The Dream Team

Lady Tornadoes complete unreal championship run

By Stefan Cooper
Editor
Blount Press Row

This spring, one of the great teams in Blount County history in any sport completed a championship run for the ages.

With school already dismissed for the summer, there was no one to welcome them home. There was no school assembly, no teachers to compliment them on a job well done, no recognition at school sporting events.

Simply consigning their achievement to history didn’t seem right, so Blount Press Row contacted the NFHS Network to see if there was any footage available of the Alcoa/McNairy Central softball state championship game in Murfreesboro in May. There was, they informed us, and they were happy to share it with us.

With that, we compiled a highlight video of a squad truly worthy of the name “The Dream Team.”

Raya Inge delivered the decisive blow in a 7-5 Lady Tornado triumph when her three-run, sixth-inning home run cleared the left-field wall at Riverdale High School. The blast lifted the Lady Tornadoes to 7–0 lead, only to see the Bobcats rally for five runs in the bottom of the inning.

That’s when the fun really kicked in, though.

Threatening skies that plagued the tournament all week opened yet again, dumping so much rain on the Riverdale field — an artificial turf field, mind you — the game had to be moved down the road to Shelbyville Central High School to play the seventh inning.

Once there, Alcoa ace Kalea Osborne, the bases loaded behind her, fanned the game’s last batter to launch the celebration.

The championship game in and of itself said a lot about a truly generational team, and, with the help of the accompanying video, we’ll touch on some of the highlights. First, the statistics the Lady Tornadoes (44-3) compiled over the course of the 2026 season warrant some deep dive discussion.

Leading off: Halle Bailey

The Tennessee signee hit for average. She hit for power. She was lethal on the base paths. Defensively, she delivered three gems from her shortstop position in the state championship game that were flat out awesome!

The spinning, 6-3 stunner to first baseman Maddy Stewart for the first out in the sixth was fantastic.

Bailey put up a staggering .627 batting average during the 2026 season. We know that’s not an Alcoa or Blount County record: She toyed with an unthinkable .700 only a year ago, hitting the tape at a .675 clip as the Lady Tornadoes finished state runners up.

A .677 on-base percentage for 2026 means the gifted speedster reached base seven out of every 10 times she came to the plate. A withering line of nine doubles, seven triples and four homers helped craft an .888 slugging percentage.

Bailey’s 34 RBI ranked fifth among Lady Tornadoes, her 77 runs scored besting her closest pursuer by more than 30. In 134 at bats she struck out twice, both times on called third strikes.

Then, there’s this.

In one of the wildest stats ever, Bailey stole 50 bases during the 2026 season. She was caught stealing only once, resulting in a 98 percent success rate.

(Editor’s note: We attended the game with the unsuccessful stolen base attempt. Bailey beat the throw to second, tagged out only after switching hands on the bag as she prepared to stand.)

To label any athlete the GOAT of their sport is always subjective. Any such discussion when it comes to high school softball in Blount County must also include Bailey’s Hall of Fame, Lady Vol jersey-retired mom, Alcoa coach Sarah Fekete Bailey. Her prep career at rival Maryville was one for the books.

That said, if Halle’s your choice, you’ve sure got the numbers to back you up.

Kalea Osborne

One of many notables in this year’s championship run is who the Lady Tornadoes faced in the pitching circle in the title game. McNairy Central star Bailee Shelton was not only a Tennessee signee, the future Lady Vol was also named the Gatorade Player of the Year for Tennessee.

Not be outdone, when it mattered most in the championship game, Osborne was clutch.

For the season, the UT Martin signee put up some otherworldly numbers rivaling any you’ll find. In 16 starts entering state tournament play, she finished an unblemished 16-0. In two save opportunities, she got ‘em both.

The future Skyhawk retired 123 batters by strikeout. Osborne’s earned run average was an eye-popping 0.708, limiting opposing offenses to a stingy .171 batting average.

The stunner?

In 89 innings pitched, she surrendered 11 runs.

Eleven.

Raya Inge

Whether softball or its baseball cousin, it’s the one statistic that grabs everyone’s attention right away.

The best number we could find for home runs in a season by a Tennessee high school player was the 23 Tiffany Laughren hit for Unicoi County during the 2013 season. Natalie Sheffey hit 19 for Daniel Boone in 2012, Taylor Wright 17 for Unicoi a year later.

Inge hit a Lady Tornado record 14 of them during the 2026 season.

She’s a sophomore.

With 11 doubles and a triple on the year, Inge joined Bailey as the only Lady Tornado to slug above .800, Inge finishing with a robust .863. Her 45 RBI was third best for Alcoa, trailing only third baseman Grayson Burgess and catcher Tori Hahn.

