CHS Tennis(boys) defeated Shelbyville – 5 to 2(District 8AAA Team Semifinals)
CCMS Baseball lost to Tullahoma 4 to 3
CCMS Softball defeated Tullahoma – 11 to 5
CCMS Soccer lost to Harris – 8 to 0(CTC Tournament)

CHS Baseball lost to Tullahoma – 7 to 6(8 innings)

Nathaniel Tate of CHS baseball

The Red Raider baseball team invaded Tullahoma on Wednesday night attempting to ride the momentum of an extra inning win over the Cats on Tuesday.   After another late inning comeback, the Red Raiders forced a second straight extra inning game.  But six Coffee County errors produced 4 unearned runs for Tullahoma as Coffee County fell 7 to 6 in 8 innings.

Tullahoma got on the scoreboard first as they plated 3 runs in the 1^st inning helped in part by the Raiders first error of the game.  Coffee County bounced back in the 2^nd with a pair of runs in the second inning.  Tullahoma added 2 more runs in the 3^rd as Coffee County produced base runners but could not get the timely hit leaving 7 runners on base thru the first 5 innings.

Trailing 6 to 2, the Raiders rallied in the 6^th inning to tie the game using a pair of singles, a couple of hit batters and a Tullahoma error.  Nathaniel Tate had an RBI double in the inning to drive in the tying run, his second double of the game.  Neither team could muster a base runner in the 7^th inning sending the two rivals to their 2^nd straight extra inning game.  After Coffee County stranded the potential game winning run at 3^rd base in the top of the 8^th, Tullahoma used a walk and a pair of errors to plate the game winner and capture the series split with Coffee County.

Coffee County finished the game with 8 hits including Tate’s 2 doubles as he was named the Crazy Daisies player of the game.  Hayden Skipper added a pair of singles and 2 runs scored.  The Raiders travel to Lewisburg on Thursday, weather permitting, for a game with Marshall County.    First pitch is set for 4:30 PM.

Download the broadcast at: www.WMSRradio.com/downloads

Reid Lawrence of CHS tennis

The Red Raider tennis team hosted Shelbyville on Wednesday afternoon at the Raider Academy in the semifinals of the District 8AAA Team Tennis Tournament.  Coffee County, who entered the tournament as the #2 seed, was striving to advance to next week’s finals as they took on the 3^rd seeded Eagles.  The Red Raiders took care of business by a final score of 5 to 2.

Coffee County got wins in singles play from Joseph Sadler(8-5), Reid Lawrence(8-1), Shlip Patel(8-4) and Jonah Rollman(8-3).  The Raiders missed a chance at the singles sweep when top-seeded Grey Riddle’s racket broke just before his singles match resulting in a forfeit.  In doubles, the team of Sadler and Patel got an 8 to 6 win to improve Coffee County to 9 and 1 on the year.  The win total is the best in school history for the boys team and advances Coffee County to next week’s district finals.

The District 8AAA singles/doubles tournament is scheduled for Friday and Saturday at Shelbyville’s HV Griffin Park, weather permitting.  The District 8AAA Team Tennis finals will be contested early next week.  Coffee County will take on the winner of the Lincoln County/Tullahoma match in the finals.  Keep it tuned to Thunder Radio as we will keep you informed about schedule updates and cancellations.

Amber Ingelburger of CCMS softball

The Coffee County Middle School softball closed out the regular season on Wednesday when they played host to Tullahoma. The Lady Raiders, coming off a rain shortened 7 to 2 win over Tullahoma on April 17th, were looking for the season sweep over their west Coffee neighbors. Coffee County plated 9 runs in the first inning to set the stage for the 11 to 5 win.
After Coffee County pitcher Macie Campbell set down Tullahoma in order to start the game, The Lady Raiders sent 13 batters to the plate in the bottom of the first inning. In the frame, Coffee County had 6 hits and were helped by a Tullahoma error and 3 walks. Kerri Munn had a single and a double and 3 RBI in the first inning alone. Alyssa McClanahan had a 2 RBI single while Justus Turner had a double, a walk and scored twice……all in the first inning. Amber Ingelburger finished the game with 3 hits and 2 runs scored. Katie Crosslin added 2 hits and 2 runs scored.
The Lady Raiders will open up play in the CTC tournament on Friday night at 8 PM against South Franklin. That game will be played at Warren County High School.

