Senior Aerial Williams goes up for a spike on Tuesday for the Lady Raider volleyball team.

A late cancellation from Warren County forced the Lady Raider volleyball team to split into 3 teams to compete in Tuesday’s high school volleyball play day tournament at Central High School. The varsity Lady Raiders finished the day with a record of 2 and 1 as all 3 teams played at least 3 matches in the tournament. Coffee County got wins over Shelbyville and Fayetteville after losing the opening match in straight sets to White County.
In the opener, the Lady Raiders had leads in both games before dropping decisions of 24-26 and 23-25 to the Warriorettes. Hitting errors led to the Lady Raiders surrendering leads of 14 to 10 in the first set and 12 to 8 in the second set. Coach Taylor called out Aerial Williams for her strong net play in the first match as she led the team in kills.
In the second match, Bailey Morgan led a strong Lady Raider service game as Coffee County beat Shelbyville 25 – 2 and 25-17. Defensively, the Lady Raiders played better against the Eaglettes and also passed the ball well against the second year program.

Senior Rachel Henley prepares to serve on Tuesday for the Lady Raider volleyball team.

In the final match of the night, Coffee County broke open a tight opening set as Rachel Henley served 16 straight points to close out a 25 to 5 win over Fayetteville. Coach Taylor substituted heavily in the 2nd set as Coffee County closed out the straight set win with a 25 to 15 decision in the 2nd set.
After the matches, Coach Taylor was pleased that he got a lot of playing time for all of his players on the day. The Lady Raiders will go back to work on Wednesday as Coach Taylor completes his final cuts. The Lady Raiders will also work on some defensive adjustments this week as they prepare for their opening matches on August 15th. Thunder Radio is your exclusive source to hear broadcasts of selected Lady Raider volleyball games this fall as part of the First National Bank Hometown Tuesday series.

It was the kind of outing by Ervin Santana that showcased why the Twins have been hesitant to trade the 12-year veteran, as he recorded his second complete game of the year. But the Braves pitched out of several jams and did just enough offensively, led by a solo homer from Adonis Garcia, in a 2-0 win over Minnesota on Tuesday night at Target Field.

Braves right-hander Lucas Harrell, who like Santana has also found himself subject to trade rumors, limited the Twins to four hits and three walks over six scoreless frames to get his second win. Relievers Mauricio Cabrera, Hunter Cervenka, Chris Withrow and closer Jim Johnson combined to throw three scoreless innings to preserve Atlanta’s seventh shutout of the year.
Santana outlasted Harrell and only needed 97 pitches to throw his second complete game this month after throwing a shutout on July 6. But he gave up two runs on seven hits to take the hard-luck loss. Santana wasn’t helped by his offense, as the Twins went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left seven runners on base.
Some of those teams that have inquired about acquiring Harrell before Monday’s non-waiver Trade Deadline may have gained more interest in the veteran right-hander, who had been in Triple-A until he was an emergency addition to the rotation in early July. His effort was aided in the third inning when Pierzynski caught Byron Buxton attempting to steal third base, ending a Twins rally that saw two runners on base with one out.
Santana was helped by a couple of solid defensive plays a in 1-2-3 fifth inning. Second baseman Brian Dozier moved to his right to make a nice stop and throw to rob Ender Inciarte of a hit. It was a nearly identical play to the one he made to take away a hit from Nick Markakis an inning earlier. Right fielder Max Kepler got in on the action with a diving catch in right to end the fifth.
Garcia seems to have regained that same unexpected power he produced last year, when he tallied 10 homers in 191 at-bats. His second-inning solo shot was his eighth homer of this season and seventh in a span of 139 at-bats dating back to June 10. .
Santana has been on a roll recently, and he kept it going against his former team. The right-hander has a 2.02 ERA over his last seven starts, lowering his season ERA from 5.10 to 3.78, but he is just 2-2 over that span because of a lack of run support. Twins interim general manager Rob Antony publicly stated again before the game that he believes Santana is the team’s best starting pitcher, and with two years remaining on his contract, plus a team option, he views the veteran right-hander as part of the franchise’s future.
Mike Foltynewicz will take the mound when Atlanta and Minnesota conclude this two-game series on Wednesday at 7:10 p.m. cT. Foltynewicz has allowed runs in just two of the 21 innings he has completed over his past three starts. Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast as we join the Atlanta Braves Radio Network at 6 PM for the pregame show.

The Colorado Springs Sky Sox used a four-run second inning to help them to a series-opening 5-2 win over the Nashville Sounds in front of 6,177 fans Tuesday night at First Tennessee Park.

Former Sounds pitcher Wily Peralta went five strong innings against his former team and earned the win. He allowed one run on five hits to go along with four strikeouts.

Nashville starter Chris Jensen wasn’t as sharp as his counterpart. After a 1-2-3 first, Jensen allowed back-to-back singles to Manny Pina and Garrett Cooper to start the second inning.

Jensen came back to retire the next two batters, but a walk and two extra-base hits helped the Sky Sox open a 4-0 lead. With the bases loaded, Yadiel Rivera brought in a pair of runs with a ground-rule double. Kyle Wren immediately followed with a two-run triple to break it open.

The Sounds finally got to Peralta in the fifth when Joey Wendle started a rally with a double to right-center. A fly ball moved Wendle to third, and a groundout by Ladendorf pushed across the first run of the night for Nashville.

Colorado Springs reliever Sam Freeman came on for Peralta in the sixth and kept the Sounds off the board for the next three innings. He allowed only one base runner in the three frames – a two-out single by Rangel Ravelo in the seventh.

Aaron Kurcz did his best to keep the Sounds in the game with three scoreless relief innings of his own.

The ninth came with the Sounds trailing 5-1 but Matt Olson cut into the deficit when he launched his 12th home run of the season – a solo shot to right-center to cut the deficit to 5-2.

Colin Walsh followed with a double down the right field line, but David Goforth retired the next two batters in order to close out the Sky Sox win.

Jensen fell to 1-4 with the loss and Peralta earned his first win to improve to 1-3. Olson was the lone Sounds player with a multi-hit night with a 2-for-4 game.

Game two of the four-game series is set for Wednesday afternoon at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Raul Alcantara (0-0, 0.00) starts for the Sounds against right-hander Aaron Wilkerson (0-2, 8.03) for the Sky Sox. First pitch is scheduled for 12:05 p.m.

The 2016 season is the Sounds’ 19th year in the Pacific Coast League and their second as the Oakland Athletics’ top affiliate. Tickets are available now by calling (615) 690-4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com.