Floyd hopes loaded schedule will prepare team for post season
| DEREK HARRYMAN tsi sports editor, sports@tsinews.com The Lady Raider softball team has become accustomed to a certain level of success; as one of the top softball programs in the state; district and region championships are old hat to the seniors on this team. Their goal? A trip to the TSSAA Spring Fling state tournament. Despite two of the best seasons in the storied history of the program in 2010 and 2011 – both squads fell one game shy of Spring Fling. With two freshmen and a sophomore toeing the pitching rubber, the Lady Raiders hope to win that one game that has haunted them. At the core of the team will be a group of five seniors: Juli Layne, Taylor Gullett, Karlie Benedict, Nikki Campbell and Chelsea Howell are all multiple year starters for CCHS. The group hopes to use the experience gained in their three years to lead the talented underclassmen to a string run in the post season. “We have a great group of seniors, I am excited about them; they have that no-quit, refuse to lose attitude,” said head coach Terry Floyd. Everything hasn’t been easy for the Lady Raiders in the preseason but Floyd chalks a lot of that up to youth and |
 nerves. “Practice has been great, we didn’t have a very good outing Tuesday in Lincoln County, but you are going to have that. It’s just something you deal with. This team has some young players and it’s going to take some time for them to gel as a team and when that happens I think you will see some great things out of this group. There is always that pressure when you play a game that you don’t have in practice. Even the seniors said they were |
nervous before the first scrimmage but that will go away. Once we start playing it will be just another day and you take it one game at a time.” The Lady Raiders kick the season off Monday night with a home district game against Cumberland County. While the team has never lost a game since District 6-3A was formed, Floyd says the team won’t overlook any district games. “The most important thing is to take care of our district games. The other games we will use to get better. We all know that you can be 0-100 and as long as you play well in May that is all that matters. Monday night we are not looking past any team, we know Cumberland County wants to come down here and beat us, we have a target on our backs and we won’t overlook anyone.” The team won’t have any time to rest after the opening game. Tuesday night they host Tullahoma and next weekend they will travel to Hendersonville to play in the always loaded Commando Classic. “I just want us to get more relaxed, playing game after game the nerves start going away. That is what we need, we play Tullahoma and that is always a big game. Then Friday we have three pool-play games.” Friday the team will play Hendersonville at 2:30 then at 4 p.m. they will play White House and Arlington at 5:30. “More than anything you just want to get better in these tournaments, if you make a deep run to the top eight or the championship it’s just icing on the cake.” |
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