Justus Turner of CCMS softball

The Coffee County Middle School softball team welcomed South Franklin to CCMS on Wednesday for a make-up doubleheader.  The Lady Raiders had little trouble dispatching the outmatched Lady Trojans.  Coffee County won the first game 18 to 0 before taking the night cap 21 to 0.

In game #1, the Lady Raiders used 11 walks, 3 hit batters and 7 hits to grab the win.  Katie Crosslin and Keri Munn each had a double and a single.  Justus Turner had a pair of singles.   In the second game, Coffee County got 13 walks, 4 hit batters and 7 hits to grab the win.  Turner had a triple while Lauren Brandt had a double and a single for the Lady Raiders.  South Franklin was held hitless in each game.

The Lady Raiders will host the final game of the regular season on Tuesday when Tullahoma visits Coffee Middle.  The Lady Raiders are looking to capture a season sweep over the Kittens after a rain-shortened 7 to 2 win on Monday in Tullahoma.  First pitch is set for 5 PM.

Dyllan Toledo of CCMS soccer

The Coffee County Middle School soccer team traveled to Shelbyville on Wednesday for a conference match-up with Harris. The Raiders continued to show improvement but their youth and inexperience, especially on defense, cost them a chance at an upset.  Harris ended taking the match by a final score of 3 to 1.

Harris got on the board first in the 21^st minute to give them a 1 to 0 lead.  A pair of defensive mistakes saw the Raiders add own goals in the 23^rd and 26^th minutes to put them in a 3 to 0 hole at the half.  In the second half, Dyllan Toledo scored in the 56^th minute for Coffee County’s lone mark.

The Raiders will travel to Winchester on Thursday for the final regular season game of the year against North Franklin.  That match will kick off at 5 PM.

Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman as part of an offensive outburst in a 14-4 victory over the Braves on Wednesday night at SunTrust Park.

Washington collected a season-high 20 hits and continued its dominance over Atlanta, improving to 31-9 against its National League East rival since the start of the 2015 season.
“We had a big offensive night, especially out of Bryce and out of Zim, and when you get 20 hits, it’s almost everybody,” Nationals manager Dusty Baker said.
Harper extended his mastery of Julio Teheran, drilling a first-inning solo shot and adding a second-inning grand slam to secure the 12th multi-homer game of his career. He notched a four-hit game, and Zimmerman recorded his sixth career grand slam off Ian Krol in the eighth inning. That provided some comfort for Joe Ross, who endured a two-run first before settling in and limiting the Braves to three runs over seven frames in his season debut.
The visitors tallied seven earned runs over just four innings against Teheran. Harper, who has hit .455 (15-for-33) with seven homers in his career against the Braves’ ace, caused most of the damage.
“[Harper] is real hot right now, obviously, and Julio was a little off and we got hurt,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “But with that being said, when he left, we were in the game. The eighth inning was what killed us. I was still feeling good at 7-3. We had two at-bats left. Who knows what might happen? The way these guys keep fighting, that eighth inning was toughest to [swallow], more than the early innings when you have time to come back.”
Freddie Freeman became the first player in Atlanta Braves history to reach safely in 12 consecutive plate appearances when he hit a third-inning solo home run that traveled an estimated 420 feet with a 102-mph exit velocity, per Statcast™.
Harper drilled the first pitch he saw — a 90.7-mph fastball — an estimated 388 feet with a 103-mph exit velocity, according to Statcast™, over the right-center-field wall with two outs in the first inning. While that solo shot might not have been a home run at Turner Field, which had a 390-foot power alley in right-center, his grand slam was a no-doubter as it traveled 415 feet with a 106-mph exit velocity.
“I just try to have good at-bats and try to get pitches over the plate that I can drive and not look at who I’m facing that day or what he’s going to do to me or anything like that,” Harper said. “Just trying to see a pitch and try to drive it as best I can, and hopefully good things will happen.”
It looked like Ross might be in trouble when he retired just one of the first five batters faced and allowed RBI singles to both Nick Markakis and Brandon Phillips. But he ended the first-inning threat on Adonis Garcia’s fifth double-play groundout of the season. Ross showed some poise as he retired 14 of the final 15 batters faced after Freeman’s home run.
“I just tried to keep my breaking ball down,” Ross said. “The first few innings, I hung a few sliders that they hit early in the count. So they kind of took advantage of that. But after that, I just tried to work quick, get ground-ball outs, work on my sinker, and it kind of paid off.”
After hitting a pair of long balls on Wednesday, Harper now has 30 home runs in the season’s first month (March/April) since 2013, tying Justin Upton for the most in the Majors during that span.
Stephen Strasburg will try to continue his early-season success as the Nationals go for a sweep of the Braves in Thursday’s series finale. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. CT.  Matt Kemp is expected to return to the lineup when Atlanta sends R.A. Dickey to the mound on Thursday. Kemp has been sidelined since April 7 with a strained left hamstring.

