CHS Golfer Ashley Gilliam in action last season

Coffee County rising junior Ashley Gilliam once again needed a strong finish to win the Tennessean/Metro Parks Schooldays Golf Tournament on Thursday.  The win by Gilliam, a Mississippi State commitment, marked her second straight championship in the 93^rd annual tournament. The Schooldays is the state’s longest continuous golf tournament and the most prestigious junior amateur tournament in Tennessee.

Gilliam entered Thursday’s match play final against Clarksville’s Catherine Caudill as the top seed after posting the lowest qualifying score in Tuesday’s opening round.  Ashley fired a blistering 8 under par 64 to advance to Wednesday’s quarterfinals.  In Wednesday morning’s quarterfinal, Gilliam captured the lead on the 9^th hole and never trailed again in a win over Cameron Waltman.  In the semifinals, Gilliam defeated Angelina Chan 1-up to advance to Thursday’s finals.

In the finals, Gilliam fell behind 3 down after the 10^th hole.  Needing to win 3 of the last 8 holes, Ashley got a birdie on the 11^th hole to cut the deficit to 2.  Caudill and Gilliam halved the next 5 holes which left Gilliam down 2 with 2 to play.  Not to be deterred, Gilliam got a birdie and a par to extend the match to a 19^th hole.  The finish was reminiscent of Ashley’s 2016 title when Gilliam needed an eagle on the final hole to win her first Schooldays.  Gilliam won the 19^th hole to capture her 2^nd consecutive Schooldays championship.  Gilliam can tie the record for 3 straight Schooldays titles in 2018.  That record is held by her mother, Jennifer Gilliam.

The Coffee County Red Raider and Lady Raider basketball teams will be back in camp action on Monday.  The Red Raiders will be at MTSU as the varsity, JV and freshmen teams will be in action on Monday through Thursday.  The Lady Raiders will travel to Lebanon on for a 2 day camp on Monday and Tuesday.

The Red Raiders will play 9 games a day in their final team camp workouts of the summer.  On Monday, the varsity team will have games at 1 PM, 3 PM and 6 PM with all 3 games taking place at the MTSU Rec Center.  The JV will have games at 3 PM, 5 PM and 7 PM as they will also be at MTSU’s Rec center.  The freshmen will open play at 1 PM at MTSU’s Rec center.   The freshmen will finish up with games at 4 PM and 6 PM at the Alumni Memorial Gym.

The Lady Raiders will play 4 varsity games over the 2 day team camp at Lebanon High School.  On Monday, the Lady Raiders will open up play at noon with a game against Watertown before facing Forrest at 3 PM.  On Tuesday, Coffee County will take on Gallatin at 1 PM and Portland at 3 PM.

Imagine the rowdiest party in town being held on your front lawn.

Now imagine not receiving an invitation to that celebration, forced to enviously peer through the front curtains and wonder what it must be like.

For the past two months, the Predators have been the NHL’s lovable gate-crashers, bucking the establishment with Southern-fried, car-smashing enthusiasm.

But status quo prevailed Sunday. The Pittsburgh Penguins, a member of the NHL’s ruling class, hoisted their second consecutive Stanley Cup in a 2-0 Game 6 victory at Bridgestone Arena, becoming the league’s first back-to-back champions in nearly two decades.

With 1:35 remaining, former Predators forward Patric Hornqvist smacked a bouncing puck past Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne for the game-winning goal.

The tension inside Bridgestone Arena on Sunday was suffocating. A whirlwind pace kept the capacity crowd on edge in the Predators’ final home game.

The Penguins’ previous two games were their strongest in terms of generating, a trend that stretched into Sunday’s Game 6. Pittsburgh totaled five high-quality scoring chances in the first period, requiring Rinne to be at his sharpest. Penguins counterpart Matt Murray made eight saves, concluding the first goalless first period of the series.

Nashville thought it had scored an all-important first goal less than 90 seconds into the second period. Forward Filip Forsberg’s hard-charging shot dribbled through Murray’s pads, the loose puck settling in the crease.

Before Predators center Colton Sissons pool-cued the rebound into the open net, referee Kevin Pollock whistled the play dead, snatching a would-be goal from the home team. Murray later stoned Sissons on a breakaway opportunity. By the end of the second period, Murray had made 56 consecutive saves since Game 4, the disallowed goal notwithstanding.

Murray’s mastery continued into the third period when the Predators received and failed to score on a shortened two-man advantage.

A rundown of the Predators’ postseason accomplishments won’t provide much consolation in this heartbreaking moment, but there is optimism that can be extracted from the wreckage.

The Predators’ roster, filled with budding stars and depth difference-makers, is positioned to challenge for championships for the next several seasons.

Nashville’s viability as a hockey destination received international exposure as visiting media swooned over the atmosphere inside Bridgestone Arena and how it overflowed into the downtown streets.

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report

Michael Conforto provided the early spark and Seth Lugo showed no rust on the mound or at the plate as his successful season debut helped the Mets claim a four-game series victory with Sunday afternoon’s 2-1 win over the Braves at SunTrust Park.

“I think that we needed these wins in our division so that it can put us up in the standings,” Mets catcher Rene Rivera said. “At the same time we have to continue playing and winning series.”
Conforto’s leadoff double helped create a first-inning run for Lugo, who allowed one run and six hits over seven innings. The Mets right-hander missed this season’s first two months because of right elbow inflammation. He aided his own cause with a third-inning double that put him in position to score on Juan Lagares’ two-out infield single.

