Lady Raider state track qualifiers (left to right) Sarah Pearson, Karson Young and Diana Davis

After a season of amazing performances, the Coffee County Lady Raider track team added another chapter in the remarkable success story of 2016 on Tuesday at the Sectional Meet at Riverdale. After the dust settled and the points were tallied, the Lady Raiders finished the meet in a 3rd place tie in the team standings with Oakland at 62 points, 1 point behind 2nd place Blackman. What makes the performance so remarkable is that Coffee County was only represented by 7 athletes at the Sectional and competed against 27 teams from Section 2.
More importantly, 3 Lady Raiders have qualified to compete at the state track meet in a total of 7 different events. This makes the 25th consecutive year that Coffee County will be represented at the state meet. Coffee County, who already had Sarah Pearson qualified in the Pentathlon, competed in 7 different events on Tuesday and claimed qualification scores in 6 of those events. Coach Stan Jarrell was ecstatic with the performance saying “I am so proud of our kids this year.”
Pearson and Karson Young each qualified in 3 individual events as Young will compete in the triple jump, the long jump and the 100M hurdles. Pearson qualified on Tuesday for the high jump, the 100M hurdles and the 300M hurdles. Additionally, Pearson qualified last month for the pentathlon. “I don’t know that we’ve ever had 2 people qualify in 3 individual events. Awesome effort on their part” added Coach Jarrell. Diana Davis also advanced to the state meet as she qualified in the pole vault.
Young finished with three 2nd place finishes and 2 new personal bests on the day. In the 100M hurdles, Young posted a time of 16.26. She also jumped personal records of 16’ 6” in the long jump and 34’10” in the triple jump. Pearson came in 4th place in the 100M hurdles with a time of 16.83. She also finished in 3rd place in the 300M hurdles and the high jump with personal record performances. Pearson ran the 300M hurdles in 48.29 and cleared 4’10” in the high jump. Davis finished in 3rd place in the pole vault with a jump of 9’6”.
The girls’ 4x800M relay team was the only non-qualifier for the Lady Raiders, but they also ran a season best time on 12:11.43. The relay team consisted of Renee Martin, Emily St. John, Makenzie Webb and Byanka Woods. For the Red Raiders, Reece Pratt threw a personal best of 111’ 5” to finish in 8th place.
The Spring Fling State Track Meet will take place all next week at MTSU’s Dean Hays Stadium. Pearson will be the first competitor for Coffee County as she will compete in the pentathlon on Monday(May 23rd) beginning at 10:30 AM. Davis will compete in the pole vault on Wednesday(May 25th) at 2 PM. Pearson and Young will compete on Thursday(May 26th) as Young will take part in the long jump at 9 AM. Young comes back for the triple jump at 10:15 and will compete in the 100M hurdles around 3:30 PM. Pearson takes part in the high jump at 12 PM, the 100M hurdles around 3:30 PM and the 300M hurdles sometime after 4 PM.

After starting the night with a nine-run lead, the Pirates wound up needing the back end of their bullpen to close out a 12-9 win over the Braves on Tuesday at PNC Park.

The Pirates’ lineup did its part with a season-high 21 hits and a season-high-tying 12 runs. Andrew McCutchen, Gregory Polanco and Francisco Cervelli powered the offense with three hits apiece. But starter Juan Nicasio permitted five runs (three earned) in five innings, Ryan Vogelsong was charged with three runs and Arquimedes Caminero gave up a homer to Mallex Smith, the only batter he faced in the seventh.
That led the Pirates to summon their top three relievers — Neftali Feliz, Tony Watson and closer Mark Melancon — to finish a game they once led 9-0.
In his first inning on the job, Braves interim manager Brian Snitker watched the Pirates pound out seven runs on seven hits off rookie right-hander Aaron Blair. Pittsburgh added two more runs in the second inning, but Atlanta began to climb back in the game. Smith hit the first of his two homers, both two-run shots to right field, in a three-run third inning. The Braves and Pirates each put up a pair of runs in the fifth; Atlanta tacked on another in the sixth and three more in the seventh against Pittsburgh’s bullpen.

The Braves will take on the Pirates on Wednesday night in Game #3 of this 4 game series.  First pitch is set for 6:05 PM and Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast beginning at 6 PM as part of the Braves Radio Network.

Maddie Taylor

The spectacular high school tennis career of Maddie Taylor came to a close on Tuesday in the semifinals of the Region 4AAA singles tennis tournament at Columbia. Taylor, who finishes her career with a record of 46 and 9 in the last 3 years, lost in straight sets(1-6/1-6) to defending state quarter-finalist Kylie Humphrey of Oakland. Taylor, a 4 year starter for Coffee County, was one of 5 senior tennis players on this year’s team and helped lead the Lady Raiders to a District 8AAA title in 2015. Taylor was the lone qualifier for Coffee County in the region. The Coffee County tennis team is coached by Mike Ray.

Matt Olson delivered a clutch two-out hit to lift the Nashville Sounds to a 2-1 win and series sweep over the Fresno Grizzlies in front of 4,645 fans Tuesday night at First Tennessee Park.

Olson, who went 6-for-12 in the four-game series, hit a ground-rule double down the right field line to snap a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the sixth.

The Sounds trailed early when Fresno pushed a run across against Dillon Overton in the second. Max Stassi tripled to the wall in right-center and scored on a groundout by Andrew Aplin.

Outside of the early run, Overton was brilliant on the bump. The left-hander allowed just the one run on four hits in 6 2/3 innings. He issued one walk and matched a career-high eight strikeouts.

In the month of May, Nashville starters have covered over 100 innings and are 8-5 with a 2.52 ERA. They’ve collectively put together nine quality starts.

Andrew Lambo sparked a two-out rally in the fourth with a two-out single to right-center. Playing in his first Triple-A game, Ryon Healy tripled off the wall in right-center to score Lambo and even the game at 1-1. Just called up from Double-A Midland earlier in the day, Healy went 3-for-4 in his Sounds debut.

It remained tied until the sixth when Olson came through with the big hit. It was Jake Smolinski who started the inning with an infield single. He moved up to second on Healy’s third hit of the night, a single to right-center.

The stage was set for Olson who hit a smash down the right field line. The ball got stuck in the Fresno bullpen and was ruled a ground-rule double. Smolinski scored the go-ahead run and Healy was sent back to third base.

The lead held as Overton handed off to the bullpen for the final 2 1/3 innings. Ryan Brasier, Daniel Coulombe and J.B. Wendelken shut down Fresno the rest of the way.

At 20-19, the Sounds are over .500 for the first time in the 2016 season. The four-game sweep is the first since the Sounds swept the Las Vegas 51s on May 29-June 1 of last year.

The Sounds have a day off Wednesday before beginning a four-game series against the Sacramento River Cats on Thursday night at First Tennessee Park. Left-hander Eric Surkamp (1-1, 2.25) starts for Nashville. Sacramento has not named a starter. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 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.