On Saturday, June 17, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity began for a group of Cocke County coach pitch girl's softball players. Eleven girls, who had completed their regular season and county tournament in 7-8 year-old coach pitch softball league play, traveled west to represent District 4 in the first-ever Official Little League Girl's Coach-Pitch State Softball Tournament in Pulaski.

On the opening night of the tournament, the Smoky Mountain All-Stars took the field against the host team, Giles County All-Stars, out of District 3. The Smoky Mountain coaches and fans were thrilled as their All-Stars took the field fearlessly and got out to a great start.

After Smoky won the coin toss, they decided to take the field first to establish the defensive tone for the game. The defense came through as they held Giles County to one run in the first inning, which included a putout by Mackenzie Souder at second base.

In the bottom of the first inning, the Smoky All-Stars got their bats warmed up as Souder got things started with an excellent base-hit bunt followed up with base hits by Shelby Moore and Rylee Grooms. Smoky ended up with 3 runs in that inning, including timely hits by Lexi Rea and Savannah Byrd as it was 3-1 in Smoky's favor at the end of the first inning.

Smoky continued their excellent defense in the top of the second inning and held Giles County scoreless. Defensive gems included a pop-up caught by catcher Savannah Ramsey and a force-out by shortstop Rylee Grooms to second-basemen Mackenzie Souder to end the top-half of the second inning.

Smoky continued to swing the bats in the bottom of the second on consecutive hits by Christian Gregg, Holly Gilland, and Maggie Humphrey, resulting in two runs to lead Giles County 5-1 at the end of the second inning.

The Smoky All-Stars stellar defense continued in the third inning as Giles County was again held scoreless. The defensive effort included two consecutive putouts by shortstop Rylee Grooms to first baseman Savannah Byrd.

Smoky wasn't able to produce runs in the bottom of the third, although Savannah Ramsey, Lexi Rea, and Savannah Byrd reached safely in the inning.

In the top of the fourth inning, with the score 5-1 in Smoky's favor, Giles County rallied with three runs to make it 5-4, but the rally ended with good defensive plays that included an unassisted put-out at first base by Savannah Byrd, a throw-out at home plate by Rylee Grooms to Savannah Ramsey, and an excellent force-out throw by third baseman Shelby Moore to second baseman Mackenzie Souder.

Just when it appeared that Giles County had captured the momentum, the Smoky All-Stars came up with a fourth inning offensive explosion not to be forgotten anytime soon, scoring the maximum five runs in the inning as Heaven Vaughn, Christian Gregg, Holly Gilland, Maggie Humphrey, Mackenzie Souder, Shelby Moore, Rylee Grooms, and Savannah Ramsey came up with base hits that extended the lead to 10-4 at the end of four innings.

Giles County would not back down however, as they responded with four runs in the top of the fifth, as Smoky held on to a 10-8 lead.  Savannah Byrd and Kylie Gorrell came up with base hits in the bottom of the fifth but Smoky could not manufacture any runs in the inning as they clinged to a 10-8 lead going into the sixth and final inning.

Things were looking very promising for the Smoky All-Stars as Mackenzie Souder came up with a double-play at second-base still leading 10-8. However, Giles County produced three runs in the inning to take the lead 11-10.

Smoky had one last at-bat as they stranded a runner on base and were unable to tie the game as Giles County came up with the come-from-behind victory.

After the emotional and heart-breaking loss to Giles County, the All-Stars played a loser-bracket game against Maryville where the District Six representatives ended up with a 12-5 victory.

Down 3-0 going into the bottom of the first inning, Smoky responded with two runs scored by Mackenzie Souder and Shelby Moore as Maryville held a 3-2 lead.  Timely hits by Maryville, however, proved to be too much for Smoky as Maryville scored three more in the second inning.

Smoky was held scoreless in the second inning and Maryville came with five runs in the third as they led 11-2. A double by Rylee Grooms combined with an RBI base hit by Lexi Rea resulted in Smoky scoring a run in the bottom of the third.

Smoky held Maryville to one run in the fourth and added their own run in the inning with base hits by Christian Gregg and Holly Gilland.

Maryville was held scoreless in the top of the fifth inning as Lexi Rea made two consecutive outs at third base and Shelby Moore threw out the runner going to first base. Smoky strung together a few more base hits but it was not to be as Maryville won 12-5, ending the state tournament run for the Smoky All-Stars.

At press time, Giles County, whom Smoky lost a heartbreaker to on Saturday night, and Clarksville were playing for the state championship.

Head coach Derek Grooms stated, "I couldn't be more proud of a group of kids. They gave their all in our game against Giles County emotionally and physically, and it proved to hurt us in our game against Maryville. But, these girls and our community should be very proud of how we represented Cocke County and District Four and made history being one of the teams in the first ever Little League Girl's Coach-Pitch State Tournament."

The teams the Smoky All-Stars faced were comprised of all-star players from 6-8 teams in their respective area. Smoky's team was made up from two teams from the Cocke County recreation league, the regular season and tournament champion Sparks, and the Spoilers.

The girls would like to thank all the coaches, parents, and friends who made the trip to Pulaski to root on the all-stars. A special thanks goes out to all our sponsors who made this unforgettable trip possible including the Cocke County Recreation Department, Pepsi's BBQ, DJ's Market, Stinnett Chevrolet, Diana Grooms, Newport Printing, U.S. Bank, Wallace Hardware, All-State Insurance, Smokehouse, Luke Goddard Realty, Wal-mart, Pizza Plus, Papa John's, Krispy Kreme, Manes Funeral Home, Auntie Belham's, National Bank of Newport, and the support from numerous friends and family.

BOY'S COACH-PITCH

The story was pretty much the same for the Smoky Mountain All-Stars boy's coach pitch squad at their State Tournament in Lexington.

After falling 11-2 on Saturday in the tournament's opener, the All-Stars fell 12-6 in loser's bracket play on Tuesday night to see their season come to an end.