last two innings in the 8-2 win.

I got my first look at Jack Whaley that day, watching the LMS speedster score twice while big man Brandon Hollingsworth had an RBI, as did Brandon Bush and Trevor Carter.

I could write about baseball in my sleep.

That Saturday the Tigerettes lost to Austin East and on Monday I was back out covering baseball.

It was Forrest at Marshall County with the Rockets coming off a Class A state title runnerup finish, but it was the Tigers who prevailed 3-2 that day, winning the opening day game on a Justin McQueen walk off single.

I also got my first look at Tiger ace hurler Seth Lintz, who tossed five solid innings before giving way to Zach Cross with the bases loaded and no outs.

Cross got the first out on a force at home before coming up with back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning.

Lefty Jacob Davis was on the mound for the Rockets and went the distance.

The Rockets threatened in the top of the seventh inning, loading the bases with two outs when Seth Brothers sent a sinking liner to right field that looked like a sure hit, but Fred West came out of nowhere to make the catch and the Tigers won the game in the home half of the frame.

That was fun!

The Rockets won 10-2 the following day at Forrest for the split.

On Tuesday, I went over to Cornersville to cover the season opener in softball as the Lady Bulldogs hosted Richland.

I was never really interested in softball until I was in my 20’s when I played in the General Motors slow pitch league in Trenton with the 89’ers, which was a mix of guys from Departments 8 & 9 at work.

I had never seen a fast-pitch game until that day in Cornersville and I really, really liked it.

My love for the game began there and over the years I was totally immersed in it and it is still my favorite sport to cover to this day.

More on that later.

Lefty Chrissy Worth starred in the circle and at the plate for the Lady Bulldogs, picking up the win with six innings of work and belting a first inning home run in the 9-0 blanking over the Lady Raiders.

There was tennis and boys soccer going on at the same time and I got some much-needed help from Marshall County goalkeeper Ethan Stewman, who was sending me updates about Tiger soccer.

It would be awhile before I got over to the Lewisburg Recreation Center tennis courts, but once I did, fate was on my side. More about Dickie Adkins, Jason Donahue, Tori Richardson, and Lyssa Wiles a little bit later.

The following week I covered a Cornersville baseball game, a 1-1 soccer tie between Forrest and Spring Hill, and my first Lady Rockets’ softball game.

Lady Rockets

Forrest was already considered a state contender at the time and was coming off a 21-win season and its fifth state tournament appearance, including a state runner up finish in 2002 under fiery head coach Becky Cheatham.

I did have a feel for the Lady Rockets before I became a sports writer for the Tribune when I went to the 2005-2006 state tournament to watch my neighbor, Nicole Curtis pitch for Forrest, but I was much more intimate in 2007 as I was either on the field or in the dugout taking photos and soaking up the strategy from all the coaches and feeling the intensity from the players.

In the circle for the Lady Rockets that day was freshman Shelby Stinnett, who had pitched some in the 2006 state tournament as an eighth-grader and on this day, Stinnett started and was relieved by another freshman Rachel Curtis as the two combined for their second perfect game of the season.

Those two and many more would become legends down the road.

Many people don’t know that the current Forrest coach never allowed an earned run in any district game her entire career and Stinnett went on to set two state tournament pitching records with most appearances (21) and innings pitched (130).

Forrest crushed Middle Tennessee Christian School (MTCS) 15-0 that day and would go on to enter the district tournament in May with a 14-9-1 overall record and undefeated in district play.

These girls were good and they were a seasoned group from top to bottom and had girls on the bench that were hungry for playing time.

I immediately had a very good relationship with Dick and Becky Cheatham and assistant coach Ricky Stinnett.

Covering the Lady Rockets was an experience that changed my life down the road.

Foundation set in Cornersville

Over at Cornersville, freshman Savannah Cole tossed a perfect game in the circle and received a ton of offensive support from her teammates in a 15-0 blowout win over Moore County. A first inning squeeze bunt RBI by Summer Cole and a two-run dinger by Sarah King were the big highlights for the Lady Bulldogs.

The Cornersville pitching went on to record six more shutouts in a row and didn’t lose again until an 8-0 defeat at the hands of Brentwood in the Lincoln County Border Battle.

