Homeschool students wishing to participate in athletics at any Coffee County School System school need to remember that the proper paperwork for participation is required.  Any homeschool student participating in a varsity or junior varsity sport at any point in the school year has until August 1^st to turn in the appropriate paperwork to their respective school.  If you have questions, you can contact athletic director Kyle Harris at Coffee County Middle School at: harrisk@k12coffee.net or Rebecca Koger at Coffee County Central High School at: kogerr@k12coffee.net

For the first time since June 1, the Nashville Sounds’ hot offense was unable to score a run. The Sounds fell 1-0 against the Omaha Storm Chasers on Thursday night at Werner Park in the opener of a four-game series.

The only run of the night came in the bottom of the fourth inning. Taylor Guerrieri, who entered in the third after starter Pedro Payano retired all six batters he faced in a shortened outing, struck out his first two batters. Then Kelvin Gutierrez reached on an infield single, took second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Ryan O’Hearn. All seven of Omaha’s hits in the game were singles, and two were infield hits. Guerrieri took the loss, and Jake Lemoine and Jake Petricka logged scoreless outings to give the offense a chance.

The Sounds offense got the leadoff hitter aboard four times, including each of the last three innings, but could not score. Omaha’s starter Jake Kalish went seven innings in the win, and the Sounds’ best chance to score came in the eighth against Scott Barlow. Jett Bandy singled and Christian Lopes walked to start the frame. After Bandy tagged up to third on a flyout by Carlos Tocci, Barlow got Andy Ibanez to hit into a double play to end the inning. Matt Davidson led off the ninth with a single, but Barlow retired the next three hitters to end the game.

The four-game series continues Friday night at 7:05 CT. Austin Bibens-Dirkx (0-0, 7.71) is scheduled to oppose Arnaldo Hernandez (1-6, 8.22).

Post-Game Notes

The Sounds had averaged seven runs per game over their previous 14 games.
This was the Sounds’ first 1-0 9-inning game since June 9, 2018, when they lost to Tacoma
The Sounds have won three straight series and will need to win the next three in Omaha to continue the streak
The 2019 season is the 42nd in Nashville Sounds franchise history and first as the Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. Single-game tickets are available now by calling (615) 690-4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com.

The Nashville Sounds erupted for 12 runs in the bottom of the second inning and held off the Oklahoma City Dodgers in a 14-11 win in front of a sellout crowd of 11,398 at First Tennessee Park Wednesday night.

In their largest scoring inning of 2019, Nashville sent 16 batters to the plate. Trailing 2-1 entering the bottom of the second, Andy Ibanez evened the game with a bang when he launched a solo homer down the left field line.

The next five batters reached safely and the Sounds extended their lead. Every Nashville batters that came to the plate in the inning either reached safely or knocked in a run. After the Ibanez homer, run-scoring hits came from Zack Granite, Eli White, Patrick Wisdom, Ibanez again, and Christian Lopes.

Ibanez’s second hit of the inning was a three-run double that busted the game open to make it 9-2. After Adam Moore was hit in the head with a pitch, Lopes stepped to the plate and drilled a three-run homer to deep left field to give the Sounds a 12-2 lead. They tacked on one more run on a fielder’s choice and took a 13-2 lead into the third.

Oklahoma City plated a run in the top of the third to trim the deficit to 13-3, but Nashville got the run right back in the home half when Lopes collected another run-scoring hit. The shortstop finished the night 3-for-5 with 4 RBI and 2 runs scored. He was a triple shy of the cycle.

The Dodgers didn’t go away and scored the final eight runs of the game. Shane Peterson’s two-run single in the fifth inning trimmed the Nashville lead to 14-6. After putting up a zero in the sixth, Nashville reliever Reed Garrett walked three batters in the seventh and the Dodgers made it hurt. They scored five runs in the frame to make it a 14-11 game.

Southpaw Kyle Bird tossed 2 1/3 shutout innings to preserve the win for Nashville. He picked up his second save of the season.

The Sounds travel to Omaha to begin a four-game series against the Storm Chasers Thursday night. Right-hander Pedro Payano (2-2, 3.33) starts for Nashville against left-hander Jake Kalish (5-4, 4.07) for Omaha. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Post-Game Notes

– With tonight’s 14-11 win, the Sounds improved to 38-47 on the season.

– The 12 runs the Sounds scored in the second inning is the most in a single inning in 2019.

