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RUTLEDGE – Senior Night was a good night for the seven fourth-year players from Grainger as they downed Morristown East 18-3 at The Den on Tuesday.

The Grizzlies honored the contributions of Bryson Bennett, Ryland Burchett, Reid Byrd, Landon Dalton, Bryson Davis, Trever Johnson and Brady Smith prior to their game against the Hurricanes. “This group has been special as four of them have played ever since they were sophomores and if we hadn’t had the Covid year, they would have been big contributors their freshman year too,” head coach Garrett Yates said. “They are a special group who have been together for a long time and played together for a long time and it shows. All seven of them have contributed to our team, especially this year. They did a great job for us and I am proud of them because they are a testament of doing the right thing.”

Grainger wasted little time in taking control of the contest as they plated eight runs in the bottom of the first. The biggest hit was Braylnn Sell’s three-run homerun. The home team added six more runs in the second which featured a two-run double by Smith. Cayden Cameron highlighted the Grizzlies’ four-run fourth inning when he smacked a two-run double to left field. Brody Winstead had a RBI double for East in the fourth and Ethan Shockley also drove in a run with a single. Lane Grizzell’s bases-loaded walk in the fifth scored a run for the Canes. Sell drove in four runs on the day and Grizzly leadoff batter Kade Lucas was a perfect 4-for-4 with two RBIs. Burchett, Smith and Cameron all finished the day with a pair of RBIs.

“We have a chance as I like where our pitching is,” Yates said of his team as they enter the post-season. “I think the pitching gives us a chance to do some good things and if we can get back to hitting like we were, it will be a good tournament with good competition and I’m looking forward to it.”

East head coach J.D. Newsom said “we started some of our younger guys today who haven’t been able to play a lot this season and we gave them some opportunities. I think they were a little nervous because we haven’t had a JV team this season with not enough numbers. But at the same time, we still expect them to come in and do their job. We put our starters in there in the fourth inning and made a little bit of a difference. We put ourselves into a hole early we could never recover from.”

Newsom said he has high hopes for his team as they prepare to open play in the IMAC tournament later this week. “We had been playing a lot of good ball lately and I feel confident with our guys. We just have to play like we can and see what happens.”

Softball: Grainger 8, Jefferson County 2

DANDRIDGE – Grainger jumped out to a quick three-run lead in the top of the first inning and never looked back as the Lady Grizzlies ran past Jefferson County 8-2 Tuesday night.

Cierstin Phifer started things off with an RBI single in the first inning and then the Lady Grizzlies took advantage of a two-run error that allowed Brooklyn Copley and Phifer to come home. Copley had a sacrifice fly to bring in Karlei Hodge in the second and Amanda Kledzik singled in Phifer. Barker’s line drive hit in the third scored two more runs and Grainger capped the scoring with an Alison Byrd RBI single.

Byrd got the win in the circle for Grainger as she had eight strikeouts, four hits given up and no earned runs.