They won three more before opening up the District 11-A Tournament with a 7-0 win over the Huntland Lady Hornets on May 5 before suffering a tough 5-4 loss to Columbia Academy and a season-ending 5-3 setback to Richland.

The foundation was set for the Lady Bulldogs when an incoming class of talented middle schoolers melded with the returning players the following season that produced a 28-10 record, district and region tournament titles, plus the first of three state tournament berths for coach Spencer Mitchell and the 2007-2008 freshman squad.

I got to Marshall County one year too late as the Tigerettes were coming off four consecutive trips to the state tournament, including a runnerup finish in 2004 and the program’s first state title in 2005.

Coach Reese Hambrick was a class act and he was assisted by Holly Barnes, who would become one of my favorite coaches down the road.

The young Tigerettes’ squad of 2007 went 6-17, but better days were ahead.

No love for Lady Lions

Now, let’s get back to the Lady Rockets, who rolled in to the District 9-A Tournament at Eagleville with a 22-8 record.

Stinnett was basically unhittable and was buoyed by a potent Forrest offense as the Lady Rockets won four straight games by a gaudy 40-1 margin, including a 10-0 win over Nashville Christian in the Region 5-A Tournament opener.

One year prior, Forrest played East Robertson for the first time and won a 2-1 thriller at Chapel Hill in the region title game, but in 2007 it was Forrest’s turn to travel to Cross Plains and play for the region title.

The Lady Indians got their revenge, hitting the first two home runs off Stinnett the entire season in a 7-3 win.

Those two squads went on to play six more times in the region tournament with Forrest winning three and the Lady Indians winning three.

On Friday May 18, the Lady Rockets travelled to Columbia Academy for a Class A sectional game and it turned into a classic.

Forrest trailed 4-2 in third inning and 5-4 in the fifth before coming up with some magic in the top of the sixth inning when Curtis led off with a single to right field and Destin Payne came in as a courtesy runner for Curtis. Payne then raced to second on a 5-3 fielder's choice by Summer Waggoner.

The play of the year took place next as Haley Mathis slapped a single to right/center, scoring Payne. Mathis ran to third base on the throw home and the subsequent attempt to throw out Mathis bounced off the third baseman's glove and Mathis sped home untouched to give the Lady Rockets a 6-5 lead.

Stinnett finished off the Lady Bulldogs the next two innings and the Lady Rockets were on their way back to the Spring Fling for the second year in a row and this time, they wanted to win it.

Forrest opened up the state tournament in style with 13-2 pasting over Adamsville as Heather James jacked a grand slam and Stinnett gave up two hits and struck out 11.

Round two pitted the Lady Rockets versus a tough Whitwell team that led 3-2, entering the bottom of the seventh inning when Forrest once again reached into its bag of tricks.

James led off the frame with a single to center field and went to second on a throwing error.

Payne pinch ran for James and went to third on a sac bunt by Curtis.

Summer Waggoner drove in Payne on an infield single, tying the game at 3-3.

Haley Mathis reached on an error and moments later, the Lady Rockets had baserunners on second and third after a passed ball.

Amanda Daughrity knocked a walk-off sacrifice fly to center field to win the game and send Forrest to a winner’s bracket matchup versus the defending state champion Trinity Christian Academy (TCA) Lady Lions.

TCA had beaten Forrest 2-0 the previous season in the state tournament and the Lady Rockets knew if they wanted to win the title they had to beat the Lady Lions to get there.

It was a classic pitching matchup with Stinnett facing future Tennessee Vols hurler Ivy Renfroe.

Gaby Bussell drove home a first inning run, but TCA tied the game on a Hillary Yates home run in the home half of the frame.

Both pitchers settled in and did not allow any runs through the fifth inning, but TCA came up with a run in the bottom of the sixth and Renfroe finished off Forrest in the top of the seventh inning, sending Chapel Hill to the loser’s bracket.

There was bad blood now between the two teams, in the stands and on the field as a fierce rivalry was born on that day.

The two teams would meet eight more times in the postseason and the heat was high in every one of them.

Forrest also had a nice rivalry going with Friendship Christian School (FCS) as the two teams had met five times before the loser’s bracket final in 2007.

