Runners assemble at the start line on Tuesday at Old Stone Fort Golf Course[Photo by Nathan Wanuch]

In the middle school girls’ race, Greenlee Woods of CCMS was the top local finisher as she crossed the tape in 2^nd place with a time of 13:36.53.   Patricia Barrera of Westwood was the 3^rd place finisher at 13:44.44.  Other Westwood runners in the top 25 were Rylea McNamara(13^th place), Kailee Rossman (16th) and Lizabeth Martinez(24th).  Also competing for Coffee County was HK Sherrill(31^st) while Mattalyn Goney(30^th), Lenor Moreno Rivera(33^rd) and Marisol Moreno(35^th)were the other Lady Rocket runners.  The Westwood Lady Rockets came in 3^rd place, 1 point out of second.

In the boys’ middle school race, Jacob Rutledge of CCMS won his 3^rd straight race.  Fellow Raider runner Ethan Welch captured a 3^rd place finish.  Westwood’s Bodey Todd was the top Rocket runner as he came home in 7^th place while Louie Frazier was the 8^th place finisher.  Other Westwood runners, in order of their finish were: Brady Nugent, Luke Beachboard, John Dobson, Connor Cravens, Keiton Sherrill and Jon Askins.  Other Coffee Middle runners, in order of finish, were: Ethan Beaty, Breyton Anderson, Bradley Escue, and Clayton Bryant.

In the high school girls’ race, the Lady Raider tandem of Sarah Pearson and Emily St. John finished in 2^nd and 3^rd place respectively.  The other Lady Raiders runners, in order of finish, were: Keishel Norton(7^th), Byanka Woods(10^th) , Zoe Mills(15^th), Kara Mueller(16^th), Jasie Willis(17^th) and Shelby Watkins(18^th).  The strong Lady Raider performance gave Coffee County the win in girls easily outdistancing 2^nd place Grundy County.

In the high school boys’ race, Bradley Kishpaugh ran with the lead group for most of the course before settling for a 4^th place finish.  Kishpaugh covered the 5K course in 18:31.99.  Neil Slone finished in 15^th place for the Red Raiders and Reuben Chaput finished in 18^th.  Other Red Raider runners,  in their order of finish, were: Ayala Renato(22^nd), Larson Meltzer(24^th), Jacob Melton(31^st), Johnny Dulin(33^rd), Michael Pritchett(48^th) and Eric French(55^th).  Coffee County finished in 4^th place in the team standings.

The Westwood harriers are back in action on Saturday when they travel to Rutherford County to compete in the Milton Invitational.  The Coffee County Middle School runners will next be in action on September 23^rd at the Regional Meet at Riverdale High School where the team will try to qualify for the State Championships.   The Coffee County Central High School’s next race is September 19^th at Arrowhead Ranch.

The Coffee County volleyball team traveled to Tullahoma on Wednesday night for a non-district match with the rival Lady Cats.  Coffee County had to battle the Lady Cats tough in all 3 sets but did come away with the sweep.  Coffee County won by set scores of: 25-21, 25-15 and 25-20.

The Lady Raiders were led in kills by Keelie Hillis, Lexi Bryan and Alliyah Williams who all had 4 kills.  Amanda Mukai led Coffee County in aces with 4 and assists with 12.  Tyana Fenton was the team leader in digs with 12.

Coffee County will next be in action on Saturday when they host their annual Southern Slam tournament.  The tournament will be held on 2 floors at CHS and 2 courts at the Manchester Recreation Center.  Coffee County will play games at 9 AM, 11 AM, 1 PM and 3 PM at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym.  The single elimination portion of the tournament gets underway at 5:30 PM.

The Westwood basketball teams, in cooperation with Al White Ford/Lincoln, will be hosting a “Lincoln Driven to Give” event on Saturday to raise funds for both programs for the upcoming season.  The event will be held from 8 AM to 4 PM in the parking lot of the former Bi-Lo grocery store beside Coffee County Bank on the Hillsboro Hwy.