The Nashville Sounds blasted three home runs in a come-from-behind 9-8 win over the Oklahoma City Dodgers Wednesday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.
Chris Parmelee, Ryan Lavarnway, and Matt Olson all launched homers to erase a 6-2 deficit and allow the Sounds (5-8) to win consecutive games for only the second time in 2017.
Parmelee’s blast gave the Sounds an early 2-0 lead in the first inning, but starter Daniel Gossett couldn’t hold the advantage. The Dodgers (7-7) scored a run in the first, and then exploded for four in the second to take a controlling 5-2 lead after a pair of innings.
The Dodgers’ Darnell Sweeney extended the lead to 6-2 with a solo homer off Gossett in the third. The right-hander allowed six earned runs but didn’t factor into the decision.
The comeback started in the fifth when Lavarnway drilled his first homer of the season – a solo blast to straightaway center field to trim the deficit to 6-3.
Kenny Wilson continued the inning with a base hit to left field, and a stolen base. Melvin Mercedes then hit a bouncer to short, but Charlie Culberson’s throw to third was late where Wilson slid in safely.
It hurt moments later when Dodgers starter Jair Jurrjens self-inflicted with a balk to push Wilson home, and a bases loaded walk to force home Mercedes to make it 6-5.
Olson helped even the game in the sixth when he started the inning with a single. He stole second and scored on a two-out base hit by Mercedes to tie the game at 6-6.
More two-out hitting was present in the seventh when Renato Nuñez rifled a double down the left field line to score Joey Wendle all the way from first. Wendle went 1-for-5 in his first game on MLB rehab assignment.
Olson followed with a titantic two-run homer to give Nashville a 9-6 lead. Olson finished 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI and a pair of runs scored.
While the offense was clicking, Nashville relievers went to work. Tyler Sturdevant and Aaron Kurcz combined to toss 2 2/3 scoreless innings to keep the Sounds in the game.
However, Oklahoma City didn’t make it easy down the stretch. Bobby Wilson’s RBI double off Ross Detwiler made it a 9-7 game in the eighth. Detwiler and Simon Castro combined on a scoreless eighth, but Cody Bellinger’s second homer of the night cut the lead to 9-8 in the ninth.
The Dodgers put the tying run at second base, but Castro buckled down and struck out Willie Calhoun to end the game.
Every Sounds player in the starting lineup had at least one hit while Nuñez and Olson had multi-hit games.
Game three of the four-game series is set for Thursday night in Oklahoma City. Right-hander Corey Walter makes his Triple-A debut for the Sounds against right-hander Joe Gunkel (0-0, 0.00) for the Dodgers. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

>  CHS Soccer defeated Columbia – 1 to 0

>  WMS Baseball HOSTS Moore County – PPD until 4/19

>  CCMS Baseball HOSTS Tullahoma – PPD until 4/25

>  CCMS Softball HOSTS Tullahoma – PPD until 4/25

>  CCMS Tennis at Warren County – PPD, makeup date is TBD

>  CHS Softball HOSTS Shelbyville – PPD, makeup date is TBD

>  CHS Tennis HOSTS Lincoln County – Cancelled, NO makeup

>  CHS Baseball HOSTS Forrest – Cancelled, NO makeup

>  CCMS Track Meet – Cancelled, NO makeup