Lady Raiders eye Spring Fling

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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