Irish show ‘fight’ in historic state tournament appearance
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Knoxville Catholic pitcher Izzy Holleman (15) tosses a strike toward the plate during Catholic’s 11-1 loss to Baylor during the Division II-AA state softball tournament. The loss brought the Irish’s season to a close after their first state appearance in 42 years. - Jake Nichols
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Knoxville Catholic co-head softball coach Haden Roberts speaks to the team during a break in the action of their Division II-AA state tournament game against the Baylor School on Thursday, May 21, at Cedar Stone Park in Smyrna. The Irish lost 11-1, bringing their season to a close after their first state tournament appearance since 1984. - Jake Nichols
SMYRNA — Haden Roberts pulled the Knoxville Catholic softball players into a huddle in their Cedar Stone Park dugout.
As the Irish co-head coach spoke, one word stood out from his brief speech: “fight.”
KCHS players showed exactly that this season, navigating a midseason coaching change to reach their first state tournament berth in 42 years. But that historic run came to a close Thursday, May 21, as Catholic lost 11-1 to Baylor in six innings to end its 2026 season in the Division II-AA state softball tournament.
A 9-0 loss to Girls Preparatory School the previous day put the Irish on the brink of elimination before Thursday’s loss to the Red Raiders.
“Just us being proud of them,” Haden Roberts said of what he and co-head coach Heather Roberts (no relation) told the team. “That was the biggest thing is how proud we are. It didn’t turn out like we wanted it to, but they fought and competed until the end of the season, and it showed.”
Against GPS on Wednesday, the Irish held the Bruisers in check en route to a 3-0 deficit after the first three innings. But a fifth-inning explosion put GPS ahead 9-0, marking the final margin after two more scoreless frames.
Bruisers starter Christianna Marshall delivered a complete-game shutout against Catholic, which saw 12 strikeouts with just three hits in 24 at-bats.
Catie Schaad registered one of those hits with a single in the bottom of the first inning, then a single by Ryleigh McEnery and a walk from Gracie Eunice put two on for KCHS in the second inning. But a strikeout ended the frame, which marked Catholic’s final hit until Hadlee Trout singled in the bottom of the seventh.
Izzy Holleman walked two batters later, but a flyout in the next at-bat ended the game to leave two KCHS runners stranded.
While Anna DeBusk took the loss against GPS, Holleman stepped in the circle first against Baylor.
The Red Raiders tagged her with four runs in the bottom of the first, but Catholic responded with an RBI groundout by Helen Rose O’Reilly to score McEnery for the Irish’s first and only run of the tournament.
Against Baylor, the Irish saw a better start at the plate with three hits in their first nine batters. But they left five runners stranded, making for eight in total after three runners were left on base Wednesday.
Baylor starter Rylee Jasper picked up the win, giving up an earned run with seven strikeouts, a walk and the aforementioned three hits. Baylor also plated 10 RBI on nine hits, totaling 26 at-bats.
Even with the loss, Catholic’s co-head coaches noted the impact of a historic season.
Prior to its stay in Murfreesboro, KCHS strung together wins of 6-1 and 15-0 over Father Ryan and 10-3 and 14-4 over Briarcrest Christian to reach the state tournament for the first time since 1984.
“The girls turned it around,” Heather Roberts said. “They found the light at the end of the tunnel, and they competed and wanted to be here.”
That showed even as their final game wore on Thursday morning.
With Baylor ahead 5-1 in the third, Troutt robbed a fly ball at the wall for the third out.
Later, Schaad made a nice tag at third to end the top of the fifth, and she snagged a sharp line drive in the sixth as well.
“Just toughness and resiliency from every single one of them,” Haden Roberts said, alluding to the season as a whole. “They all showed that to the max. With injuries through the whole season and a coaching change, they kept fighting through it and got hot at the right time. Came up short here, but they made that run, and that’s something they’ll always have and remember. Just a lot of toughness from every girl.”
