Members of the Coffee County Claybusters region winning team from Saturday(left to right) Neil Slone, Tanner Carlton, Lindsey Dickson, Zach Bonee, Hayden Jacobs and Coleton Tabor[Photo provided]

The varsity squad captured the region title with an astounding score of 492 targets hit out of 500 attempts.  The Raider shooters swept the top 2 individual awards as Coleton Tabor won with a perfect 100/100 score.  Zach Bonee finished in 2^nd place with a score of 99/100 edging teammate Garrett Bradford who also shot a 99.  Neil Slone had a 98/100 while Lindsey Dickson finished at 96/100.  The Red Raiders outpaced 2^nd place Macon County by 7 shots.

For the middle school team, the brother tandem of Landon and Logan Meadows finished 1^st and 2^nd.  Landon won top individual honors shooting 96/100.  Logan was one shot back at 95/100.  Jonah Wyatt had an 83/100, Emma Matthews scored an 80/100 and Elizabeth Moore shot a 78/100.  The Raiders outdistanced 2^nd place Zion Christian by 23 points.

The Coffee County Middle School Intermediate/Advanced team of Tucker Carlton, Alexus Stacey, Blaine Schereck, Brason Fletcher and Audrey Payne finished 5^th in their classification.  The Coffee County varsity team of Garrett Bradford, Hayden Jacobs and Zach Bonee finished in 3^rd place in the sporting clays competition.

The Claybusters now prepare for a pair of state championships in the coming weeks.  On Monday, June 13^th and Tuesday, June 14^th the Claybusters return to the Nashville Gun Club for the Amateur Trapshooting Association AIM state championship.  The SCTP state championship will be held on June 19^th through the 24^th at Nashville Gun Club.  The Claybusters are coached by Scott Dickson.

Lady Raider softball team and coaches

The Coffee County CHS Lady Raider softball team held their end of the year banquet on Wednesday night at Ruffin’s Barn Event Center in Prairie Plains. The team celebrated a 26 win season which culminated in a 4th place finish at the TSSAA state tournament. Outgoing coach Steve Wilder and assistant coach Jackie Wilder presided over the festivities as their last official acts before leaving for new jobs in Florida next month.
Members of the District 8AAA All-District team and Tennessee Softball Coaches Association All-Academic team were recognized along team award winners. Each player also received a certificate for their participation in the TSSAA state softball tournament. Additionally, Katie Rutledge was recognized as being selected to the Tennessee Sports Writers and Tennessee Softball Coaches Association All-State teams. Wilder was also a finalist for the Tennessee Miss Softball according to Wilder.
Team award winners:
JV Coaches Award – Abigail Parker
JV Offensive Co-Players of the Year – Ashley Evans and Kyla Craig
JV Raider in the Circle Award – Haley Richardson
JV Defensive Player of the Year – Gracie Pippenger
JV Most Improved Award – Amanda Mukai
Teammate of the Year – Lexi Holder
Leadership Award – Ashlynn Morton
Coaches Award – Tatum Baldwin
Most Improved Award – Raven Rogers
Home Run Leader – Tori Bell
Renaissance Award – Haley Hinshaw
Defensive Player of the Year – Tori Bell and Lauren Tomberlin
Offensive Player of the Year – Katie Rutledge
Raider in the Circle Award – Kaylee Skipper

District 8AAA All-District team
Katie Rutledge – Offensive Player of the Year
Haley Hinshaw
Haley Richardson
Raven Rogers
Kaylee Skipper

Tennessee Softball Coaches Association All-Academic team
Haley Hinshaw
Ashlynn Morton
Kaylee Skipper
Tori Bell
Tatum Baldwin
Raven Rogers
Kasarah Scheller
Lauren Tomberlin

Morgan Jones of CHS basketball(file photo)

The Coffee County Lady Raider basketball team completed a busy week of camp action on Thursday at MTSU.  The Lady Raiders installed a diamond full court press on Thursday morning prior to heading to MTSU and it paid off.  The Lady Raiders forced 20 turnovers a game in a pair of wins against Trousdale County and Grundy County.

On Thursday, the Lady Raiders opened up with a 47 to 17 win over Trousdale County.  Jacie Vaughn led Coffee County in scoring with 12 points.  Bella Vinson and Alliyah Williams each added 9 points.  In the 52 to 25 win over Grundy County, Morgan Jones added the Lady Raiders in scoring as she netted 23 points.  Vinson added 13 points and Williams netted 12.

On Wednesday, the Lady Raiders played much improved basketball from Cumberland County but still  dropped a pair of games.  Taking on a pair of talented teams with just 6 varsity players, Coach Joe Pat Cope was pleased with his team’s performance against Lebanon and Stewarts Creek.  “I loved the way they competed”, said Cope as Coffee County led Stewarts Creek through 3 periods before falling by 5 points.  The Lady Raiders were led by Bella Vinson won netted 18 points.  The JV team captured a win on Wednesday against Warren County.

The Lady Raiders return to the court on Monday when they travel to Lebanon High School for a 2 day team camp. First game on Monday is at noon.  The Lady Raiders will finish their camp schedule on Friday, June 23rd with a team camp at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym.   Coach Cope will be a guest on Saturday’s Coffee Coaches Show to talk about the summer workouts so far.

After an offensive onslaught, the Pittsburgh Penguins are one win away from repeating as Stanley Cup champions. The Penguins hung six goals on the Predators in Game 5 on Thursday in a 6-0 shutout victory in Pittsburgh. The Penguins now have a 3-2 series lead.