– With three wins to close the series, the Sounds notched their third straight series win. They are 10-4 over the three-series stretch.

– Zack Granite matched a career-high with four hits and extended his on-base streak to 13 games. It was his third four-hit game of the season and 28th multi-hit game.

– Christian Lopes and Andy Ibanez both matched a season-high with four RBI.

The 2019 season is the 42nd in Nashville Sounds franchise history and first as the Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. Single-game tickets are available now by calling (615) 690-4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com.

Enduring muggy conditions and an 88-minute weather delay in the middle of the first half, the U.S. Men’s National Team battled past Jamaica 3-1 before 28,473 rain-soaked fans at Nissan Stadium. Christian Pulisic earned ussoccer.com Man of the Match honors with a pair of second half goals, piggybacking on Weston McKennie’s opener to advance the USA to a tournament-record 11th Concacaf Gold Cup Final.

The United States will square off against archrival Mexico, which needed overtime to beat Haiti 1-0 in Tuesday’s initial semifinal, for the regional title. Kickoff from Soldier Field in Chicago for the first USA-Mexico Gold Cup final since 2011 is set for 9 p.m. ET. The sold-out match will be broadcast on FS1, Univision, UDN and Futbol de Primera Radio Network.

U.S. head coach Gregg Berhalter made a quartet of changes to the starting XI that took down Curacao 1-0 in the quarterfinal, bringing in Jozy Altidore up top and Jordan Morris to the midfield plus Reggie Cannon and Matt Miazga in the back line. Berhalter also continued to rotate the captain’s armband, this time handing it to Tim Ream – one of nine different players to captain the U.S. in 2019 – for the second time this year.

The USA swarmed Jamaica at the opening whistle with Altidore nearly connecting on multiple opportunities within the first five minutes. Pulisic created the opening chance after evading three defenders and pinging a cross that landed at the right post before squeaking past Altidore and Morris.

Moments later, Altidore headed the ball into space for Morris who got into the right side of the box and played it across the six, but Altidore was unable to get a touch. The ball rolled to Arriola who got his shot past goalkeeper Andre Blake only to see it cleared at the last moment by the recovering Reggae Boyz netminder.

The early U.S. pressure paid off in the ninth minute when Cannon volled a Michael Bradley longball to Altidore in the box. His touch laid it off for the late run of McKennie who pounded it home for his second goal in as many games and the 1-0 lead.

On 12 minutes, Pulisic won and took a free kick that caromed off the left post. Another free kick just before the weather delay was fumbled by Blake when he collided with a teammate and the loose ball rolled to Aaron Long, but his shot hit a grateful Blake in the 15th minute. Less than a minute later, the weather delay began.

At the resumption of play, Jamaica started with a flurry, forcing U.S. goalkeeper Zack Steffen into a strong diving save in the 23rd minute. After that, the U.S. put its foot on the ball to regain control of the game with good spells of possession carrying the 1-0 advantage into halftime.

Just seven minutes into the second frame, Pulisic doubled the USA’s lead, capitalizing on a Blake rebound for his 12th international goal.

At that point Berhalter turned to his bench, bringing in Gyasi Zardes for Altidore in the 55th minute and later Cristian Roldan for Morris in the 70th. Between those subs, Jamaica felt the urgency of the moment and began to raise its play.

Waves of attack were cleared by the U.S. defense and Steffen, who was called into action to make three saves among numerous other interventions.

The pressure finally told in the 69th minute when substitute Shamar Nicholson, who notched the winning goal for Jamaica against the U.S. in a pre-tournament friendly, headed home Leon Bailey’s cross to draw the Reggae Boyz within a goal.

The U.S. stuck to its task and left no doubt with three minutes remaining in regulation as Pulisic once again took advantage of a Blake rebound to chop home what was his third goal of tournament to cement the final 3-1 score line and lift the USA into its 11th Gold Cup Final.

