SPORTS

UT O-LINE ENTERS SPRING WITH QUESTIONS. 3B

TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 2018
PEKKA PACKS A PUNCH
Rinne stops 35 in Predators’
win over Sabres. 2B

FOOTBALL 3B | COLLEGE BASKETBALL 5B | CLASSIFIEDS 6B | COMICS 10B

THE DAILY TIMES 1B

Kelly ‘pleased’ with Pro Day performance

BY AUSTIN BORNHEIM
austinb@thedailytimes.com
KNOXVILLE — Former Tennes-
see running back John Kelly went
through Pro Day with the same
jovial attitude he carried himself
with while a member of the Vols
football program, and what made
him such a fan favorite.
Kelly — one of the few Vols who
are projected to be taken come
draft day — loves football, but
he was more than happy to have
Monday come to a close.
“I’m glad it’s over ...,” Kelly told
UT looks ahead to spring. 3B
reporters before bursting out in
his infectious laugh.
“I was pleased with the num-
bers I put up, and now I’m ready
to train a little bit more and wait
for my name to get called draft
day and then ready to go to work.”
Kelly participated in the NFL
Combine in late February, but
didn’t do all the events — namely
the 40-yard dash. He ran Monday,
and was unofficially clocked in a
4.65 on his first attempt. He was
later unofficially clocked at 4.5.
He skipped out on some of
the other agility drills, but went
through position workouts and
ran routes.
But, Kelly believes what will
really get on team’s radar, and
already has by his account, is his
game film.
The former Vol burst onto the
scene last season once Tennes-
see’s crowded backfield cleared
out with future NFL Offensive
Rookie of the Year Alvin Kama-
ra heading to the draft and Jalen JOY KIMBROUGH | THE DAILY TIMES
TENNESSEE RUNNING BACK JOHN Kelly (4) leaps into the end zone during the
SEE KELLY, 3B first quarter against Vanderbilt Nov. 25 in Knoxville.

WB softball struggles
in loss to Farragut
BY KELLY FRANKLIN
sports@thedailytimes.com
With fears of storms roll-
ing in, the starting time for
William Blount’s home-
opening softball game
was moved up by about
20 minutes.
Farragut was ready and
came out with bats blaz-
ing, while the Lady Gover-
nors struggled in all facets
early on. The result was a
7-2 District 4-AAA win for
the Lady Admirals (5-2, 1-0
District 4-AAA) and the
first loss of the season for
William Blount (5-1, 0-1).
“It came down to our
defense, and I think we
cracked under pressure
today,” William Blount
coach Amanda Leath-
erwood told The Daily
Times. “I don’t think we
made the plays we should
have, to keep us in the ball-
game. With teams like Far-
ragut and the others in this
district, you have to hold
teams to one or two runs to
have a chance to win, and
we didn’t do that today.”
DISTRICT 4-AAA SOFTBALL
FARRAGUT 7,
William Blount 2
The Lady Govs were
charged with only one
error overall, but in post-
‘It came down to
our defense, and I
think we cracked
under pressure
today.’
Amanda Leatherwood
William Blount softball coach
game discussions with her
team, Leatherwood ref-
erenced three different
occasions when outfield-
ers let balls drop in front of
them for base hits instead
of aggressively pursuing
the shallow flies.
Andrea Sarhatt, an East
SEE WB, 4B

Program firsts
continue to stack
JOY KIMBROUGH | THE DAILY TIMES
up under Warlick
WILLIAM BLOUNT’S ISAAC MORTON hurls a pitch during Monday’s 6-4 loss to Knoxville West at William Blount.

A pitched battle
BY LAUREN MOORE
laurenm@thedailytimes.com
KNOXVILLE — There
have been a lot of firsts hap-
pen within the Tennessee
women’s program the last
two seasons.
The list isn’t the kind of
firsts a coach or player
Tennessee’s season, but
it was the first time in 58
NCAA games it occured on
the Lady Vols’ home court.
If that historic stat wasn’t
enough to endure, it also
marks the first time Ten-
nessee hasn’t advanced to
the Sweet 16 in consecu-
tive years.

Gov baseball falls due to early deficit against Rebels
BY ROB HARVEY
sports@thedailytimes.com
Playing in their first dis-
trict game of the season,
the William Blount base-
ball team put themselves
in an early hole against the
Knoxville West Rebels.
Down 6-2 going to the
bottom of the seventh,
the Governors were in
need of a big inning, if
they wanted to keep their
undefeated season alive.
They almost got it.
DISTRICT 4-AAA BASEBALL
WEST KNOX 6,
William Blount 4
The Governors scored
two runs in the seventh
and had the bases loaded,
but a Tanner Lewis line-
out to shortstop ended the
game, giving the Rebels
a 6-4 District 4-AAA win
at William Blount Mon-
day night.
“They fought. That’s
the good thing about
this team,” WB head
coach Justin Young said.
“They’re pretty resilient.
They give you everything
they’ve got everyday out.
But, we just waited too
long. Just put ourselves in
too big of a hole to come
out of it in the end.”
The Gov offense strug-
gled at the plate, totaling
just four hits, something
that they are not used
to. In their past three
games, William Blount
had scored 11 runs twice
and 10 runs once.
William Blount got the
offense going slightly in
the third inning, in due
part to the bottom of
the lineup. After a Jared
Young walk and a Nathan
Yates sacrifice bunt, Gage
Fairbanks doubled off of
the high wall in left field
to drive in Young.
The offense got going
again in the sixth inning
because of Fairbanks once
SEE BATTLE, 4B
would like to have their
name associated with in a
storied program like Ten-
nessee.
A year ago, the Lady Vols
were ousted by Louisville
in the NCAA Tournament
round of 32 for the first time
in program history (28-1).
After getting its 37th tour-
nament bid — the most by
any Division I team since
the inception of the tour-
ney — Tennessee added to
that second-round loss total
after sixth-seeded Oregon
State took down the No. 3
Lady Vols, 66-59, Sunday
afternoon.
Not only did the loss end
And after the historic loss,
when Holly Warlick was
asked about what she said
to her team, she started
with saying she thanked the
three seniors — Mercedes
Russell, Jaime Nared and
Kortney Dunbar — then
she fishtailed.
“Thanked the seniors for
what they meant to this pro-
gram, what they’ve done,
what they’ve done through-
out their whole career,” the
sixth-year head coach said.
“You come here wanting to
win championships and the
expectations are extremely
SEE FIRSTS, 5B

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