Rachel Henley of CHS tennis

The Coffee County Lady Raider tennis team welcomed Columbia to their new home courts at the Raider Academy on Thursday.   The Lady Raiders swept their doubles matches to capture the 4 to 3 win over Columbia and improve their district record to 2 and 1.

Getting wins in singles play were Natalie Elzeer(8 to 3) and Rachel Henley(8-1).  The doubles teams of Kayla Wright & Rachel Henley(8-4) and the team of Jessica Barrera & Natalie Elzeer(9-7) captured the decisive wins in doubles play to claim the match.

Both Raider tennis teams are back in action on Monday when they welcome Tullahoma to town.  That match gets underway at 4 PM at the Raider Academy.

Landon Booth of CCMS tennis

The Coffee County Middle School tennis teams put their perfect record on the line on Thursday when they traveled to Lewisburg.  Facing their toughest competition of the season, the Raider netters came out on top capturing the sweep of the Tigers.  The boys battled to a 4 to 3 win while the girls edged Lewisburg 5 to 4 as both match ups came down to the final pairings.

The boys got wins in singles competition from Luke Irwin(6 to 2), Tyler Rigney(6-3) and Landon Booth(6-1).  The doubles team of Booth and Rigney got a 6 to 4 win to clinch the match for Coffee County.

Lucy Riddle of CCMS tennis

The girls got wins in singles from Jayda Wright(6-1), Anna Amado(6-1) and Lucy Riddle(6-0) and doubles wins from the teams of Amado & Marley Perry(6-4) and Riddle & Paige Meadows(6-1).

Both teams are now 5 and 0 on the season. The CCMS netters return to the court on Monday when they take on Tullahoma.  That match is set to be played at Tullahoma High School.

Alyssa McClanahan of CCMS softball

The Lady Raider softball team of Coffee County Middle School played host to Lincoln County on Thursday night in a non-conference matchup at CCMS.  Trailing 3 to 1 entering the bottom of the 5^th inning, Coffee County rallied to score 3 runs, the last on a Lincoln County error, to capture the come from behind 4 to 3 win.

The Lady Falcons struck first getting a run in the first inning.  Coffee County rallied to tie it in the 3^rd inning after Alyssa McClanahan led off the inning with a triple and scored on an Olivia Evans groundout.  Lincoln County rallied back in the 4^th to plate a pair of runs setting up the Coffee County heroics.  Four successive hits tied the game in the bottom of the 5^th, but Lauren Brandt came across with the winning run.  McClanahan ended the night with a single and a triple and 2 runs scored for Coffee County.  Brandt had a single and 2 RBI in the 5th in addition to scoring the game winner.

The Lady Raiders return to action on Monday when they take on their hated rivals from Tullahoma.  That game will begin at 5 PM and will be held in Tullahoma.

Haidyn Campbell of Westwood softball

The Westwood softball team played host to Liberty on Thursday afternoon at Lady Rocket Field.  The Lady Rockets were attempting to end a 3 game losing streak in their final home game of the year.  Westwood banged out 9 hits in the game but could only produce one run as they fell 7 to 1 to the Lady Patriots.

Haidyn Campbell led the hit parade with 3 hits including a triple.  Kaitlyn Davis finished with a single and a double and scored the lone Westwood run.  Westwood will return to the diamond next week in the conference tournament in Shelbyville taking on Riverside Christian.  That date and time will be announced later.

Wyatt Nugent of Westwood baseball

The Westwood baseball played the final regular season game of the season when they traveled to Wartrace to take on Cascade.  The Rockets battled back and forth with the Champions before falling by a final score of 7 to 6.

After taking a 2 to 0 lead in the first inning, Westwood saw Cascade tie the game in the bottom of the inning.  Each team scored once in the 2^nd before Cascade pushed 3 runs across in the 4th inning.  Westwood was able to tie the game in the 5^th inning, but Cascade got the game winner in the 6^th.

Wyatt Nugent led Westwood in hitting with a single and a double and scored 2 runs.  Blake Hale had a pair of singles for the Rockets.  Westwood will return to action next week when they begin play in the Duck River Valley Conference tournament.  Dates, opponents and times will be announced next week.

Pekka Rinne

Pekka Rinne made 29 saves, Viktor Arvidsson scored in the first period and the Nashville Predators beat the Chicago Blackhawks 1-0 on Thursday night in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.

Rinne’s second career postseason shutout sent Nashville to just its second playoff win in Chicago in seven tries. The Predators did not have a 1-0 victory during the regular season.