Tyler Flowers doubled and scored on Dansby Swanson’s game-tying sacrifice fly in the second inning. But the Braves did not provide any further support to Jaime Garcia, who recorded a season-high nine strikeouts while allowing two runs over seven innings.
“That happens sometimes,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “That’s part of the job and the part he can’t control. He can control shutting a team down. He did a great job with that. It’s just one of those things guys go through.”
Conforto entered the game with a .163 career batting average against left-handed pitchers, and Garcia had limited left-handed batters to a .212 batting average this season. But the Mets left fielder drilled the game’s first pitch into the left-center-field gap for a leadoff double, and he came home on Wilmer Flores’ sacrifice fly.
“It was a straight fastball, and I wanted to get ahead there and start the game off on the right note,” Conforto said. “Garcia’s got some good stuff and some good sink to his pitches. I didn’t want to wait around against him, and I think it set the tone a little bit.”
Garcia regretted his decision to begin the game with a four-seam fastball against a left-handed hitter.
“You try to get ahead, but at the same time against a good hitter like him, especially lefty on lefty, I try to use my stuff that moves,” Garcia said.
Ender Inciarte and Nick Markakis singled ahead of a Matt Kemp walk to load the bases against Lugo with one out in the fifth inning. Matt Adams followed with a potential double-play grounder to shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera. Adams was initially called safe at first base. But what would have been a game-tying RBI groundout was erased when a replay review reversed the call and resulted in an inning-ending double play.
“We just had a tough couple days scoring runs,” Snitker said after his team was limited to one run for the third consecutive game and fourth time within the past seven games.
Mike Foltynewicz will take the mound when Atlanta begins a three-game series at Nationals Park on Monday at 6:05 p.m. CT. Foltynewicz enters this start against the Nationals having not allowed a run within his past two starts (14 innings).

The Memphis Redbirds scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the 12th inning and outlasted the Nashville Sounds, 10-9, Sunday afternoon at AutoZone Park. Sunday’s win secured the series for Memphis, and gave them a five-game lead over Nashville in the American Southern Division standings.

Breyvic Valera was the hero when his base hit up the middle scored Wilfredo Tovar with the winning run with just one out in the 12th inning.

The knock came just moments after the Sounds (32-29) took a 9-8 lead on Matt Chapman’s 16th home run of the season – a solo shot in the top of the 12th that broke the tie. Chapman’s blast extended his hitting streak to a career-long 10 games.

Sounds reliever Simon Castro, who turned in scoreless innings in the 10th and 11th, found immediate trouble in the 12th when he hit Patrick Widsom with a pitch. The next batter, Tovar, dropped a bunt down back to the mound. Castro tried to fire to second to get Wisdom but his throw was late.

With runners at first and second with nobody out, Bruce Caldwell dropped another bunt down back to the mound. This time Castro threw to third and again it was late.

With the bases loaded and nobody out, Alberto Rosario hit a fly ball to right that was deep enough to score Wisdom from third with the tying run. After Castro intentionally walked Nick Martini, Valera sent a base hit up the middle to win it for Memphis.

Sunday’s afternoon affair was a back-and-forth contest as neither starter was particularly sharp. Nashville’s Michael Brady battled through five innings and allowed four runs in a no-decision. Memphis’ Luke Weaver lasted only 2 1/3 innings before exiting with an undisclosed injury.

Two runs in the top of the third inning gave the Sounds a 3-1 lead but it didn’t last long. Four hits for Memphis brought in three runs in the bottom of the fourth.

Trailing 4-3 in the sixth, Nashville’s Jaff Decker and Ryan Lavarnway manufactured the tying run. Decker started the inning with a single, then swiped second base and moved to third on a throwing error by catcher Alberto Rosario. Lavarnway made the error hurt when he hit a soft liner into left field to deliver Decker from third.

Memphis reliever Miguel Socolovich continued in the seventh and found immediate trouble. Franklin Barreto reached on an infield single, and motored around the bases on Joey Wendle’s go-ahead double to the gap in left-center.

Mark Canha followed with a run-scoring single up the middle, and Renato Nuñez made it 8-4 with a booming two-run home run. It was the 17th of the season for Nuñez who is now tied for the PCL lead.

Redbirds first baseman Luke Voit drilled a three-run homer off Tucker Healy to draw Memphis within a run in the seventh.

Felix Doubront tossed a scoreless eighth, but Jake Sanchez couldn’t follow suit in the ninth. After striking out the first two batters he faced, Voit singled and was pinch ran for with Todd Cunningham. Moments later, Harrison Bader rifled a line drive down the left field line that chased Cunningham around the bases to even the game at 8-8 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.

Neither team did much of anything in the 10th and 11th innings before Chapman gave the Sounds the lead in the 12th.

Castro was charged with the loss, dropping his record to 0-4 on the season. Kevin Herget picked up the win for Memphis despite allowing the homer to Chapman.

The Sounds enjoy a team off day Monday before beginning an eight-day, nine-game homestand on Tuesday. Right-hander Chris Smith (4-2, 2.96) starts for Nashville against right-hander Casey Kelly (3-1, 4.68) for Iowa. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.