Amanda Mukai of CCMS softball

The Coffee County Middle School Lady Raider softball team could only manage 2 walks and 2 hits as they fell to top-seeded Warren County on Friday night in the winners’ bracket finals of the CTC Softball Tournament. Ashley Evans and Amanda Mukai had the hits for Coffee County as Mukai led off the 4th inning with a single. Mukai scored on a throwing error after going from 1st to 3rd on Jayden Scheller’s bunt. Mukai also reached base when she was hit by a pitch and Kiya Ferrell had a walk for Coffee County.
Lady Raider pitcher Hannah Richardson did her part as she held Warren County to 3 hits and a walk. The Lady Raiders will now face Tullahoma in the semifinals on Saturday morning at CCMS. First pitch is set for 10 AM. A win there would set up a rematch with Warren County at noon in the finals. Coffee County would need to beat Warren County twice to claim their 2nd consecutive conference title.

Tori Bell (Photo by John StClair – JohnStClairPhoto.com)

The Lady Raider softball team of Coffee County CHS was held to 4 hits against Forrest as they fell 4 to 2 in the opening round of the Lincoln County Border Battle in Fayetteville. Forrest jumped out to a 3 to 0 lead in the first 2 innings before Tori Bell rapped a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the 2nd. Kasarah Scheller led off the bottom of the 5th inning with a double and scored on Katie Rutledge’s infield single but time expired after 5 innings to quell the Raider comeback.
In the nightcap, Paige Baker raced home on an error by the 3rd baseman as Coffee County defeated Northeast High School out of Clarksville 2 to 1. Once again, the Lady Raider bats were quiet as they could only scratch out 4 hits. Bell led Coffee County with 2 hits. Freshman Katie Rutledge went the distance in the circle to get the win for Coffee County.
The Lady Raiders conclude pool play at 9 AM on Saturday when they return to Fayetteville to take on Buckhorn High School out of Alabama. The single elimination portion of the bracket begins around noon.

Breyer Taylor

Four goals by Breyer Taylor lifted the Coffee County Red Raider soccer team to an 8 to 0 win over Lawrence County on Friday night in high school soccer action.
Taylor notched goals in the 20th minute, on an assist from Ben Reid, and the 30th minute, on an assist from Leo Botello. Ethan Hickman found the back on the net in the 35th minute on a through ball from Reid to close out the scoring in the 1st half.
Leading 3 nil at the half, Coffee County got 5 goals from 4 different players in the 2nd half to cruise to the district win. Taylor got a goal in the 45th minute on an assist by Paco Barrera to secure the hat trick. Ethan Abplanalp scored 3 minutes later before Taylor added his 4th goal at the 54 minute mark on a feed from Hickman. Ben Reid made the score 7 nil when he drilled a laser from 40 yards out into the net and John Parigger added a goal in the 72nd minute on a feed from Miquel Mendoza.
The Raiders return home for their final district game of the year on Saturday morning when they welcome Lincoln County to the Raider Soccer Field. That match kicks off at 11 AM.

Grant Sadler pitched 6 strong innings as the Coffee County Red Raider JV baseball team opened play in the Rebel Classic JV Tournament with an 8 to 3 win over Central Magnet. The Red Raiders touched up the Tigers pitching for 8 hits as A.J. Rollman was 3 for 3 at the plate to lead the hitting attack. Not to be outdone, the Raider defense also stepped up big with a pair of inning-ending double plays with the bases loaded to preserve the win. The Raiders are back in action on Saturday when they play at Lincoln County at 10 AM and Tullahoma at 2 PM in Winchester.

Curtis Granderson homered twice, including a grand slam, to drive in five runs and Matt Harvey got his first win of the season as the New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves 6-3 on Friday night.

Granderson’s sixth career grand slam was a line-drive shot he pulled into the right-field seats off Bud Norris (1-3) in the second inning. Granderson had three hits, including another homer off Norris in the fourth, giving him four on the season.

New York has 21 homers in its last seven games — the most in a seven-game span in franchise history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Harvey (1-3) ended a streak of four straight losing decisions, including his first three starts this year. He needed 101 pitches to make it through five innings as he allowed two runs and seven hits and one walk.

Jeurys Familia pitched the ninth for his fourth save.

The Colorado Springs Sky Sox sent the Nashville Sounds to a heart-breaking 8-7 loss in walk-off fashion Friday night at Security Service Field.

Multiple late leads were not enough for the Sounds as Manny Pina’s one-out single in the ninth scored Michael Reed with the winning run.

The Sounds held a 5-1 lead in the eighth inning, and then went up 7-5 in the top of the ninth only to see both leads vanish.

Max Muncy belted a two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning to break a 5-5 tie.

The home run for Muncy came just minutes after the Sky Sox scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth to even the game after trailing 5-1.

The two-run lead didn’t last long as Angel Castro’s trouble started right away in the bottom of the ninth. Yosmil Pinto sent a single to the right side to start the rally.

Castro retired Keon Broxton for the first out of the inning, but then issued back-to-back walks to put the winning run at first base. That’s when Hernan Perez sent a fly ball down the right field line for a ground-rule double that evened the game at 7-7.

The Sounds turned to Ryan Brasier in favor of Castro. He delivered an intentional walk to Jake Elmore before Pina finished it with the game-winner to right.

The Sounds led for the greater part of eight innings. They plated three runs in the third, highlighted by Jake Smolinski’s two-run double off the left field wall. Up 4-1, Matt Olson belted his second home run of the season in the sixth to lengthen the lead.

Colorado Springs scored a single tally in the seventh, then three in the eighth off Nashville reliever Tucker Healy who came into the game with a 0.00 ERA in five games.

Left-hander Sean Manaea was in position to get to 3-0 before the bullpen faltered. The 24-year-old allowed just one run on six hits in six innings. He walked a pair and struck out four. Manaea has allowed one run in all three starts and has a 1.50 ERA in 18 innings.

The Sounds return home to First Tennessee Park to start a four-game homestand against the New Orleans Zephyrs on Saturday. Right-hander Chris Smith (0-2, 7.20) starts for Nashville against right-hander Ivan Pineyro (0-2, 4.09) for New Orleans. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.