Lady Pioneers = 2026 TCCAA Champs!
Lady Pioneers Slay the Tigers in 2026 Region 7 Championship
By: Tim Reece
On Thursday, May 7, three years of hard work culminated in a Championship win for 3rd year Head Coach, Christian Lynn, and the #1 seed Volunteer State Lady Pioneers softball team, as they defeated the #2 seed Chattanooga State Lady Tigers, 11-2, to win the TCCAA Region 7 softball tournament at Columbia State Community College. The victory sends Vol State to the 2026 NJCAA Division I Softball World Series in Oxford, Alabama, May 25 – 30.
The Lady Pioneers cruised through their first two games by defeating #8 Cleveland State, 18-5, and #4 Dyersburg State, 14-0. Freshman RHP, Gracyn Nealon, picked up her 14th win of the year against the Lady Cougars and Red-shirt Sophomore RHP, Kaitlyn Davis, gained her 15th win in the circle against Dyersburg State. Red-shirt Sophomore CF, Abby Murrill, and Freshman SS, Mallie Grizzle, each scored 3 runs and drove in 3 runs against Cleveland State. The offensive stars versus the Lady Eagles were Freshman 3B, Maddie Shinton, who had a Homerun and 4 RBI; Freshman 1B, Maddie Goad, who also hit a Homerun and drove in 2 runs; and Freshman RF, Anaya Dawson, who picked up a Triple and 3 RBI.
Chattanooga State claimed early round victories over Southwest Tennessee and Walters State to pit them against Volunteer State for the first of what would be three battles for the Championship. Game one was the winner's bracket finals, which the Lady Pioneers won 5-3. Kaitlyn Davis pitched a 7-inning, complete game, to get her 16th win of the year. Sophomore Catcher, Kileigh Irwin, had the big blow in the 6th inning to break the 1-1 tie, with a bases loaded, two out, 3-run Double to put Vol State up 5-1. Davis would allow a 2-run Homerun in the top of the 7th, before retiring the final two batters for the victory. The Lady Pioneers then awaited the outcome of the losers bracket, to see who they would face in the Championship. Whoever it proved to be, would have to defeat the Lady Pioneers twice to claim the title.
On Tuesday, May 5, Chattanooga State defeated Roane State, 8-4, in the losers bracket final and gained the right to play Vol State in the Championship. Vol State got on top first with back-to-back Homeruns by Mallie Grizzle and Maddie Shinton. However, the Lady Tigers would rely on three longball themselves, off three different Vol State Pitchers, to score five unanswered runs, in the 6th and 7th innings, to defeat the Lady Pioneers, 5-2, and set up a winner-take-all final game. Due to rain, that game would not take place until Thursday, May 7.
In the final game of the TCCAA Region 7 Softball Championship, Vol State started veteran RHP, Kaitlyn Davis, in the circle. Up to that point, Davis had faced the Lady Tigers six times in her career, starting five of those games, and winning only twice. The 7th proved to be the last and best. Davis' teammates picked up a run in each of the first two innings to stake her to a 2-0 lead going into the top of the 3rd. The Lady Pioneers, who were the Visitors, broke the game open with a six spot in their half of the 3rd inning. All six runs scored after two outs. An RBI Single by Maddie Goad, a 2 run Single by Kileigh Irwin, and a 3-run Homerun by Sophomore DP Kierstyn Smith (only the 2nd of her career), gave Vol State an 8-0 lead.
Chatt State scored a solo run in the bottom of the 5th inning to cause play to continue, as the 8-run Mercy Rule was in play after five innings. However, Vol State added 3 more runs in the top of the 6th, on a Mallie Grizzle 3-run Homerun, to give the Lady Pioneers a 10-run cushion going into the bottom half of the inning. The Lady Tigers could only muster one run and Vol State would win the Championship in six innings, 11-2!
Freshman 2B, Alyssa Dixon, Abby Murrill, and Mallie Grizzle, each scored 7 runs in the five games played. Grizzle and Maddie Shinton slammed two Homeruns each, with Shinton picking up her 21st and 22nd of the year, which are the most by a Lady Pioneer since before 2018.
Grizzle finished with 11 RBI; Shinton collected 7 RBI; and Kierstyn Smith had 6 RBI to lead the club. Kileigh Irwin went 7-13 (.538 average), with a Double and 6 RBI, while Maddie Goad was 8-15 (.533 average) with 2 Doubles, a Homerun, and 4 RBI.
The Most Valuable Player award went to Kaitlyn Davis for appearing in the circle in the final four games of the tournament, starting three, and earning a 3-1 record. She delivered two complete game victories against Chatt State and finished with 17.1 innings, allowing only 4 walks and striking out 13 batters. Davis said following the Championship win, "It was worth the three surgeries and a Medical Redshirt" between her first and third years in Gallatin, TN, to get the opportunity to pitch her team to a conference championship!
In 2024, the Lady Pioneers lost to Dyersburg State in the losers bracket final, at Columbia State, to finish in 3rdPlace.
In 2025, they lost to Chattanooga State, in Chattanooga, and finished 2nd.
In 2026, in front of Vol State President Dr. Wendi Tostenson; Hall of Fame Athletic Director Bobby Hudson; and many school staff, fans, and player's families; Head Coach Christian Lynn and the Volunteer State Lady Pioneers reached the Pinnacle in the TCCAA for the first time since Johnny Lynn (Hall of Fame Coach and Father of Christian) and his squad won in 2011!
Now, on to the World Series in Oxford, AL.