The Lincoln Motor Company will make a donation to Westwood teams for each person that takes a test drive of a new Lincoln vehicle.  There is no obligation and no sales persons will be present so the experience is completely hassle free.

Come by and take a no-obligation test drive and help raise funds for the Rocket and Lady Rocket basketball teams.  Special thanks to Baxter White of Al White Ford/Lincoln for coordinating and hosting the event.

In just his second career start, Braves left-hander Luiz Gohara went toe-to-toe with Nationals right-hander Max Scherzer, the favorite to win his second consecutive National League Cy Young Award. Then, Atlanta broke out for six runs in the seventh — highlighted by a grand slam by Matt Kemp — to cruise to an 8-2 victory Wednesday night at Nationals Park.
Gohara put together an impressive performance to keep the Nationals off-balance through six innings, holding them to two runs (one earned) while striking out six without issuing a walk. The rookie retired 11 batters in a row from the second inning through the fifth in his first win as a big leaguer.
“It feels really good. It’s kind of like emotional for the first one,” Gohara said. “For the first year being here, it’s really fun to have the first win in the big leagues.”
“The kid gets locked in and really competes,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “And that’s what I heard about him from the guys that played with him, the guys that have had him, been around him. They say once he gets out there, he’s trying to beat you. That’s legit stuff right there, too.”
Kemp’s slam off right-hander Brandon Kintzler put the Braves ahead comfortably on their way to securing a winning record at Nationals Park, which had been a house of horrors for them the past two years. Atlanta, which improved to 6-3 in Washington this year, went 1-19 here from 2015-16.
Scherzer was pitching well until the seventh, when he appeared to run out of steam. He walked three consecutive batters to open the inning and finished with six walks (one intentional) and seven runs allowed, both of which were season highs. Even though the Nationals have already wrapped up the National League East, they extended Scherzer to 116 pitches, a plan he and the team devised to help stretch out his arm in preparation for the postseason.
“That was the game plan before the night started,” Nationals manager Dusty Baker said. “I know it looked ugly. It looked ugly to you. It looked ugly to us and the fans and everybody else. But if you have a game plan, you want to stick with it as much and as long as you can.”
Even though he had already thrown 97 pitches through six innings, Scherzer took the mound to begin the seventh with the game tied at 2. However, it quickly became apparent he did not have much left in the tank. After walking the bases loaded, the ace allowed a go-ahead two-run single by Dansby Swanson. Scherzer’s night was done after he walked Freddie Freeman intentionally.
“For the first 100 pitches, I felt like I was executing pitches the way I wanted to tonight,” Scherzer said. “Then after pitch 100, that’s when the wheels fell off and I was searching for everything. Sometimes that happens. You can just learn from this.
“I don’t think anything’s broken. My arm feels fine. There’s nothing wrong here. This is why I needed to pitch that deep into the game, so I can shake off some of that rust.”
It was just the third time in his career that Scherzer walked six batters in a game, the last coming Sept. 25, 2013, when he pitched for the Tigers. His ERA on the year rose from 2.34 to 2.59.
After Scherzer departed, Kemp put this game on ice on the first pitch he saw from Kintzler. The veteran outfielder launched a hanging slider 395 feet into left field with an exit velocity of 106 mph, according to Statcast™, to make it 8-2. The blast marked Kemp’s seventh career grand slam, and his first since 2011.
“I’m just trying to get a deep fly ball or put something into play to get a run in from third base,” Kemp said. “He left a slider up, put a good swing on it and hit it out.”
Trea Turner puts himself in scoring position as he steals second in the 1st for his 40th stolen base of the season
“He was on pace to lead this league in stolen bases, and then he had an unforeseen broken wrist,” Baker said. “We all know that Trea’s a player and he’s an impact player.”
The Braves will wrap up their series in D.C. on Thursday at 6:05 p.m. CT as they send righty Mike Foltynewicz (10-12, 4.74 ERA) to the hill.