In the last few years, if you went to a Coahulla Creek High School sporting event, chances are you’d find a Reed sibling suiting up.
Next year, the same will also be true for the athletics program at Truett McConnell University in Cleveland, Georgia.
Caroline Reed will become the latest Reed to suit up for the Bears when she joins the softball program. The rising Coahulla Creek senior committed to play for Truett earlier this week.
Sam Reed and Brinkley Reed both were standouts in Coahulla Creek sports. Sam Reed signed with the baseball program at Truett McConnell after his 2021 graduation. Brinkley Reed, the all-time leading scorer for the Creek girls basketball program, is entering her second season with the women’s basketball team at Truett after graduating from Creek in 2023.
Now Caroline, set to graduate in 2025, will join the Bears’ softball team.
“We’re all three going to the same school, but it’s all for different sports,” the youngest Reed said. “I think it will be really cool to go to the same place as them.”
But, Reed said, the chance to attend the same school as her siblings wasn’t always her first choice.
“My plans were just not to go to Truett,” Reed said. “I didn’t want people to say that I was only going there because of my siblings. My mind was completely off of it to start with.”
Reed attended a prospect camp at the school recently, where she got a chance to meet several members of the team.
“I absolutely fell in love with it. It made me feel at home,” Reed said. “It is a plus with my siblings there. A lot of the girls on the team already knew me because of Sam or Brinkley.”
Reed met with TMU softball coach Dylan Reichenberg at the camp, and the conversation with “Coach Reich” helped convince her that Truett could be the right fit.
“He’s really big on fundamentals and the small stuff. He was really good at helping with that, and it made me really comfortable,” Reed said. “It made me know that it was a place I could call home for the next four years.”
Truett, a competitor in the NAIA’s Appalachian Athletic Conference, had a 26-18 record last season.
As a junior last year, the shortstop was named the Dalton Daily Citizen’s All-Area Player of the Year.
Reed heads into her senior season with the Lady Colts next month.
“It’s a huge weight off of my shoulders,” Reed said. “I was kind of getting nervous about college and I didn’t know if I would find the right place. It’s really nice going into the high school season not having to stress about that and just being able to go out there and play.”