Sarah Pearson clears a hurdle in Monday’s TSSAA state pentathlon at MTSU.

After hitting a hurdle in her first pentathlon event, then scratching on her first 2 long jumps, Sarah Pearson saw herself in next to last place at Monday’s TSSAA state pentathlon.  But the junior, in her 3^rd trip to the state pentathlon, was able to handle the pressure and rally in the final 3 events to capture a Top 10 finish.  Pearson ended up setting season best marks in the high jump, shot put and 800M to finish in 10^th place.

Coach Nathan Wanuch was proud of Pearson commending her for “fighting valiantly through injuries.”  He went on to say, “it speaks volumes about her talent to put up that kind of performance in spite of the pain and the lack of practice time in the jumping events.”  Pearson was happy with her performance in the final 2 events as she set new personal records (PR’s) while also setting her sights on a return next season.  After the event, Pearson had this to say:

Sarah Pearson clears 4′ 10″ in the high jump in Monday’s TSSAA state pentathlon at MTSU.

Pearson ran a time of 16.78 in 100M hurdles and she jumped 14’10.75” in the long jump.  Pearson captured a 4^th place event finish in the high jump as she cleared 4’ 10” and a third place finish in the shot put with a new personal record 30’ 10 ¼”.  In the 800M run, Pearson finished with a time of 2:34.15.

Pearson returns to MTSU’s Dean Hayes Track on Thursday, along with teammate Karson Young, for the girls’ individual finals.  Pearson will run in the 300M hurdles while Young will compete in the 100M hurdles, the long jump, the triple jump and the high jump.  The day’s events will get underway at 9 AM.  For a complete schedule, visit:  http://tssaa.org/2017-tssaa-state-track-meet-schedule/

The Nashville Predators receive the Campbell Bowl as the NHL Western Conference champions[Photo courtesy of Nashville Predators]

Colton Sissons recorded a hat trick and the Preds defeated the Anaheim Ducks by a 6-3 final in Game Six to advance to their first Stanley Cup Final in franchise history. It’s undoubtedly the most monumental victory the team has ever had, and although they’re not done yet, they’re going to enjoy this one for the night.

“It’s a dream come true,” goaltender Pekka Rinne said. “But it’s a funny thing, though. With everything that’s happening around us, you still feel hungry, and now we have a chance to play for the Cup. It’s a pretty amazing feeling. And you’ve been working for that for a long, long time.”

Game Six couldn’t have started any better for the Preds, as Austin Watson threw a puck at the net just 1:21 into the contest, and the shot found its way off an Anaheim defender and past Jonathan Bernier for a 1-0 Nashville lead. Sissons doubled that number at the 8:47 mark, wiring a shot into the twine to give the Preds a 2-0 advantage after one period.

Despite the score, it was Anaheim who carried the play for the majority of the first two periods, and they cut the lead in half early in the second when Ondrej Kase slid a puck into a yawning cage past Pekka Rinne to get the Ducks on the board, a score that stood after 40 minutes.

Once the third period began, Sissons took over. First, he banged home a loose puck in the front of the net, and after Anaheim battled back to tie the game at three, it was Sissons again, this time one-timing home a feed from Calle Jarnkrok to put the Preds up for good. Empty-net goals from Filip Forsberg and Austin Watson sealed it, and as the clock ticked down to zero, the Predators players made a beeline for their goaltender, the last team standing in the Western Conference.

“We started the year with all belief in this team to be able to go and try and win a Stanley Cup,” forward James Neal said. “Every single team says that and starts their journey through the regular season into the playoffs and so many teams make it to the playoffs and get a chance to play, and now we’re down to two. You love every guy in this dressing room, and what an unbelievable job they did tonight.”

To clinch it is one thing. But to do it at home, in front of the fans who have played such a key role in the team’s success, not only on this run, but from Day One of the franchise – that’s even better.