Game 2 is Saturday night at the United Center.

Corey Crawford had 19 saves for Chicago, which got center Artem Anisimov back from a leg injury that sidelined him for the last part of the season, but struggled to find many good looks against a sound defensive performance by Nashville.

The Blackhawks, who won the Central Division this year with the most points in the Western Conference, are going for their fourth Stanley Cup championship in the last eight seasons. They eliminated Nashville during two of those title-winning runs, including in 2015 when the Predators blew leads of 3-0 in Game 1 and 3-1 in Game 6 of their first-round series.

This time, they held on — thanks to a super performance by Rinne.

Chicago controlled most of the last two periods, but Nashville blocked several shots from the perimeter and got in the passing lanes when the Blackhawks tried to find a better opportunity. The few times they managed to get open, Rinne was there.

After Ryan Johansen was sent off for delay of game 9 seconds into the second, Rinne denied Patrick Kane and Trevor van Riemsdyk on the resulting power play. Ryan Hartman found Marian Hossa on a counter midway through the second, but he wasn’t able to get much on the shot and Rinne turned the rush away.

The Predators killed off another power play in the third and then kept the Blackhawks away from the net after they pulled Crawford with 1:55 remaining

Boosted by a raucous, red-clad crowd of 22,075, the Blackhawks got off to a fast start. But the Predators eventually started to control the action, and their high-scoring top line of Arvidsson, Ryan Johansen and Filip Forsberg took the air out of the United Center with one nice sequence.

Even with three Blackhawks in the area, Johansen managed to play the puck over to Forsberg in the high slot. Forsberg then threw it toward the net and Arvidsson tipped it by Crawford at 7:52.

It was Arvidsson’s fourth goal in his last four games against Chicago. The speedy winger set career highs with 31 goals and 30 assists in a breakout performance this season.

Arvidsson nearly picked up a second goal in the first, but he was denied by Crawford on a prime opportunity with 4:22 left. He also had a backhander go off the crossbar with about 4 minutes in the third.

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report

The Nashville Sounds’ bats remained silent for the second consecutive night as they were defeated 8-1 by the Oklahoma City Dodgers. The Sounds lit up the scoreboard in the eighth inning to snap a streak of 16 consecutive innings without scoring a run.

Justin Masterson (1-0, 2.25) was masterful on the mound for the Dodgers (4-4). The Sounds (3-5) had no answer for the 32-year-old who gave up just two hits in five innings of work and fanned five batters on just 69 pitches.

The Dodgers opened the scoring in the second inning off Zach Neal (0-1, 4.15) when third baseman, Rob Segedin, led off the inning with a base hit and came around to score on a Brett Eibner sacrifice fly to left field.

Oklahoma City extended its lead in the next inning when Dodgers top prospect, Cody Bellinger launched a ball into the seats in right center field.
In the top half of the fifth inning the Dodgers hitters continued to put bats on balls. Chris Taylor legged out a infield base hit and advanced to second after Renato Nunez’s errant throw. The error also allowed Bobby Wilson to move up to third base after he was walked with one out in the frame. Left fielder, O’Koyea Dickson then scorched a ball past Nunez and down the left field line to double the Dodgers’ lead.

Neal wrapped up his evening after 4.2 innings having surrendered four runs on five hits and passed the ball to Tucker Healy (0-1, 2.08) who stuck out three and walked two in 1.2 innings of work.

The eighth inning rolled around and the Dodgers’ lead swelled to 8-0. Aaron Kurcz (1-1, 5.79) began the inning and allowed back-to-back singles by Segedin and Alex Verdugo before being replaced by Ross Detwiler who immediately allowed an RBI single from Willie Calhoun. Chris Taylor then ripped a two-run double down the left field line.

In the home half of the eighth, Nashville finally plated a run. Andrew Lambo drilled a double into the left center field gap to begin the frame. Kenny Wilson followed that up with a base hit of his own to put runners on the corners. Franklin Barreto drove in his team-leading eighth run of the season with a line drive single to left field.
The Sounds and Dodgers will wrap up their four game series Friday night at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Cesar Valdez (1-0, 3.60) starts for the Sounds against right-hander Jair Jurrjens (1-0, 1.50) for the Dodgers. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.
The 2017 season is the Sounds’ 40th in franchise history and their third as the Oakland Athletics’ top affiliate. Season ticket memberships are available now by calling (615) 690-4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com.