The Lady Rockets bounced back in a big way, banging out 12 hits in a 6-2 win over FCS as Brianda Elmore went 3-for-4 and drove home two runs, Kalah Mathis had two hits and drove in a pair of runs, sister Haley also had two safeties and had one RBI, and Daughrity added a sacrifice fly RBI in the win.

The title game was a good one with both teams playing error free softball and the two great hurlers battling in the circle.

Renfroe was slightly better that day and the TCA offense put up three runs off Stinnett, while the Forrest offense was shutout as the Lady Lions claimed back-to-back titles.

They would meet again.

One year late, Lintz leads Tigers to state, and the “Dirty Ball Classic”

Talk about bad timing.

I was one school year late to see Mike Minor pitch for Forrest.

Minor and the Rockets posted a 34-6 record in 2006 and came one win away from winning the state championship, losing 2-0 to McKenzie in the title game.

The big lefty posted 12 shutouts in 2006 with a 0.08 ERA and 188 strikeouts in 86 innings.

He set a state record for strikeouts when he fanned 21 against Huntland and he tossed three postseason no-hitters to help lead the Rockets to their state tournament run. He finished 13-1 in 2006 and 36-5 in his career at Forrest.

Minor went on the have an outstanding amateur career with Team USA, and a stellar three-year college career at Vanderbilt before becoming a first round draft pick by the Atlanta Braves in 2007.

Minor is still pitching in the major leagues with the Texas Rangers and sports a 70-60 winning mark on the mound.

The first time I saw him pitch in person was in late April when I went to Vanderbilt and it was really exciting to see a kid from Forrest in the spotlight do so well. Minor pitched six innings against the University of Tennessee, giving up three runs and striking out six to move to 7-0 on the season as the number one ranked Commodores won 4-3.

I got to interview Minor after the game and I was really impressed with his poise and command of his dream.

Back in Chapel Hill, the Rockets were struggling as they entered the District 9-A Tournament at MTCS with a 14-15 record, but won their first two games before losing a close 7-6 contest to Cascade.

Forrest lost 6-3 the following night to the host Cougars and their season was over, but just like all things, baseball is cyclical and the Rockets would be back. It would take a few years.

Fun team and “Dirty Balls”

The Cornersville Bulldogs were a fun team to cover in 2007 as they were loaded with a cast of characters that liked to have fun and they also played some pretty good baseball.

They were coached by current Cornersville Principal Brent Adcox (also a pretty good character) and I went to a lot of the Bulldogs’ games that season.

Two in particular stand out, the first was one of the coolest experiences I’ve had to date and that was the “Dirty Ball” Classic versus Cascade.

Rain had hampered the three-game series that was started in 1998 and the two squads paired up for a doubleheader.

I think some of those boys in Cornersville took the game balls home and did a number on them prior to the match-up because the balls were pretty nasty, covered with muck from Frog Bottom.

The Champions came up with a sweep over the Bulldogs (16-6, 9-2), making Cascade coach Chris Parker a happy man. I think it bothered him over the years because if you ever went to a baseball game on a Parker groomed home field, the balls were always pearly white and you could eat your nachos off home plate.

More on Parker later.

The second Cornersville game that stood out that year was the Senior Night contest on April 26 versus the Hampshire Hawks.

I was really rooting for the boys to do well that night and they did, winning the game 10-0 and the seniors (Logan Lovvorn, Josh King, Dane Whitworth, Corey Allen, Jeremy Skinner, Jake Pigg) all had a big game with Allen driving in the final run with an RBI single up the middle in his last at bat in Cornersville.

A couple of days later, the Bulldogs lost 10-0 to Culleoka in the first round of the District 11-A Tournament at Huntland and their season was over.

High heater and big sticks

The best team in the county in 2007 was the Marshall County Tigers, who had one of the best pitchers in the state and a lethal crew of batters, plus they were coached by future Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) Hall of Famer Joe George.

George had his two longtime cohorts and former players with him on the bench in Mike “Monk” Reese and Steve Reese.

The Tigers were three-time state champions and had made 11 state tournament appearances prior to the 2007 season, but had not been to the Promised Land in three years.

Steve took over after coach George retired and then he turned the coaching reins over to “Monk”, who is still the skipper to this day.

I’ll tell you what, it was a pleasure watching Seth Lintz pitch, the kid had a heavy fastball, his off-speed stuff was devastating, and he had a fiery disposition on the mound.

