Chattanoogan Senior Spotlight: Silverdale Baptist Softball’s Marlee Montgomery

Senior Leaves Enduring Stamp On Lady Seahawks Athletics

  • Thursday, April 23, 2020
  • Kevin Llewallyn
Silverdale's Marlee Montgomery has left an indelible mark on Seahawks' athletics and the school itself.
Silverdale's Marlee Montgomery has left an indelible mark on Seahawks' athletics and the school itself.
photo by Dennis Norwood/File Photos

Silverdale Baptist Academy’s lone softball senior, Marlee Montgomery, has left an indelible mark on the Lady Seahawks sports programs and the school.

 

A stand-out on both the softball and basketball team, Montgomery has helped lead the Lady Seahawks to the state tournament in both sports. On the diamond, she has started in center field all three years since transferring from Bradley Central as a sophomore.

She also played a pivotal role as a guard on the basketball team that made it to the state tournament a couple of months ago. She will continue her basketball career next year at Bryan College.

 

But it’s how she’s lived her life off the field that she hopes has left the biggest impression.

 

“The biggest thing for me is just living my life for Christ,” said Montgomery. “I want to show the younger girls that while I still fall daily, it is possible to have fun and live your life as a teenager, but still honor God in everything that you do.”

 

When she transferred to Silverdale, Montgomery admitted that she worried at first about being accepted into a small school where strong friendship bonds had already been established. That was a feeling that would quickly fade.

 

“Going from a huge public school to a small private school where everyone knows each other, it took some time to figure out how to become friends but not feel like I’m interrupting something. But everyone here was just so nice and welcoming that I realized that was just a burden that I put on myself.”

 

“Being here has definitely strengthened me and my faith. I’m surrounded by adults and peers that are sold out to God, and they are helping me along my journey and supporting me through everything. Any time I’m going through something, I know that I have adults as well as teenagers that I can go to that are going to lead me with scripture and prayer. It’s nice to have people to go to.”

 

With six juniors on the basketball team and three in softball, Montgomery said they immediately took her in as one of them.

 

“You would think that I would take them under my wing because I’m older, but they’ve really taken me under theirs and invited me in because there were no other seniors on the teams. So I’ve become a lot closer with the younger girls that normally I wouldn’t have gotten to hang out with as much.”

 

While building strong relationships at school has been important, Montgomery credits her parents with having the biggest impact on her life.

 

“The biggest influences in my life have been my parents, but in different ways,” she said. “I can talk to both of my parents about anything, but my mom is that shoulder that I can cry on and my dad helps me so much spiritually and in sports.”

 

Montgomery started playing baseball when she was three years old, and then switched to softball when she was nine. She played on her first basketball team in the first grade, but said her dad had her dribbling a basketball as soon as she could walk.

 

Spending so much time playing both sports, it was her experience playing during the summer that guided her college decision.

 

“I love both sports because I grew up playing them both, but it really came down to my time playing in the summer. Playing travel ball in both sports was just not possible. I played on a local select softball team with some girls that I grew up with for nine years and had a blast, but I did all of my exposure travel ball in basketball on teams out of either Knoxville or Murfreesboro. So I felt like that played a major part in what sport I was recruited in.”

 

Montgomery was unable to play AAU basketball prior to her junior year, so her recruitment picked up this past summer. While she had multiple schools who were interested, she committed to Bryan late in the summer.

 

“Over the summer, teammates were getting offers and I hadn’t, and I kind of came to peace with that. I had no idea whether I wanted a big campus or small. Bryan invited me to one of their camps, and I got an offer fairly quickly after that, and it just felt right so I decided to accept it. The more I’m on campus, and the more I get to know about my coaches and teammates, the more excited I am to be there.”

 

Montgomery will look to contribute to a Bryan women’s basketball program coming off of a 29-2 season, where they also went 24-0 in the Appalachian Athletic Conference. The Lions defeated Siena Heights University in the opening round of the NAIA tournament before the remainder of the tournament was cancelled.

 

The Chattanoogan Senior Spotlight series highlights local prep seniors whose seasons have been put on hold due to the unprecedented situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. If you are associated with a high school spring sports team and would like your seniors featured, please encourage the coach to reach out to me at kevin.llewallyn@gmail.com. Also, share this article and others like it from this series on social media using #ChattanooganSeniorSpotlight.

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