Samuel Prater of Coffee County golf (file photo)

The Red Raider Golf team swept a pair of matches in Shelbyville on Thursday as they out shot Franklin County and Shelbyville. The Red Raiders shot a team score of 309 to defeat Shelbyville by 28 strokes and Franklin County by 33 strokes. The win improved the Raiders record to 28-6 on the season.
Sophomore Samuel Prater led the Raiders with an even par round of 72 to tie for low score honors. John Parigger shot a 75, Austin Farris had a 79 and Reid Lawrence carded an 83.
The Raiders and Lady Raiders will be in action next week on Monday in an 18 hole match at Willowbrook in their home opener against Shelbyville and Stewarts Creek. That match is set to tee off at 1 PM.

Clarissa Barrera of Westwood soccer

Lady Rocket keeper Alanna Coker had 14 saves as the Westwood Lady Rockets soccer team blanked Cascade 2 to 0 on Thursday in the season opener in Wartrace.  After a scoreless 1^st half, the Lady Rockets got a pair of goals in the second half to capture the conference win.

Faith Willoughby notched an unassisted goal after intermission and Clarissa Barrera added an insurance goal off of the assist from Britney Hernandez.  Coker had 10 first half saves before Westwood controlled the time of possession in the second half to hold Cascade to 4 2^nd half shots on frame.

Westwood’s home opener on Tuesday with Fayetteville has been rescheduled for September 12^th.  The Lady Rockets will travel to Huntland on Thursday for a 5:00 PM match with the Lady Hornets.

“It’s a tough job to win 2 games in 3 days” said Westwood football coach Chad Dyer following the Rockets 32 to 12 loss at Cascade on Thursday night. Coming off a win on Tuesday over Middle Tennessee Christian, the Rockets fell behind 20 to 6 at the half. Westwood got a first half touchdown on an off-tackle run by Reynaldo Ramirez. Trenton Thompson scored on a 4th quarter kickoff run of 67 yards in the 4th quarter.
“Reynaldo ran the ball like a man tonight” said Coach Chad Dyer as minor injuries and illness left the Rockets at less than 100 percent. The Rockets will be back in action on Tuesday as Liberty visits Dyer-Bouldin Field. Kickoff is set for 6:30 PM.

The Coffee County Middle School Lady Raider volleyball once again got a strong start before dropping a close conference contest at Warren County on Thursday. The Lady Raiders won the opening set 25 to 20 over the Lady Pioneers. Warren County evened the match with a 25 to 21 win in the second set setting up the tie-breaker set to 15. Tied at 14 in the final set, Warren County captured the last 2 points to win the set 16 to 14 and the match.
The Lady Raiders were led at the service line by Maci Head who had 6 aces. Kiya Ferrell added a pair of blocks for Coffee County. The JV team dropped their match in straight sets 25 to 22 and 25 to 21. Coffee County returns to the court on Tuesday when they travel to White County.

There’s no other way to say it: Nationals right-hander Reynaldo Lopez was electric in an 8-2 victory over the Braves on Thursday night at Turner Field.

It started with Lopez’s fastball, which was clocked as high as 98 mph. He ended up with 11 strikeouts in seven innings, while allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits. It was the first double-digit strikeout game of Lopez’s career, and he is just the fourth rookie in Nats history to strike out at least 10 in a game.
Braves right-hander Rob Whalen also turned in a solid outing. He pitched six innings, allowing three runs (one earned) on three hits and struck out six batters.
It looked like Whalen was going to get out of the first inning unscathed, but Anthony Rendon hit a routine fly ball to left fielder Matt Kemp, who dropped the ball as Trea Turner and Bryce Harper scored to give Washington a 2-0 lead.
The Nationals took a 3-1 lead in the fifth when Pedro Severino scored on a double by Jayson Werth, who extended his on-base streak to 46 games to tie Rusty Staub’s franchise record.
Things turned ugly for Atlanta in the eighth, when the Nationals put the game away with five runs off relievers Arodys Vizcaino and Mauricio Cabrera.
In their previous three games, the Nationals’ bullpen pitched a combined 18 1/3 innings against the Rockies. Lopez gave the bullpen exactly what it needed. He pitched seven strong innings, before Shawn Kelley and Mark Melancon blanked the Braves over the final two frames.
The Braves recognize the concerns about Kemp’s defense in left field, but the veteran’s inability to secure Rendon’s routine fly ball with two outs in the first inning appeared to simply be a lapse in concentration that accounted for two unearned runs. Whalen retired 10 of the next 11 batters he faced, but he encountered some misfortune when Werth got his bat on a 3-2 slider and then watched his decisive RBI double hug the left-field line.