Loren Hansen

For a 1st year tennis program, the Coffee County Middle School tennis teams have shown considerable growth and improvement this season. On Thursday, the Raider netters braved the impending rain as they traveled to “The Mountain” to take on St. Andrew’s-Sewanee.
Holding a 3 to 1 lead after the singles matches, the Lady Raiders could not get the match winner in doubles as they settled for a 3 to 3 tie with the Lady Lions. Jayda Wright(by a score of 6 to 4), Alise Clark(6-1) and Anna Amado(4-2) all snagged singles wins in the match.
The Raiders battled a very talented Mountain Lions to the very last game before falling 4 to 3. Jaden Talley(6-2) and Loren Hansen(6-1) got convincing wins in their singles matchups and the doubles team of Joseph Sadler and Luke Irwin got a 6 to 2 victory in their doubles match to knot the score at 3 to 3 with one match remaining. The doubles team of Ben Davis and Zach Leroux took their opponents to the limit before falling 6 to 5 just ahead of the rains.
The Coffee Middle tennis teams conclude their season next week with a pair of matches against the strong team from Warren County Middle. On Monday, Coffee County travels to McMinnville for a 4 PM match before ending the season at home on Friday with a 4 PM match against the Pioneers on their home courts at the Raider Academy.

Southern Illinois University pitcher Brianna Jones (Photo courtesy of Saluki Media Services)

Southern Illinois pitcher Brianna Jones was one of 26 players announced as a finalist for the Schutt Sports / NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year award. Jones leads all freshmen nationally with nine shutouts this season, and her 18 wins rank third nationally among freshmen. The award will be presented prior to the start of the 2016 NCAA Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City, Okla.
Jones, a Manchester, Tenn., native, ranks among the best freshmen pitchers nationally. Among freshmen, she ranks first nationally in shutouts, third in wins, fourth in ERA (min. 100 innings), sixth in saves, eighth in fewest walks per seven innings, and 10th in strikeouts.
She leads the Missouri Valley Conference in ERA, shutouts, wins and saves; and she ranks among the top five in the conference in opposing batting average and strikeouts. Among all players nationally, Jones ranks second in shutouts with nine. Jones has earned MVC Pitcher of the Week honors three times this season and MVC Newcomer of the Week honors twice more.
On May 12, the list will be trimmed down to the top 10 finalists, while the top three finalists will be selected and released on Wed., May 25. The Schutt Sports / NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year trophy will be presented during a live ceremony on May 31 prior to the opening of the annual Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.
The award was created in 2014 from an idea to honor outstanding athletic achievement among freshmen softball student-athletes throughout Division I. In the inaugural year, Auburn’s Kasey Cooper and Tennessee’s Annie Aldrete, were co-winners. Oklahoma’s Paige Parker took home the honor in 2015.

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report

After the Nashville Predators took away two games on the road, the Anaheim Ducks have done the same. With a 4-1 victory in Game Four on Thursday night, the Ducks have evened the series at 2-2 after winning both games at Bridgestone Arena.

The Preds felt better about their overall effort on Thursday night, compared to Game Three, but the desired results still weren’t there.

“There were parts of that game where we were playing good, the crowd was in it and we were feeling good about our game; they came back, responded with some quick goals, and we couldn’t find a way to break through there in the third” center Mike Fisher said. “That was the difference.”

It took only 62 seconds for the Ducks to get the game’s first goal, as Ryan Getzlaf crashed the net and jammed a loose puck under Pekka Rinne’s pad for a 1-0 lead.

That score held through the start of the second stanza, but then the Preds got going, and Fisher finished off a period of sustained pressure when he received a Colin Wilson feed in front of the net and beat Anaheim goaltender Frederik Andersen for the first time. It was Fisher’s first tally of the postseason, the seventh different Preds player to score a goal in the series.

Before the frame was out, however, the Ducks regained the lead when Nate Thompson made it 2-1, and then Jamie McGinn scored his second in as many games for a two-goal advantage heading into the third period.

The Preds were unable to get another past Andersen in the final 20, setting up what has turned into a best-of-three scenario with the series even as things shift back to Anaheim.

“We have to get the next one,” Captain Shea Weber said. “There’s nothing we can do about the past two, and we hadn’t won anything after the first two. It’s a seven-game series for a reason, you have to win four games and the first team to do so wins.”

“That’s the name of the playoffs; the playoffs go back and forth,” Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “There’s ups and downs to it. You have to respond to it. There’s a day in between games. Our guys will be ready to play in Anaheim, I’m sure of that. The effort was there tonight, the results we don’t like and we’ll look to try and fix those and get better.”

Game Five comes Saturday in Anaheim at 5 p.m. (CT), with radio coverage right here on Thunder Radio as part of the Fifth Third Bank/Nashville Predators Radio Network. Game Six is now necessary and will be played Monday in Nashville, but is yet to receive an announced start time.

