Pat Summitt

Tuesday was a sad day in Tennessee for sports fans and non-sports fans alike with the passing of former Lady Vol basketball coach Pat Head Sumitt. As most everyone knows, Coach Summitt succumbed to early onset dementia in the form of Alzheimer’s early Tuesday morning. Coach Summitt, who never recorded a losing season in 38 years of coaching at Tennessee, won more games than anyone in college basketball history, including 8 national championships.
As is most often the case, many of the Manchester area people who knew Coach Summitt, or had dealings with her, flooded social media with their condolences. Stories of her recruiting local girls, visiting Coffee County Central High School and even interactions with her in the classroom and in gym.
Nick Trail, who served as a student manager at the University of Tennessee from 2002 to 2009, was one of those who had his own personal interactions with the iconic coach. “She was the most classy and humble individual I have ever met” said Trail when contacted by Thunder Radio on Tuesday night. “Once she spoke to you, she made you feel like family” Trail added. To hear more from our interview with Nick Trail, you can click on the audio clip below.

Coffee County Central High School girls basketball coach Herb Horton was a student under Coach Summitt during his college days at Tennessee. “I had the honor of having her as a teacher at UT” coach Horton shared in a text message on Tuesday. “She was an inspiration!” added Horton.
Perhaps Coach Summitt’s legacy and position of reverence to all Tennesseans is best captured in her own quote from her 2013 book “Sum it Up: A Thousand and Ninety-Eight Victories, a Couple of Irrelevant Losses, and a Life in Perspective.“ “I remember every player — every single one — who wore the Tennessee orange, a shade that our rivals hate, a bold, aggravating color that you can usually find on a roadside crew, ‘or in a correctional institution,’ as my friend Wendy Larry jokes. But to us the color is a flag of pride, because it identifies us as Lady Vols and therefore as women of an unmistakable type. Fighters. I remember how many of them fought for a better life for themselves. I just met them halfway.” Patricia Sue Head Summitt was 64 years old.

Carlos Santana’s RBI single sparked a three-run ninth inning for the Indians, who received another solid start from Corey Kluber and extended their winning streak to 11 games with a 5-3 victory over the Braves on Tuesday night at Turner Field.

