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The top five or so teams in the annual Smoky Mountain Classic are the who's who of professional softball. So it makes sense that Jason Gorenflo wasn't the biggest fan of his team's draw in years past.

"I like our chances this year better than any in the past," said Gorneflo, whose East Tennessee-based Coleman Burris Investigations/Quaker Steak and Lube team opens play tonight at 5:30. "I think this is the first year we don't have a top-five draw. I think we may face the No. 15 team in the country, and if you find anybody sleeping then you can catch them."

Last year, Gorenflo and his team dropped their first two games in the Classic, but the team has undergone a makeover since then in hopes of becoming competitive at the highest level.

Coleman and Burris Investigations joined forces with last year's Quaker Steak team, and the results have been impressive so far. To date, the team boasts a 36-25 record.

"Financially, it helped us a bunch," Gorenflo said of the merger. "We have been able to travel to the larger tournaments and not had to play in our backyard as much as in years past. We've been going to Nashville more and Cherokee.

"We've just played better teams, which I think is going to help us down the road. We picked up a lot more youth in our group, which has helped us. Of course, our youth has to mature as well, so it is kind of a growing process this year combining the two teams together."

The team's highlight so far this season occurred in the Southern Showcase, where it obtained one of its five trophies from this year. The tournament featured the top 10 teams from four different states.

But Coleman Burris Investigations/Quaker Steak and Lube has not gone without growing pains. Gorenflo said that the 2008 squad has much less power compared to past years. And that may bite them in a tournament like the Smoky Mountain Classic.

Yet Gorenflo and his team, which features six players from Maryville, hope other areas will enable them to compensate accordingly.

"We have always loved the David and Goliath aspect," he said. "We love to play against the country's best, and it's in our backyard. Our sponsors give us a chance. We may not have the million-dollar budget, but we have the million-dollar hearts that love the game we call softball."