James Lynn of CHS Track

The Coffee County Central High School track team welcomed nearly 240 runners to the track on Tuesday for a home meet. Teams from Cookeville, Notre Dame, Cascade, Upperman and Warren County were in attendance at Carden-Jarrell Field for the mid-week event. Missing several athletes due to injury and other commitments, the Lady Raiders and Red Raiders were each able to score 2nd place finishes behind Cookeville.
In the relay races, the Red Raiders finished 3rd in the 4×100 and 3rd in the 4×800. Individual point winners for the Red Raiders were:
James Lynn – 1st – 3200M; 5th – 800M;
Dillon Helms – 2nd – 110M Hurdles; 2nd – 300M Hurdles; 3rd – High Jump; 5th – Triple Jump;
Andrew Godwin – 2nd – 3200M; 3rd – 800M;
Bradley Kishpaugh – 2nd – 1600M;
Isaiah Rader – 3rd – 300M Hurdles; 3rd – – 110M Hurdles;
Jacob Melton 4th – 300M Hurdles;
Neil Slone – 4th – 3200M;
Johnny Dulin – 3rd – Triple Jump; 3rd – 400M; 4th – Long Jump;
Darius Rozier – 3rd – Long Jump;
Gage DeMarree – 4th – 400M;
Rueben Chatput – 6th – 400M;
Keishaun Creel – 7th – 100M;
Jasiyah Knox – 8th – 100M;
Pryce Hutchings – 8th – Discus;

Makenzie Anderson of CHS Track

In the relay races, the Lady Raiders finished 1st in the 4x800M, 3rd in the 4×200 and 4th in the 4×100. Individual point winners for the Lady Raiders were:
Makenzie Anderson – 1st – Long Jump; 1st – 100M Hurdles; 2nd 300M Hurdles;
Makenzie Webb – 1st – 3200M; 2nd – 1600M; 6th – High Jump;
Chloe Haggard – 1st – 300M Hurdles; 4th – High Jump;
Keisheal Norton – 1st – Shot Put;
Sarah Pearson – 2nd – Shot Put; 3rd – Discus;
Faith Floyd – 2nd – Discus; 6th – Shot Put;
Ellie Graham – 2nd – 200M; 3rd – Triple Jump;
Carina Majia – 4th – 3200M; 7th – 1600M;
Karle Wooten – 5th – 400M;
Keyleigh Alford – 5th – Long Jump; 6th – 100M;
Emily St. John – 5th – 400M;
Trava Brown – 6th – 1600M;
Laura Bogard – 6th – High Jump;

Coffee County will be back at Carden-Jarrell Field for a home meet on May 2. The meet will be an important one as it will honor former head coaches and pay tribute to Phil Bonham’s contributions to the program. Tickets will be $3 at the gate, and the special events will begin around 8:00 pm after the conclusion of the meet against Shelbyville. Nathan Wanuch will be a guest on Saturday’s Coffee Coaches Show to talk about the meet.

Braxton White of CCMS baseball

The Coffee County Middle School baseball team welcomed Tullahoma to the CCMS campus on Wednesday for the second game in their season series.  After fighting to a 4 to 0 win in extra innings on Tuesday, Coffee County saw Tullahoma rally for 4 runs in the last 2 innings to spoil 8^th Grade Night with a 4 to 3 win.

Coffee Middle got off to a fast start using a trio of walks and a pair of singles to score 3 runs in the 1^st inning.  Tullahoma clawed their way back into the game with single runs in the 3^rd and 5^th innings to make it a 1 run game entering the 6^th inning.  In the 6^th, Tullahoma used a walk and 3 singles to take the 4 to 3 lead.  After the big 1^st inning, the Raider bats could not muster the timely hit stranding 6 runners the rest of the game, including a pair of runners in the 7^th inning.

Braxton White had a single and 2 RBI and Braden Brown had a single and 1 RBI to lead the Raiders in hitting.   The Raiders finished the game with 3 hits on the night, with a single from Lane Spry in the 6^th inning being the lone base knock after the 1^st inning.

The Red Raiders now await the final conference games to be played to determine the seeding in next week’s CTC tournament.  Coffee County will begin tournament play on either Wednesday or Thursday in McMinnville.  Thunder Radio will keep you updated on game times and pairings.

The Coffee County Middle School soccer team fell in the semifinals of the CTC conference tournament on Wednesday afternoon in Shelbyville.  The Red Raiders drew the tough task of trying to knock off perennial power Harris on their home pitch.  Building on their continued improvements over the last few weeks was not enough as the Raiders fell 8 to 0.

A much quicker Harris team was able to score in the 16^th, 24^th and 27^th minutes to take a 3 to 0 lead into the halftime intermission.  A pair of goals early in the second half put the game out of reach as Coach Kenny Lockhart made several substitutions.  Harris tacked on 3 goals against the reserves to advance to Saturday’s finals against Warren County.