GOAL SCORING RUNDOWN:
USA – Weston McKennie (Jozy Altidore), 9th minute: Michael Bradley initiated the attacking sequence with a perfectly weighted long ball toward the right side of the box for Reggie Cannon to run on to. Cannon volleyed the ball across the middle of the box for Altidore whose touch carried it into the path of the crashing McKennie. At full steam toward the goal, McKennie took one touch to settle the ball before blasting it past Andre Blake into the left side of the net for his third international goal. USA 1, JAM 0 [WATCH]

USA – Christian Pulisic, 52nd minute: Weston McKennie spotted the run of Jordan Morris and played a through-ball from central midfield into the top of the box where Morris took a touch, put on a burst of speed to get past his defender and fired a sharp-angle shot that Jamaica goalkeeper Andre Blake could only parry into the path of a crashing Pulisic, who controlled his body to send a sliding volley into the open net. USA 2, JAM 0 [WATCH]

JAM – Shamar Nicholson (Leon Bailey), 69th minute: Jamaica won the ball at midfield and counter attacked down the right side through Bailey, who was able to clip a cross between two defenders into the center of the box. Waiting was Nicholson, who snapped a header down to the left side of the goal between Steffen and the post. USA 2, JAM 1 [WATCH]

USA – Christian Pulisic, 87th minute: Pulisic carried the ball into the Jamaica penalty area but his centering pass rolled outside the top left of the box. Paul Arriola chased it down and sent a blistering shot toward the right post that forced Blake into a diving parry. However, he once again pushed the ball right to Pulisic who golfed his shot into the ground, bouncing it into the far side netting for his 13th career goal. USA 3, JAM 1 [WATCH] FINAL

ADDITIONAL NOTES:
The USMNT is 8-2-1 in 2019, having kept a clean sheet in seven of the eight wins.

The USMNT is 26-7-5 all-time in the Gold Cup knockout rounds and 10-3-1 in semifinal matches.

The USA is 16-3-8 all-time against Jamaica and 5-1-0 in Gold Cup play.

The win sends the U.S. to its 11th Gold Cup finals appearance, the most of any Concacaf nation.

The USA extended its record streak by scoring in its 29th consecutive Gold Cup match. The U.S. has not been shut out in the competition since the 2009 Gold Cup final.

The victory marked the USA’s 10th straight in Concacaf Gold Cup play (July 12, 2017-July 3, 2019), extending a new team record for consecutive wins at the confederation championship.

The USMNT has won five consecutive games, their longest winning streak since winning five straight in the 2017 Gold Cup.

Shamar Nicholson’s 69th minute goal was the first conceded by the USMNT at the 2019 Concacaf Gold Cup and ended the team’s shutout streak at 483 minutes.

USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter made four changes to the starting XI, inserting defenders Reggie Cannon and Matt Miazga along with forwards Jozy Altidore and Jordan Morris.

Seven players in the starting XI have contributed either a goal or assist in the tournament so far: Pulisic (3g, 3a), Arriola (2g, 1a), Long (2g), McKennie (2g, 1a), Morris (2a), Altidore (1g, 1a), Bradley (1a).

Just four players in tonight’s starting lineup appeared in 1-0 defeat to Jamaica on June 5 in Washington, D.C.: Arriola, Miazga, Ream and Steffen.

Altidore and Morris scored in the last Gold Cup meeting with the Reggae Boyz, a 2-1 victory in the 2017 final on July 26, 2017 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

The U.S. starting XI had an average age of 25 years, 171 days and 40 caps.

Christian Pulisic scored goals in the 52nd and 87th minutes to take his career tally to 13. The 20-year-old also moved into a tie with Gyasi Zardes for the joint team scoring lead at the 2019 Gold Cup with three goals.

Christian Pulisic has registered a Gold Cup-leading three assists (tied with Canada’s Alphonso Davies) in the 2019 tournament. With his next assist, he will become the 12th player in USMNT history with 10+ goals and 10+ assists for his country, joining: Landon Donovan (57g, 58a), Clint Dempsey (57g, 21a), Jozy Altidore (42g, 13a), Eric Wynalda (34g, 16a), Brian McBride (30g, 10a), Michael Bradley (17g, 23a), Joe-Max Moore (24g, 14a), Cobi Jones (15g, 22a), DaMarcus Beasley (17g, 13a), Earnie Stewart (17g, 10a) and Eddie Lewis (10g, 16a).

Michael Bradley made his 24th Gold Cup appearance, tying Clint Dempsey for second on the USMNT’s all-time tournament caps list.

Making his second start of the tournament, Altidore returned to the same stadium where he became the youngest USMNT player to record a hat trick, with the then 19-year-old recording all three goals in a 3-0 World Cup Qualifying win against Trinidad & Tobago on April 1, 2009.

Jozy Altidore’s assist on McKennie’s goal was the 14th of his international career, moving him into a tie with Joe-Max Moore and Tab Ramos for eighth on the USMNT’s all-time assist list. It’s his first international assist since June 2017.

