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SOFTBALL

Airline softball coach Brittany Smith leaves for new position

Jimmy Watson
Shreveport Times

Airline softball coach Brittany Smith is checking out of the city and heading to the country.

Smith, who has coached the Lady Vikings for the past four seasons, has accepted the softball coaching position at Lakeside High School in Sibley.

“It was tough telling my girls here at Airline, but I’m excited about the new opportunity,” Smith said. “It was something that just struck me Friday and I decided to make the change.”

The Lady Vikings have been in contention for a District 1-5A title every season under Smith and have advanced to the LHSAA Class 5A postseason each year. Smith was 73-31 overall, including a 20-6 season and advancing to the state title game in 2021 behind LSU pitcher Raelin Chaffin.

With her husband working in Arcadia, the move to Sibley will cut his daily drive time to work from one hour to about 22 minutes.

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“His family lives in Simsboro and mine in Shreveport, so it put us almost halfway between both of them,” Smith said. “I’ve always wanted to be at a small country school and now God is giving me that opportunity.”

Smith coached at Greenacres for two years and was an assistant at Airline for four seasons under Reggie Digilormo before taking over in 2019-2020.

Roo Johnson, a former Airline coach, is stepping down as the same position at Lakeside.

Jimmy Watson covers Shreveport-Bossier area sports. Email him at jwatson@shreveporttimes.com and follow him on Twitter @JimmyWatson6.