An E4 classified tornado ripped through Catoosa County, Georgia, on April 27 of this year, leaving a path of devastation in its wake that seemed too much to handle. Ringgold High School suffered a tremendous amount of damage from the tornado as huge sections of the school, the gym, the football field and the baseball facilities were all demolished by the natural disaster.

Brent Hamil was the first officer to the scene after the tornado and the devastation was obvious from the start. An E4 tornado is extremely rare and this particular tornado nearly ripped the school apart. Hamil had to witness the damage as a first responder.

Any high school baseball fan knows that a team is gearing up for the playoffs towards the end of April, but Ringgold was left wondering if its championship dreams were also destroyed in the tornado. The Tigers had played well enough during the season to host a playoff game but were pondering what to do without a field. Tigers head coach Brent Tucker checked out his damaged stadium in the days following the tornado along with several of his players including Matthew Crownover.

Help was immediately offered from all corners of the state, but it was Heritage High school and the entire Heritage/Ringgold community that came to the rescue. Heritage High School opened its doors for students to attend classes and the baseball team shared its field with Ringgold's playoff-bound squad. Heritage tried its best to make Ringgold feel at home by bringing some of Ringgold's banners over and painting the Ringgold "R" on the field behind the home plate. Eric Beagles the Generals baseball coach had previously coached at Ringgold so he and his players wanted to help out the Tigers all they could.

Next, is Part 2 of the Heritage vs. Ringgold update.