Tim Ream captained the USMNT for the second time in his international career.

Arriola and Zardes made their team-leading 10th appearances of 2019.

Most of the headlines coming out of Nashville on Monday included Matt Duchene’s name, but the deal to sign the star centerman wasn’t the only transaction the Predators made as free agency opened.

There was another forward by the name of Daniel Carr, who signed on the dotted line – a one-year, one-way deal worth $700,000 – to become a member of the Preds.

“I’m so excited – I think that’s the only way to put it,” Carr said via phone two days after his contract was announced. “I can’t get over how much of a family the organization feels like and how welcoming everyone’s been. I’m just excited to be a part of it, and hopefully I can come into camp and make the team and try to help as best as I can.”

You may not have heard Carr’s name before, but if he has anything to do with it, you’ll get used to it in the months to come. You’ll notice the contract is one-way, meaning the Predators believe he’s capable of landing a roster spot for Opening Night.

Preds General Manager David Poile confirmed that line of thinking when he stated: “We think Daniel is ready to become a full-time NHL player and have an impact on our offense next season.”

So, why are the Preds so high on an undrafted 27-year-old winger from Sherwood Park, Alberta?

For one, Carr is the reigning MVP of the American Hockey League. He posted 30 goals and 71 points in just 52 games with the Chicago Wolves in 2018-19, a point total tied for the third-most in the league.

An NCAA champion with Union College in 2014, Carr has also appeared in 100 NHL contests over the past four seasons, most of them coming with the Montreal Canadiens and the rest with Vegas last season. He’s well aware of what it takes to play in the top league in the world, and he intends on doing so again.

Don’t get him wrong – he enjoyed the past campaign with the Wolves, a season that saw him post his highest point totals since he was playing Bantam AAA for the Leduc Oil Kings as a teenager – but he has no desire for another prolonged stay in the AHL.

“The American League is an interesting place because nobody wants to be there,” Carr said. “It’s the best way to put it… but you can’t really feel sorry for yourself ever in life, and I learned that the hard way… It was mixed emotions throughout the year, but if I think about the hockey part of it, it was a ton of fun.”

Las Vegas, NV – December 4: Daniel Carr #23 of the Vegas Golden Knights warms up prior to a game against the Washington Capitals at T-Mobile Arena on December 4, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by David Becker/NHLI via Getty Images)
Las Vegas, NV – December 4: Daniel Carr #23 of the Vegas Golden Knights warms up prior to a game against the Washington Capitals at T-Mobile Arena on December 4, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by David Becker/NHLI via Getty Images) Getty Images

After having the type of season he did, Carr was hoping for another NHL shot. Luckily for him, that’s exactly what the Predators had in mind when they reached out to his camp prior to July 1.

“You have to sort through the fluff of that period, and I think when we spoke about Nashville, I just realized that there’s just no fluff in what we were talking about,” Carr said. “I talked to other people about the people in the Predators organization, and everybody just comes back and says it’s just first class and the people are first class. For me, that’s what I wanted to do.”

Carr spoke fondly of his time with the Canadiens from 2015-18, especially that final season that saw him skate in 38 games and record 16 points. He’s always had to scratch and claw for his opportunities, and the chance that now lies ahead in Nashville may be the best he’s ever had in his five years as a professional.

“That’s why I’m coming to Nashville,” Carr said of the belief in him shown by the Preds. “You look at the team and how good the players are that you have the opportunity to play with, I think that was a big selling point. I realize it’s only a one-year contract, but it’s an opportunity for me to prove myself… And as a guy coming in, how could you not be excited about the opportunity to earn a chance to play with these guys?”

He has played against the Predators at Bridgestone Arena a couple of times before, including Shea Weber’s first game back in Nashville after being traded to Montreal in the summer of 2016. It was that night, Carr says, when he realized Nashville is a true hockey town.

“Just the standing ovation he got, you could tell they care about their players,” Carr said. “It was really cool to see that, and I’ve obviously been in other games where it was just like, ‘Wow, this place is rocking.’ I’m really excited to experience that.”

It’ll be a busy summer for Carr before he arrives in Music City later in August – on top of a grueling training regimen, he’s tying the knot in less than two weeks. Hearing his name called in the building on Oct. 3 when the Preds open their season might be the only thing that can come close to topping the wedding.

If he has any say in the matter, it might just happen.