Seventeen-year-old Riley Nayadley wasn’t about to be left off the family’s Division I college athletic tree, so Ringgold’s junior shortstop led the Lady Tigers into the third round of the state softball playoffs against Tattnall County on Wednesday afternoon with a commitment to East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tenn., tucked away in her equipment bag.
Nayadley made the non-binding commitment to Lady Bucs coach Brad Irwin last month as the Lady Tigers were wrapping up their highly successful regular-season schedule that included an undefeated run through region competition.
Riley’s brother, Cade, first committed to play football at Austin Peay before changing his mind and signing at Jacksonville State (Alabama) University.
The Nayadleys are the children of Jesse and Jan Nayadley who played basketball and softball, respectively, at Tennessee Tech during their collegiate careers.
“East Tennessee was the best choice for me,” Riley Nayadley said in a recent telephone interview. “They have come to a lot of my games and I like their campus and all the coaches. Another thing is they have the major that I want (special education). I didn’t feel great pressure to make the commitment but didn’t think there were any reasons to put it off. I knew where I wanted to go.”
Hackett called Nayadley one of his top team leaders the day before the Lady Tigers took an 18-game winning streak into the third-round showdown against Tattnall County (19-20), located in Reidsville, Georgia.
“Riley is such a great leader for us,” Hackett said, “and she’s so much fun to be around. She picks the team up with big hits, has the best fielding range on the team and helps make us a complete team. It would be a huge loss to our team if she wasn’t with us.”
Nayadley took a .506 batting average into Wednesday’s game with 45 hits in 89 at-bats 27 RBIs, eight doubles, one triple and two home runs. When the dust cleared on another two-game Ringgold sweep, Nayadley was batting .474 with 46 hits that included nine double, 1 triple, two home runs an 30 RBIs.
Ringgold defeated Tattnall County, 14-0, in the first game and 8-0 in the nightcap to sweep the series. The Lady Tigers. After sweeping Tattnall and Morgan County (7-0, 12-0) Daniel Hackett-coached Ringgold has posted four straight shutouts, outscoring the oppononents, 41-0, and advancing to next week’s Elite Eight in Columbus, Georgia.
"Riley played lights out at shortstop for us today," Hackett said. "She had 10 or 12 plays and made them all against very fast runners. Riley also had two hits.
Ringgold improved to 25-3 on the season and pushed its winning streak to 20 games.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming)