Kronicle tourney completes rain-soaked 44th chapter

The champions of the men’s open bracket at the Kronicle Softball Tournament Saturday were RCC Home Solutions as they beat True Fit Trim 22-10 in the finals. The members of the team include, kneeling, from left, Myron Dobson, Alan Laroque, Austin Aaron, Collin Rogers, Kyle Overstreet and Chase Brown. Standing are Justin Gregory, Logan Hampton, Mike Carden, Conner Bowen and Terry Hicklen. -Staff Photos by Sam Cowan
The Raging Divas won the championship in the lower ladies bracket at the Kronicle Softball Tournament Saturday after beating the Lady Players 18-6 in the finals. The members of the team include, front row, from left, Deanna Lorance, Audrey Brown, Caroline Gannon, Ashleigh Bruce and Shelley Potts. In the back row are coach John Pruitt, Kimber Null, Chantell Lorance, Staci Jackson, Tiffani Moorehead, Brittney Grainger, Alyssa Lind, coach Joshua Wilson and Savannah Clinard.
Major Payne finished first in the men’s D-class bracket at the Kronicle Softball Tournament Sunday. Pictured with their plaques, kneeling, from left, are Milo Genter, Micah Genter, Zach Wisdom, Seth Barrett, Matt Rossi and Jacob Nadal. Standing are Anthony Combs, Scott Creekmore, Jonathan Cooksey, Paxton Howard and Cruz Reyes. Not pictured are Chris Baines, Ty Lowe and Reece Genter.
Blackout emerged as the top team in the upper ladies bracket at the Kronicle Softball Tournament Sunday. The members of the team include, kneeling, from left, Taylor Hargrove, Katie Gray, Ashley Barrett, Mallory Jennings and Ann Marie-Fitzpatrick. Standing are Kali Osborne, Kasondra Osborne, Dinae Scott, Savannah Nocera, Chris Ledbetter, Shelby Smartt, Dreema Shelton, Kristen Szurley, Shelby Evans and Haleigh Robertson.
The champions of the men’s recreational division at the Kronicle Softball Tournament Sunday were the Bama Boys. The members of the team include, kneeling, from left, Justin Talavera, Russell Garrett and Connor Mims. Standing are Beau Blankenship, Freddie Boom, Tamarius Ellis, Jordan McCaleb, Ryan Coburn and Peyton Willett.

SPORTS WRITER

Sam Cowan

The 44th annual Kronicle Softball Tournament was held over the weekend at the Winchester City Park with 70 teams competing across six divisions.

The tournament, which was run by the Independent Sports Association, raised money for the Franklin County High School girls basketball team with FCHS head girls basketball coach Darrell Jolley previously saying that the money helps the program pay for expenses related to traveling, food and equipment.

Two of the tournament brackets were played to completion on Saturday with the four remaining brackets coming to a premature end on Sunday due to heavy rain which entered the area in the early afternoon and persisted for hours after the tournament was called off.

Steve Lovvorn, the state adult program director for the ISA, said that despite the rainy end to the tournament, it was a positive chapter in the history of the event.

“You’re always going to have a few little glitches here and there, but nobody left the park angry at anybody else that I’m aware of. A lot of them left disappointed they lost, but they were all here for the right reasons. They wanted to help support the Franklin County girls basketball team and play some softball,” he said. “I think everybody is very complementary of everything that went on, and I would call it a rousing success.”

The schedule for the tournament was adjusted on Saturday night in anticipation of the rain coming the following day with semifinal matchups in the men’s E-class, D-class and recreational divisions and the women’s upper bracket being played late into the night in order to leave just one team undefeated in each division.

“That gives us a clear-cut first place because they’re undefeated. It gives us a clear-cut second place because they went all the way to the winner’s bracket finals before losing, and then we backed up from there,” Lovvorn said Sunday. “The two teams that went to the semifinals of the loser’s bracket, we awarded them a tie for third because they had made it further than any other team without losing, and then we had two divisions this morning that played it out far enough that we had a clear-cut first, second and third.”

Lovvorn added that the schedule shift paid dividends when the persistent rain on Sunday forced each remaining bracket to end early.

“I’m not a total believer in forecasts because they can change too rapidly in Tennessee, but this one hit the nail right on the head. If we hadn’t played it last night, we’d have had co-champions in every division, and nobody likes a co-champion,” he said.

Lovvorn also paid tribute to the members of the FCHS girls basketball team and their parental volunteers for helping to make the event a success.

“The basketball girls and their parents work very hard on the concessions, and we want to try to help financially support them going forward,” he said.

Two champions were crowned late Saturday night with the Raging Divas beating the Lady Players 18-6 in the finals of the lower ladies bracket to finish first.

The men’s open tournament ended shortly afterward with RCC Home Solutions beating the division’s reigning champions, True Fit Trim, by a score of 22-10 in the finals.

The remaining brackets faced an early end before championship rounds could begin due to the inclement weather with the sole remaining undefeated team in each division being crowned the retroactive champion.

In the upper ladies bracket, Blackout finished first with their semifinal victory coming against Chaos.

The Bama Boys won the championship in the men’s recreational division as their last win for the weekend came against the Longshots.

Major Payne emerged victorious in the men’s D-class bracket after beating Jabos in the semifinals, and PHP secured a first-place finish in the men’s E-class division with the team’s last win of the tournament coming again the Players in the semifinals.

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