He was a junior and thrived in taking the ball for the big games as the Tigers started the season with a 6-0 mark and hosted archrival Page in a home and away series, beginning on March 26 at Marshall County.

It was a back and forth affair that went in to extra innings tied at 5-5.

Lintz had just left the game after tossing all eight innings, striking out 13 Patriots batters and allowing just three earned runs.

Judd Stoltz came to the mound from third base in the top of the ninth and got in to some trouble, but the Tigers made a Houdini escape when MCHS backstop Jake Lintz picked off a Page baserunner at third base to end the threat.

As they did for the entire season, the Tigers’ offense rewarded their pitching staff for great work on the mound.

Cody Primm drilled a leadoff triple to lead off the bottom of the ninth and after a pair of intentional walks to load the bases, Seth Lintz walked to end the game.

The Tigers lost 4-3 the following night at Page and went on a little dry spell before picking the pace back up, going on a 14-5 run to win the regular season district title.

The Tigers beat Spring Hill in the opening round of the District 10-AA Tournament, but lost two out the next three to archrival Giles County.

Although the Bobcats won the district tournament, the Tigers were determined to get even and they did, winning 2-0 at David Lipscomb in the opening round of the Region 5-AA Tournament before coming up with a 8-7 thriller over the Bobcats in the region title game on May 16 at Sam Davis Park in Pulaski.

MCHS had squandered an early lead and trailed 7-6 entering the bottom of the sixth where Coda Watkins reached on a leadoff error and Seth Nance followed with a single.

Cory Searls came up with the biggest hit of his career when he laced a double in to the left/centerfield gap, scoring both runners to put the Tigers in front 8-7.

Judd Stoltz started on the mound for the Tigers and went 6 1/3 innings before Lintz came on with the bases loaded and two outs.

He got the first out on a short fly to the outfield before striking out the final batter to secure the region title for the Tigers.

Lintz took the ball for the ensuing sub-state game at home versus Bolivar Central, dueling on the mound with Will Irvin as the two pitchers combined for 21 strikeouts in the contest.

With goose eggs on the scoreboard in the bottom of the seventh, Lintz delivered at the dish, stroking a two-out, 0-2 pitch in to the gap in right field that sent Zach Cross to the plate with the winning run and sending the Tigers back to the state tournament.

The Tigers lost a close 4-2 to the University School of Jackson (USJ) in the first round as Lintz suffered his only loss of the season.

Things looked bleak for the Tigers in in the second round at Smyrna High School as they trailed Marion County 11-10 going in to the bottom of the sixth inning when Marshall County came up huge to extend its season.

Justin McQueen walked to start the inning before Stoltz drilled a long home run to put the Tigers in front.

Searls added two more with a two-run double and then retired the side in order on the mound to pick up the win.

The Tigers earned a rematch with USJ in the next round and led 5-1 before the Bruins scored 17 unanswered runs to take the five-inning contest and end the Tigers’ magical run.

Marshall County has not been back to the state tournament since that trip.

Lawnmower races, you’re kidding, right Bob

I’m going to get off the beaten path for a minute.

I think I covered 1,000 events in 2007, but by far the biggest kick I had that year was the brainchild of WAXO’s Bob Smartt, who told me about a lawnmower race at the Lewisburg Gas Company on Saturday April 28.

I had never heard of such a thing, but I got an awakening with the Middle Tennessee Lawn Mower Racing Association (MTLMRA) event that was packed with fans and racers in their souped-up mowers.

It was a gas, especially the main event when the late Smartt took off in his sloth-like machine and was bullied the entire race by hitman Bob Larson, the president of the MTLMRA.

I think everyone was laughing so hard they missed Darrell Dean cross the finish line in first place.

I miss you Bob!

“COME ON”!

I grew up in what I believe was the golden age of tennis with John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors, Boris Becker, Ivan Lendl, and later Michael Chang and Andre Agassi.

On the women’s side was Chrissy Evert, Martina Navratilova, Monica Seles, Jennifer Capriati, Lindsay Davenport, and Steffi Graf.

Oh, Gabriela Sabatini! Wow.

I used to drive my wife crazy watching the matches on television, but she quickly became a fan as well.

I never played the game, but was a darn good racquetball player in my youth.

