News
Spring Fling Updates
The softball team goes for a state title on Friday, May 26, playing Baylor in the double-elimination tournament. Games are scheduled for 1:30 EDT and, if necessary, 6:30 p.m. Tennis finished as runner-up in a talented field of Division II-AA teams. Track and Field athletes were on the medal stands after their competitions.
Going into the final day of the TSSAA DII-AA Spring Fling State Tournament, the GPS Softball team competes in the finals on Friday, May 26, the GPS Tennis team brings home a Runner-Up finish, and the Bruisers’ Track & Field teammates were on the medal stand after some of the competitions.
Softball
The Bruisers defeated Baylor 7-1 on Thursday, May 25, to advance to the TSSAA DII-AA Spring Fling State Tournament finals. The Bruisers will face Baylor once again at 1:30 p.m. EDT, with a second game in the double-elimination format, if necessary, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. The matchup marks the seventh time in the last eight years that the two teams have had to play each other in the State Tournament finals.
After the Bruisers went down 0-1 at the end of the third inning, they immediately responded in the top of the fourth, scoring three runs. Haley Smith added her second grand slam of the tournament during the final inning to extend the Bruisers’ lead by four more points.
Shelby Walters led the Bruisers on the mound with seven strikeouts, allowing only five hits.
Elizabeth Warwick was 2-for-3 and scored twice for the Bruisers. Walters, Hannah Kincer, and Macie Stanfield all went 2-for-4. Kaitlyn Songer and Hannah Petty joined Warwick in rounding the bases during Smith’s grand slam.
Shelby Walters led the Bruisers on the mound with seven strikeouts, allowing only five hits.
Elizabeth Warwick was 2-for-3 and scored twice for the Bruisers. Walters, Hannah Kincer, and Macie Stanfield all went 2-for-4. Kaitlyn Songer and Hannah Petty joined Warwick in rounding the bases during Smith’s grand slam.
During their semifinal game, GPS shut out Briarcrest 10-0. Haley Smith kickstarted the Bruisers’ in the bottom of the fourth with a grand slam to send Chapel Cunningham, Kaitlyn Songer, and Alyssa Warwick around the bases. “The home run was the difference in the game. Those things are contagious, and that one changed the whole complexion,” Head Coach Susan Crownover told the Chattanooga Times Free Press. Walters led the team from the mound, allowing only one hit as she finished with 11 strikeouts.
Tennis
The GPS Tennis team finished the Team Tournament on Wednesday with a Runner-Up finish.
The Bruisers kicked off the tournament on Tuesday in Murfreesboro with a 4-2 victory over Hutchison. Corinne Spann, Ellie Edwards, and Barbie Edwards all contributed singles victories, and Maddox Bandy/Corinne Spann and Kate Thel/Ali West added wins in doubles. The team took a tough loss (0-4) in the finals to Baylor.
Bandy competed in the Singles tournament yesterday, defeating Lauren Trammell of Brentwood Academy (6-0, 6-2) in the first round but falling to Baylor’s Drew Hawkins (1-6, 3-6) in the semifinals. Edwards and Eslinger also made it past the first round in the Doubles tournament with a victory over Hutchison (6-3, 7-5). The duo was stopped in the semifinals with a loss to Baylor (1-6, 1-6).
Track & Field
The GPS Track & Field team finished the Spring Fling races and field events with some great finishes. Murfee Jones took fourth in the pole vault, clearing 10 feet. The 4x800, run by Kate McVay, Myra Brock, Rebecca Torrence, and Carley Braman, finished 5th. Braman finished 7th in the 400-meter run, and Emily Morrison finished 4th in the 300 hurdles while Braman finished 7th.
Morrison began the excitement for the Bruisers on Monday with her participation in the Pentathlon. She finished the 100-meter hurdles with the third best time and PRed in both the long jump and the 800, to finish the competition ninth overall.
“I am so proud of how Emily represented GPS in her first state Pentathlon. She showed a lot of heart in the way she bounced back from a lower mark than she expected in the high jump, setting two personal records in her last two events,” Head Coach Jeff Gaither said. “She gave us a good start to the State Track Meet.”