Cleveland has won 11 games in a row during a single season for the first time since 1982, while Atlanta has now lost five of its past seven games since its season-high six-game winning streak.
“They’re a hot team right now,” said Braves starter Matt Wisler, who picked up the no-decision. “That’s 11 straight for them, so I knew I’d have to come in and shut the door on them, and Kluber threw really well tonight, so I was just trying to keep [us] in the ballgame as long as possible. I think the team played really well today. It was a tough matchup against Kluber, so to battle like that and everything is kind of good.”
The Tribe struck first in the opening frame, as Jason Kipnis scored on an RBI single by Jose Ramirez, and Francisco Lindor stole home to give the Indians a 2-0 lead. Wisler settled in after that, surrendering only three more hits over the next five innings. The Braves couldn’t solve Kluber, though, who yielded one walk and no hits through the first five innings.
Atlanta finally got its first hit off the right-hander in the sixth, when Erick Aybar reached on an infield single. The hit was the first of three allowed by Kluber in the frame, which was capped by Ender Inciarte’s two-run single that tied the game at 2.
Braves closer Arodys Vizcaino walked the first two batters he faced in the ninth, though, which led to the Indians taking the lead for good on Santana’s single.
“Ultimately, an 11-game winning streak doesn’t really mean much if you don’t continue to build on the momentum you have throughout that winning streak,” Kluber said. “I just think we’re trying to take it game by game and keep it rolling. At some point in time, we’re going to lose a game, and then we’re just going to have to start back over again the next day and win that one.”
With runners on first and third and one out in the first inning, the Indians scratched across their second run of the game on a double steal by Ramirez and Lindor. As Braves catcher A.J. Pierzynski fired a throw to second to get Ramirez, Lindor broke for home and scored standing up. The Tribe entered Tuesday’s game tied for third in the Majors with 58 stolen bases and added to that total with four.
“First of all, you’ve got to have baserunners and it’s got to be the right situation,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “But when you get the right guys on, the odds are in your favor. I thought [Lindor] did a really good job of reading that throw and forcing them into a mistake. When you get the right guys on and the times are good, we want to let them run.”
After five hitless innings, the Braves got to Kluber in the bottom of the sixth. Aybar broke up the no-hit bid with an infield single, the first Brave to reach base since Inciarte walked in the first inning, followed by an Emilio Bonifacio single. Wisler moved the runners to second and third with a sacrifice bunt, before Inciarte tied the game with a two-run single with two outs.
Coming off his complete-game shutout of the Rays last Tuesday, Kluber continued his recent success against the Braves. After the right-hander surrendered a walk to the second batter of the game, he didn’t allow a single baserunner until Atlanta’s two-run sixth. Kluber (8-7) tossed only 87 pitches through his eight innings of work, and he finished his June 4-1 with a 2.17 ERA.
“I thought he was very good,” Francona said. “Through five innings, I think he had 49 or 50 pitches. The inning they scored two, he gave up the infield hit, a base hit and then Inciarte had a really nice at-bat, fouling off some pitches and getting a hit. But we never let them take the lead.”
After giving up two runs in the top of the first inning, Wisler kept Atlanta in the game, collecting a career-high nine strikeouts in six innings of work, before the Braves tied it up in the bottom of the sixth.
“First-inning struggles [are] killing me again, so I’ve got to kind of figure that out, but besides that I kind of settled in after the first inning,” Wisler said after the game. “I think the team picked me up in the sixth inning getting those two runs, so the team battled for us tonight and it’s tough to come away with that loss.”
Cleveland will send Danny Salazar to the mound on Wednesday looking to complete the three-game sweep of the Braves and increase its winning streak to 12. The right-hander is a perfect 4-0 in four June starts, posting a 2.42 ERA and limiting opposing hitters to a .170 batting average. He surrendered two runs and lasted just four innings in his only career start against the Braves on Aug. 27, 2013.  Atlanta looks to end the Indians’ winning streak and avoid a sweep in Wednesday’s series finale. Joel De La Cruz, 27, will make his Major League debut against the Indians, with first pitch set for 6:10 CT.  Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast as part of the Atlanta Braves Radio Network beginning with the pregame show at 6:00 PM.

Veteran right-hander Chris Smith came through with a brilliant outing to lead the Nashville Sounds to a 5-1 win over the Omaha Storm Chasers in front of 6,001 fans Tuesday night at First Tennessee Park.

With a taxed bullpen, Smith worked a career-high eight innings. On his 110th pitch of the night, he struck out Reymond Fuentes to end the eighth inning – setting a career-high in innings pitched.

Nashville’s (47-33) three-run second inning was more than enough support. Joey Wendle walked to start the inning and got into scoring position on a wild pitch. Matt Olson plated Wendle with the first run of the game when he drilled a double off the right field wall.

The scoring continued when Tyler Ladendorf followed Olson with a sharp base hit to left. The left fielder Fuentes overran the ball allowing Olson to score and Ladendorf to second.

Ladendorf later scored on a groundout by Chad Pinder to extend the Sounds’ lead to 3-0.

Omaha (32-45) got on the board in the fifth with a run-scoring groundout but Nashville came right back with a run of their own.

With one out in the bottom of the fifth, Wendle launched his seventh home run of the season – a solo shot to up the lead to 4-1.

Smith was dialed in from the start as he struck out a pair in the first inning. He retired the side in order in the second, racked up two more strikeouts in the third and then struck out the side in the fourth.

It’s the fifth win of the year for the right-hander who notched his seventh quality start. The Sounds are 8-1 over his last nine starts.

Olson and Ladendorf had multi-hit games at the plate to led the charge offensively.

The Sounds continue the homestand Thursday when they welcome the Oklahoma City Dodgers to First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Angel Castro (0-5, 5.50) starts for Nashville against right-hander Jose De Leon (0-0, 3.44) for Oklahoma City. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.