Vernon Fiddler had the perfect touch.

P.K. Subban recorded three points and Fiddler tallied the game-winner with just over five minutes left in regulation, and the Nashville Predators defeated the St. Louis Blues in Game One by a 4-3 final on Wednesday night at Scottrade Center. The win gives the Predators a 1-0 series lead in Round Two and a perfect 5-0 record in these playoffs.

The first postseason meeting between the Predators and the Blues had a little bit of everything, and after St. Louis mounted a third-period comeback, it was a 36-year-old veteran who put Nashville on top.

“They had a little push there, and we got to 3-2 and then 3-3, the building is rocking and you have to give our guys credit,” Fiddler said. “We just regrouped and went back at them and found a way to get the win.”

Nashville got the all-important first goal, and it came from none other than Colin Wilson, making his postseason debut after missing Round One due to injury. It was Subban’s shot from the left circle that Wilson got a piece of for a power-play marker to give the Preds a 1-0 lead after one.

The second period began with a tough loss, however, as Predators forward Kevin Fiala went hard into the endboards trying to drive to the net. Nashville trainers and doctors attended to Fiala, who was eventually stretchered off the ice and taken to a local hospital for further evaluation. Fiala was alert and in stable condition upon leaving the ice, and Head Coach Peter Laviolette had no further update to provide following the game.

“You couldn’t have thought or planned for an incident like that with Kevin, and yet our guys, you could hear them on the bench when it happened, making sure that their next shift was going to be a good one for Kevin,” Laviolette said. “It was just one of those unfortunate incidents that happened in the game, and I liked the response from our guys, not only there, but once they tied it up. I thought it was just a gutsy effort from that point to get back to work in the offensive zone, and a huge goal by Vern to get us back on top.”

Once play resumed after Fiala’s injury, Subban got a goal of his own when he hammered a shot home past Jake Allen for a 2-0 lead. After Colton Parayko beat Pekka Rinne a few minutes later, it was another Nashville power play that converted again. Once more, a shot from Subban found its way through to the net, and after rebounding off of Allen, deflected in off the skate of Filip Forsberg to give the Preds a two-goal lead after 40 minutes.

As the third period began, the Blues kept pushing, and it led to goals from Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko to eventually tie the game at 3-3. But with 5:05 remaining in regulation, and with one hand on his stick, Fiddler chipped a loose puck under Allen and into the cage to give the Predators a 4-3 lead and a 1-0 series lead in the Second Round for the first time in club history.

“He’s a veteran guy, so he’s been in these situations before,” Subban said of Fiddler. “He stepped up and got us a big goal. But for us, that was the toughest game of the season for us. They fought so hard and they had so many chances, but we found a way to get it done.”

“It’s the playoffs and you have to take it game by game,” Fiddler said. “There’s lots of series left… We won the first game, and that means they’re going to come at us even harder next game.”

P.K. Subban just kept teeing them up.

The defenseman recorded three points on the night, including his first postseason goal as a member of the Preds, leading Nashville to a 1-0 series lead to start off against the Blues.

All three of Nashville’s goals came courtesy of shots from Subban, with Colin Wilson and Filip Forsberg finishing things off via deflections. Subban’s three points in Game One tied a career high for points in a single playoff contest, and his bomb of a shot proved lethal all night long.

“I try to live up to what I’m paid to do,” Subban said. “I just try to step up and lead by example on the ice and just try to do my job. Today, I got lucky a couple of times. The puck went in for me, but it’s only Game One.”

What Subban did in Game One is exactly what the Preds knew he was capable of, especially at this time of the year. And for a player who relishes the spotlight like Subban, he took hold of it at the perfect time.

“He was strong tonight,” Laviolette said of Subban. “Defensively, he was a horse, but offensively… he was able to punch his number a couple of times and made some terrific plays… just a real steady game”

“Huge game by him,” Rinne said. “He can be a game changer, and tonight, we all saw that. He’s been really good in the playoffs in general, and he was a difference maker tonight.”

Colin Wilson finished with a goal, four shots and 15:06 in his first game of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Vernon Fiddler’s goal was his fifth career postseason tally, and his first game-winner. It was Fiddler’s second playoff goal with Nashville, the first coming on April 20, 2007, against San Jose.

Game Two between the Predators and Blues will take place on Friday night (at 7 p.m. CT) at Scottrade Center before the series shifts to Nashville for Games Three and Four, beginning with an afternoon tilt on Sunday (2 p.m. CT).

Pete Weber’s Post Game Report