I knew the rules and understood the game from watching on TV so I was pretty excited to go to my first Marshall County High School tennis match at the Rec Center.

What I found remains probably my biggest joy to this day.

Head coach Dickie Adkins and assistant Jason Donahue are really good guys and they welcomed me with open arms and I think they appreciated that I knew a lot about the game already.

I also met two young ladies that I still think about to this day in Tori Richardson and Lyssa Wiles.

Richardson and Wiles had been to the state quarterfinals the previous season and were hungry for more.

They were an incredible tandem and were good, very good, plus they had a flare for the dramatic and a take no prisoner attitude on the court.

I soon got to the point where I wanted to follow them to every match and as the season progressed, I did.

The entire team started out the season strong and made a major turn towards glory when they broke a 45-match losing streak to archrival Page on Monday April 2.

Richardson and Wiles came up huge, beating the Hinton sisters 8-6 in a tiebreaker before Rachel Wolfe and Jenna Branaman put up an 8-0 win.

The Hinton sisters would be thorn in the side for quite a while and Wolfe and Branaman went on to become two great players in their own right.

Richardson and Wiles won the District Tournament doubles title, while Branaman and Vance Wallace also made it through to the region tournament at Woodland Park in Columbia.

The dynamic duo was on a mission and easily won the region title with a pair of 6-2, 6-1 wins and Richardson set an MCHS record by qualifying for her fourth consecutive state tournament.

Branaman, a sophomore at the time, had lost to Page’s Sarah Hinton in the district title match and was out for revenge at the region.

In probably her most all-around solid match of her career, Branaman dominated Hinton 6-1, 6-1 to also qualify for the Spring Fling.

Unfortunately, the senior Wallace fell 6-2, 6-3 to the top seed and his great career was over.

It was on to Murfreesboro for the three women and Branaman lost in the first round, but that was just the beginning for her and she would be back.

For those of you who don’t know, Wiles almost didn’t make the match as she was stuck in a traffic jam on Saturn Parkway because of a wreck on the way to Murfreesboro.

The TSSAA extended the check-in time because of the accident and Wiles arrived for about 15 minutes of practice before the first round.

For Richardson and Wiles, they drew the defending state champions Aya Kato/Kelly Nelson from USJ in the first round and I had the catbird’s seat for one of the best tennis comebacks of all-time.

The Marshall County girls lost the first set 6-2 and with the second set tied at 2-2 they began to surge behind Akins’ chant of “Come on”!

A break put them up 3-2 and they took the next three games to tie the match.

The third set was also tied at 2-2 and in the fifth game, Richardson and Wiles broke USJ again to go up 3-2 and then 4-2.

Now if things could not get more exciting they did as Richardson and Wiles trailed 40-love before mounting the comeback of the ages, winning a deuce game to lead 5-2.

They steamrolled the USJ duo in the final game to advance to the semifinals where they swept away Maria Koonce and Sarah Sopcak from Madison Academic 6-2, 6-3 to reach the state finals.

They faced Ellen Ross and Julianne McMeen from David Lipscomb in the championship match where they fell behind 4-3 before winning three straight games (Two service breaks) to win the first set 6-3.

The Lipscomb girls fought back to tie the match with a 6-2 second set win, sending the four warriors to a final set for the state title.

Richardson and Wiles stormed out in front for a 3-0 lead before Ross and McMeen fought back to close within one game at 5-4, but the Tigerette greats would not be denied, going up 40-15 when Richardson found an open alley and drilled an overhead winner to claim the state title.

It was the first state title for Adkins, who had been coaching for 16 years.

I’ll never forget that feeling, it was my first state title too!

Help me out

If you have any questions, comments, or old photos you would like to share please contact me at apuca@marshalltribune.com and I will be happy to share with everyone else.

I want to thank Scotty Brock and George “Pap” Warren for their generosity in teaching me a lot about photography and sharing their photos over that first season and up to this day.

Bill Beasley in Chapel Hill has done the same, as has Danny Parker and Jimmy Jones from the Shelbyville Times Gazette, and a special thank you to Jim Bryan for his expertise and teaching that was essential.

I want to thank all the fans, parents, athletes, coaches, school administrators, and work colleagues for helping me live this wonderful dream.