Sidney Crosby came alive in Game 5, with three assists on the night. Phil Kessel and Evgeni Malkin also shone in the victory, as the pair each had two points.

It was all Penguins from puck drop onwards, as Justin Schultz got Pittsburgh on the board a minute and a half into the game on the power play. The shot snuck through Pekka Rinne for the Penguins first power play tally since Game 1.

Bryan Rust then doubled the Penguins lead 6:43 into the first period, with a wicked backhander that fooled Rinne.

The Penguins got one more past the Predators netminder in the first period, on Malkin’s 3-0 tally with 11 seconds to play. Rinne lasted just one period, as he allowed three goals on nine shots over 20 minutes of play.

Juuse Saros took over in net for the Predators for the final 40 minutes of the game.

In the middle of all the goals, Crosby and P.K. Subban’s antics came to a head on the ice. As the pair got tangled up behind the net, Crosby pushed Subban’s head into the ice, which garnered a pair of matching minors for both sides.

The Penguins increased their lead in the second period, as Conor Sheary put Pittsburgh up 4-0 just 1:19 into the second period on one of Saros’ first shots faced in the game.

Kessel’s 5-0 tally came seven minutes later, on a shot from the middle of the slot that caught Saros low glove side.

The Penguins capped off their offensive rally with their sixth goal with 3:20 left in the second period. Ron Hainsey got his second goal of the postseason on a tap-in at the side of the Predators cage.

Saros ended the evening with 11 saves on 14 shots. The Predators and Penguins both had 24 shots by game’s end.

Game 6 will be in Nashville on Sunday evening at 7 p.m.

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report

Matt Kemp’s RBI double capped a two-run first inning that set Phillies starter Ben Lively back and provided sufficient support to R.A. Dickey. The Braves’ knuckleballer completed his most impressive start of the season, leading Atlanta to a 3-1 win over the Phillies on Thursday night at SunTrust Park.

Dickey surrendered three hits without a walk, as he recorded a season-high eight strikeouts and limited the Phillies to one run over seven innings. Dickey gained comfort in the first inning when Nick Markakis and Kemp drove in runs against Lively, who allowed three earned runs over seven innings in his second career start.

Odubel Herrera’s leadoff double in the seventh inning positioned him to score on Maikel Franco’s two-out single. Tommy Joseph’s leadoff single in the second accounted for the only other hit surrendered by Dickey, who retired 15 straight before Herrera’s double.

Lively stranded two in the third inning and induced a double play after allowing consecutive singles to begin the fifth. But his attempt to escape again in the sixth evaporated when Matt Adams scored from first base on a Tyler Flowers double that left the bat at 110.9 mph and sailed over Herrera’s head in center field.

Joseph opened the second for the Phillies with a single and advanced to second base on a passed ball. After a Franco fly ball to center field moved Joseph to third, Dickey killed the threat with a Michael Saunders strikeout and Cameron Rupp’s popup. Dickey didn’t allow another Phillies batter to reach base until Herrera’s double in the seventh.

A pair of errors from Sounds second baseman, Joey Wendle, cost Nashville dearly as the Omaha Storm Chasers eked out a 4-2 victory Thursday night. The loss meant a series split for the Sounds who were seeking a third consecutive series win.

The first error of the evening from Wendle came in the first inning as he was playing in shallow right field with the shift on against left handed hitting first baseman Ryan O’Hearn was at the plate. The error allowed Ruben Sosa to come around to score to put Omaha out in front. Nashville responded with a run of its own in the next half inning as Renato Nunez doubled to begin the frame, advanced to third on a Matt Chapman single, and scored on a sacrifice fly from Jaff Decker.

After a pair of scoreless innings the Sounds lit up the scoreboard once again in the fifth inning. With one out Matt McBride, Ryan LaMarre, and Franklin Barreto all recorded singles to load the bases. Wendle then drove in the second run of the game for the Sounds on a groundout to the second baseman.

With two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, Raul Mondesi scorched a ground rule double to deep right field. Jorge Soler then stepped up to the plate and popped up a pitch just beyond the lip of the grass in shallow right field. Wendle camped underneath it but was unable to corral the pop up allowing Mondesi to score the tying run. The Storm Chasers plated the go-ahead run two batters later when Bubba Starling hit a soft line drive to center field.

Omaha added to its lead in the eighth inning when Garin Cecchini went deep off of Tyler Sturdevant to cap off the scoring.

Both starting pitchers were superb on the evening. Sounds starter, Corey Walter, allowed just one unearned run in 5 2/3 innings of work while striking out three Storm Chasers.Omaha hurler, Luke Farrell, lasted 6 1/3 innings and recorded ten punch outs and did not issue any free passes.

The Sounds did not go down without a fight. They brought the potential go-ahead run came up to the plate in the ninth inning after Decker and Ryan Lavarnway each reached on base hits to begin the frame. McBride struck out before LaMarre drew a walk to load the bases for Barreto. The Sounds’ shortstop popped out and with two outs Wendle stepped in. He cranked the ball to deep center field but it was run down at the warning track by Starling to preserve the win for Omaha.

Thursday night was the fourth career two-error game for Wendle and first since June 13, 2015 in a game at Oklahoma City.

For the Sounds it was just the second time in 26 games they suffered a defeat after having a lead through six innings.

The Sounds begin a three-game series against the Memphis Redbirds Friday night at AutoZone Park. Right-hander Paul Blackburn (4-5, 3.26) starts for Nashville against right-hander Mike Mayers (4-5, 4.73) for Omaha. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.