Five days after battling for their district championships and celebrating graduation, the local softball teams got back to action Monday evening in Region 3-4A play with the winners battling Wednesday for the crown.
District champs Cleveland (5-4A) and Bradley Central (6-4A) served as hosts in the region semifinals Monday, host runner-ups East Hamilton and Walker Valley respectively.
If the 15th-ranked Lady Raiders (22-14) prevailed they will host the region title game Wednesday at Brenda Lawson Field.
Should the Lady Hurricanes (19-11) prevailed, the finals will be held at the home field of the victor between the Bearettes (15-18) or fifth-ranked Feisty Fillies (27-7).
The region champ and runner-up will advance to Friday's TSSAA Sectional for a shot at a Spring Fling berth next week.
Squaring off against the top two teams from Region 4, the locals will be looking at victors of second-ranked District 8 champ Siegel (26-6) and No. 12 Stewarts Creek (24-10) and the winners of District 7 winner Smyrna (27-10) and 10th-ranked Oakland (19-12).
Although East Hamilton finished fourth last season in the Class 3A State Tournament, no Bradley County has played in the Spring Fling since Walker Valley's 2018 state runner-up finish.
Winning its first-ever district title Cleveland dropped a tough 4-3 decision to the Lady Hurricanes in their lone meeting this season.
Meanwhile, the Feisty Fillies dropped Bradley 7-1 in their only regular season tangle, plus own a 5-4 win over East Ham as well.
In their five meetings this season, the Lady Raiders and Walker Valley have been within one run of each other (19-18) with Cleveland winning three tallies, including twice in last week's district tournament.
Although the Lady Hurricanes hold a 31-27 scoring edge in the five games with Bradley this season, the Bearettes have won three, including last week's 13-6 tally to earn their first district crown since 2008.
In their only meeting this season, Cleveland shutout Bradley 8-0.
The diamond action will be exciting as the teams battle to continue their seasons and hopefully make it to Murfreesboro for the TSSAA State Championships.
