08/30/2026
Team Tennessee 29 Hits All Day, Comes Home 0-2-1
Lee University Showcase | Cleveland, Tennessee | August 29, 2026
Three games, twenty five hits, twenty runs, and not a win to show for it.
Team Tennessee 29 Smith 16U hit .368 as a team Saturday at Lee University and walked off the complex with a tie and two losses. The first year 16U tied Athletics Mercado Foster 16U 10-10, fell 13-4 to Wildcats 28/29, and dropped a 13-6 decision to Team TN Ellison 28/29 18U after once leading by four.
Every girl on the roster hit. Every girl on the roster played the field. That was the plan going in, and it matters when you look at the day as a whole.
Game 1: Athletics Mercado Foster 16U, 10-10
Karley Smith singled home a run in the bottom of the first and Aubree Goff followed with a two run ground out for a 3-1 lead. Athletics answered with five in the second, and from there it was a fight.
Down 7-4, Team Tennessee kept coming. An Athletics error and an Alexzandra Smith ground out put Tennessee back in front 8-7 in the fourth. Athletics answered again and carried a 10-8 lead into the bottom of the fifth.
Then came a ball driven all the way to the fence brought both tying runs around. The throw actually beat the last runner to the plate, but it got away from the catcher and the run scored.
10-10.
Eleven hits, with two apiece from Cydney Champion and Amelia Williams.
Game 2: Wildcats 28/29, 13-4
Six runs in the top of the first, capped by a bases clearing triple, put Team Tennessee in a hole before the offense ever got settled.
The bats kept working anyway.
Karley Smith, Isabella Dixon, Amya Brown, Amelia Williams, Shayler Becker and Anslee Douglas all collected hits. Brown stole two bases.
The offense competed.
The first inning was too much.
Game 3: Team TN Ellison 28/29 18U, 13-6
Then came the clearest look yet at what this team can become.
Five runs. Six hits. One inning.
Team Tennessee turned a 1-0 deficit into a 5-1 lead in the bottom of the first, and for that inning there was no question whether this club belonged on the field.
Ellison answered with five in the second and added six more in the fifth to pull away.
Alexzandra Smith stole four bases.
Eight hits from eight different players.
Again, the offense was there.
The Truth
This team can hit.
Twenty five hits, twenty runs, a .368 average, a .434 on base percentage, an 85 percent contact rate, and eleven stolen bases in eleven attempts.
Anslee Douglas doubled and tripled.
Amelia Williams went 4 for 7.
Karley Smith went 3 for 5.
Shayler Becker and Cydney Champion both hit .500.
There were flashes in the circle.
Isabella Dixon worked 5.1 innings with four strikeouts and zero walks.
That is a pitcher trusting what she has and making hitters earn their way on.
There were flashes in the field.
The throws were steady all day. Infield, outfield, everywhere. Nobody rushed one and nobody airmailed one.
And then there is the other side of it.
Thirty six runs on thirty seven hits in sixteen innings.
Eight walks and four wild pitches.
Opponents hit .420.
The official book shows three errors.
That does not mean the defense played clean. Balls dropped between second and the outfield.Balls dropped between short and the outfield.
More than once.
Those go in the book as base hits, but we know the we have to get a glove to these bslls. Communication has to improve in this area.
The ball comes off the bat harder at this level. That is not an excuse it’s just the reason we have to hit harder at practice, to get these gloves fast, that is the standard.
The reads get quicker.
The communication comes earlier.
The glove gets there.
The Choice coach Made
Ten of thirteen girls played more than one position Saturday.
Everyone hit.
Everyone played.
Everyone had a chance to be seen by the college coaches sitting around that complex.
That was intentional.
At an exposure event, getting players on the field matters. Development matters. Being seen matters.but is also a tradeoff, and i absolutely own it.
You do not build defensive rhythm by moving people around all afternoon.
There is a version of this team where nine girls settle into their best spots, build communication with the players beside them, and get comfortable making those plays together.
Saturday was about exposure and evaluation. As the season goes on, the balance between exposure, development and winning gets clearer.
What Is Next
Right now the bats are ahead of the gloves and the circle.
So that is where the work goes.
Hard hit balls.
Gap communication.
First steps.
Calling the ball early and loud.
Pitchers getting ahead.
First pitch strikes.
Getting the leadoff hitter out.
And learning how to keep one bad play from turning into a six run inning.
Because here is the takeaway from Saturday.
This team was one inning away in two of these three games.
Not one talent level away.
One inning.
That is the whole difference.
This is a first year 16U team with a ton of talent. Now it becomes a 16U team that knows how to finish.
Sixty feet at a time.
One pitch at a time.
One inning at a time.
The only people not messing it up are the people not doing it.
🍊 TEAM TENNESSEE 29