Clayton Kershaw persevered while surrendering a season-high 10 hits and ultimately provided Yasmani Grandal the chance to deliver a decisive 10th-inning double in the Dodgers’ 2-1, 10-inning win over the Braves at Turner Field on Wednesday afternoon.

Grandal’s one-out double off Alexi Ogando scored Enrique Hernandez from first base and enabled the Dodgers to end this three-game set with consecutive 10-inning victories over the Braves, who had entered Wednesday having won four straight games since beginning the season with nine straight losses.
The Braves recorded five hits before Kershaw notched his fourth out, but the three-time National League Cy Young Award winner used 10 strikeouts and a couple of timely groundouts to limit the damage over eight innings. The Braves’ lone run came courtesy of consecutive doubles from Erick Aybar and Daniel Castro to begin the bottom of the first.
Unfazed by the lingering effects of Sunday’s six-pitch emergency relief appearance or his matchup against Kershaw, Matt Wisler limited the Dodgers to one unearned run as he threw a career-high 115 pitches over 6 2/3 innings. The first of Adonis Garcia’s two errors — an errant throw to first base — extended the first inning long enough for Joc Pederson to record an RBI single on a lazy fly ball that was briefly in Drew Stubbs’ glove as he dove through the shallow left-field grass.
“I think our record this year is not a great indication of how we’ve competed and how we’ve played most of the year,” Stubbs said. “I think we could very easily have a winning record right now. We’ve been in most every game. We just have to keep moving forward.”
Wisler produced one of the best starts of his young career and could have easily completed seven scoreless innings. After he erased Garcia’s second error with a double play in the seventh, Atlanta’s young right-hander saw Kershaw reach first base on a two-out fly ball that hit the grass after Smith and Jeff Francoeur collided in right-center field. Francoeur negated the potential damage of Smith’s overaggressive pursuit by making a strong throw that denied Kershaw’s attempt to score on Corey Seager’s single off Eric O’Flaherty.
Though Kershaw surrendered a double-digit hit total for just the fourth time in 246 career starts, the Braves had some baserunning blunders and weren’t able to take advantage. Castro quieted the first-inning threat when he attempted to extend his double into a triple. Freddie Freeman delivered a leadoff single in the sixth inning, but was called out when second-base umpire Ted Barrett ruled he came off the bag attempting to advance to second base on a passed ball. Replays indicated Freeman never lost contact, but the Braves did not have an available challenge. This proved costly when Garcia followed with what could have been a go-ahead single.
In the top of the seventh with the score tied at 1, Kershaw was tagged out attempting to score on Seager’s single, after a strong throw to the plate from Francouer. The Dodgers challenged, but the call stood.
Bud Norris will take the mound when the Braves open a three-game series against the reigning National League champion Mets on Friday at 6:35 p.m. CT. New York will counter with Matt Harvey, who has allowed opponents a .365 on-base percentage during his first three starts.  Thunder Radio will bring you the live broadcast of that game on the Braves Radio Network.

The Nashville Sounds held on for the 9-8 win in game three of the four-game series with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox on Thursday night at Security Service Field.

Andrew Lambo singled to right to score Renato Nunez to put the Sounds up 1-0 in the second.

Colorado Springs then answered in the bottom of the second when Sky Sox catcher Manny Pina plated two on a single to center field, giving the Sky Sox the lead 2-1. In the bottom of the third, Hernan Perez dropped down a suicide squeeze bunt to score Michael Reed and Colorado Springs took a 3-1 lead into the fourth.

Rangel Ravelo singled up the middle to score Max Muncy and the Sounds trailed 3-2 going into the bottom of the fourth.

In the bottom of the fourth Pina drove in his third run of the evening on a single to right field scoring Jake Elmore to give the Sky Sox a 4-2 lead after four.

Joey Wendle wasted no time answering when he hit his second home run of the series with a deep home run to right, bringing the Sounds back to within a run as they trailed 4-3 after five.

The Sounds started the sixth with back-to-back doubles by Jake Smolinski and Nunez to tie the game at 4-4. With the bases loaded Lambo launched grand slam to right center to put the Sounds on top 8-4.
Ben Guez answered in the bottom of the six with a two-run home run to left to cut the Sounds lead in half 8-6.

In the eighth inning Lambo doubled to right and advanced to third on an error by the right fielder Guez. Later in the inning Sky Sox pitcher David Goforth balked and Lambo scored to add an insurance run with the Sounds going up 9-6.

Elmore grounded to short to score Perez to make it 9-7 Sounds. Ryan Brasier’s first batter Guez doubled to left to score Wilkins and the Sky Sox were within one as they trailed 9-8. Brasier then refocused and struck out Keon Broxton to preserve the Sounds 9-8 win.

Nashville will look to get the series win tomorrow as the Sounds will send left-hander Sean Manaea (2-0, 1.50) to face off against Sky Sox right-hander Jorge Lopez (0-0, 6.48) in the final game of the four-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 7:35 p.m.

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