It’s often said power hitters don’t hit very well for average. Inge hit .393.

Did we mention she’s a sophomore?

Tori Hahn

A BPR fav, Hahn first caught our eye with the way the Kentucky commitment celebrates Osborne retiring the last batter of an inning by strikeout.

It’s a real show. Don’t change.

On offense, the future Lady Wildcat is as exceptional as they come, finishing second among Lady Tornadoes with 46 RBI. Her 12 doubles, two homers and a triple really stand out considering she hit for an impressive .405 average.

She was among four Lady Tornadoes with at least 10 at bats to hit above the .400 mark.

Hahn’s leadoff double to straightaway center in the state championship game sparked a four-run fourth inning for Alcoa. Leading 4-0 at the end of the frame, the Lady Tornadoes would never trail.

Grayson Burgess

Runners left on base is one of those stats that pains all softball teams and coaches deeply. It’s why Burgess finished the season as one of the most valuable Lady Tornadoes of them all.

The RBI leader with a team-best 55, the Lady Tornado third baseman got the runners home when Alcoa put them aboard. She scored 22 runs herself.

Burgess ranks with the top sluggers you’ll find with seven home runs and eight doubles for the 2026 season. In 136 plate appearances, she hit for a .386 average.

Her three-run, walk-off home run against Soddy-Daisy in the region championship game will endure as one of the season’s top highlights.

Da’ja Casby

The one-two punch of Bailey and Casby at the top of the batting order was special.

If Bailey got aboard — and, as mentioned above, she often did — Casby was all but certain to advance the runner. The Walters State signee punished opposing pitching for a .526 batting average as the Lady Tornadoes often did their damage early.

Bailey and Casby were aboard for the Inge blast that proved Alcoa’s winning margin in the championship game.

Scoring 42 runs, Casby paced Alcoa with five sacrifices. Tack on 16 stolen bases, and the Casby-Bailey duo is going to be hard to replace.

Maddy Stewart

In a perfect world, every team has a Maddy Stewart at first base.

A tall, athletic target who could extend, she dramatically shortened the distance the ball had to travel for Alcoa’s infielders. Then there’s what she could do with the bat.

Hitting .409, the Chattanooga State signee punched through six doubles and a triple en route to 32 RBI. Her five home runs helped the Lady Tornadoes amass 43 deep shots on the year. Stewart went deep twice in a rout of Watertown in the sectional championship game.

Here’s the thing that gets us.

Paced by freshman Alison Chapman, Alcoa had no shortage of pinch runners.

(Editor: Chapman, on as a courtesy runner, is misidentified as Osborne in the video in the Lady Tornadoes’ breakout fourth inning in the championship game.)

More often than not, Stewart was allowed to do her own base running. She rewarded the coaching staff with 34 runs scored. From a 6-foot first baseman.

Jayde Deal

A freshman in 2026, Deal is likely next year’s starter in the pitching circle. She can also swing the bat and scoot.

Spending much of her time in center field for the 2026 season, Deal hit for a .339 average, matching Hahn for the team lead with 12 doubles, adding a triple. She’s got some power, too, lifting three home runs out on the year.

Again, when the Lady Tornadoes put runners aboard in 2026, they usually brought them around. Deal did her part with 36 RBI, adding 26 runs scored.

Makenna McCarter

McCarter is why we took to calling the 2026 Lady Tornadoes “The Dream Team.”

Of Alcoa’s leading ladies, she had the lowest batting average — and she hit .312!

Do that in the majors and you’re driving a Ferrari.

The Johnson University signee put a .559 slugging percentage behind that batting average, the product of eight doubles and five home runs. McCarter collected 25 RBI and 14 runs scored to go with those totals. She recorded 56 quality at bats, compiled when a player meets any three of the following criteria: three pitches beyond a second strike, six pitches in any at bat, walks, total extra base hits, number of times hit by pitch, sacrifice bunts or flies.

In a true measure of the 2026 Lady Tornadoes, eight players surpassed 50 on that standard, paced by Bailey with 81.

The Coach

Sarah Fekete Bailey not only introduced the quality at bat standard during her tenure as the Alcoa skipper, the former Tennessee Lady Vol centerfielder also did a masterful job developing one of Blount County’s finest ever players and teams.

Coaching a son or daughter is a tough job on a terrific level.

Are you pushing too hard?

Are you not pushing hard enough?

What about the team?

Fekete Bailey aced each of those questions as she exits the stage, having coached the Lady Tornadoes to Blount County’s only two titles in softball.

Alcoa also finished champions at the end of the 2022 season.

Fekete Bailey stepped down after this year’s record-setting run, passing the reins to assistant coach Anna Alloway. The Lady Tornadoes are in good hands. Alloway’s a winner.

She learned from the best.