“Nashville has really taken on a life of its own,” Predators Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “I think the downtown and the energy that’s down here, I think our fans who have been so supportive for so many years, especially the last couple of years in the playoff runs that we’ve had, the energy that they bring into the building, and you guys see it just like we feel it on the bench. It goes to a level that I’m not sure goes anywhere else in the National Hockey League. And it’s a great relationship. Our fan base and our team is a terrific relationship, and they were there again for us tonight. It wasn’t our prettiest game out there. And they were right there with us the whole time.”

With their win in Game Six on Monday, the Predators captured their first Western Conference championship in franchise history. But that’s not the end goal. And now they’ll play for the sport’s ultimate prize.

“I’ve said it earlier in the playoffs that this team has a tremendous amount of composure; there’s so much confidence in this dressing room of what we can accomplish together if we play the right way,” defenseman P.K. Subban said. “Today maybe we didn’t get the start that we wanted, we got a couple of goals early but we still didn’t feel that we were playing our best hockey. But good teams find a way and we found a way.”

It’s moments like these where names became those of the household variety, and Colton Sissons’ hat trick in Game Six will do a world of good in adding his name to that list.

“It feels good; I’m not going to lie,” Sissons said. “I don’t think I even dreamt of this moment, scoring a hat trick in a Western Conference-clinching game. I can’t speak enough for just our whole group. We’ve been through some challenges together and we stuck together no matter what, just believed and here we are.”

The Predators will be jetting off to either Ottawa or Pittsburgh before May 29 in time for Game One of the Stanley Cup Final.

But no matter the opponent, no matter the venue, the Predators are Western Conference Champions. And no one can ever take that away.

“It’s almost like a thing you don’t want to think about too much,” Rinne said. “You have been holding it back, and in the back of your head you’ve been thinking about the Final, and then when the buzzer goes off, it’s an amazing feeling.”

Notes:

With his goal in the third period, Filip Forsberg recorded his 14th career postseason tally to become Nashville’s all-time leading goal scorer in the postseason.

Game One of the 2017 Stanley Cup Final is set for Monday, May 29 in either Ottawa or Pittsburgh. Game Two comes May 31 before the series will shift to Nashville for Games Three and Four on June 3 and 5, respectively.

Pete Weber’s call of the final seconds

Mike Foltynewicz bested Gerrit Cole through the first five innings and Ender Inciarte recorded a career-best five hits as the Braves received another stellar effort from their bullpen during Monday night’s 5-2 win over the Pirates at SunTrust Park.

Brandon Phillips belted his 200th career home run during a two-run third inning, and Matt Adams hit his first home run with the Braves to cap a three-run fifth inning against Cole, who allowed five earned runs for the first time since Opening Day and surrendered a season-high 10 hits over 4 2/3 innings. The Pirates’ ace entered having allowed two earned runs or fewer in each of his past seven starts.
“Their ability to put the bat on the ball tonight was very good,” Cole said. “I definitely made my fair share of mistakes in pitch selection and execution. They did a good job — a handful of broken bats fell for hits, a lot of screamers either at guys or in the gap.”
Foltynewicz allowed just one run through the first five innings, but exited after John Jaso’s RBI single accounted for the Pirates’ third consecutive hit to begin the sixth inning. Jason Motte entered and promptly retired three straight to strand runners at the corners and highlight the efforts of the recently stingy Braves bullpen, which hasn’t allowed a run in its past 20 1/3 innings or a hit over its past 15 1/3 innings.
“[Motte] is the player of the game,” Foltynewicz said after winning his third straight start. “It’s a very tough situation to put anybody in, with no outs and runners at the corners. To come out like that, that was the whole game right there. It’s awesome to see that. We’ve got one of the best bullpens in the game right now. So turning the ball over to any of them is no problem.”
After Josh Bell, Alen Hanson and Jaso chased Foltynewicz with three consecutive singles, the Braves called upon Motte, who hasn’t allowed a run over his past 10 1/3 innings. The former Cardinals closer recorded consecutive strikeouts of Francisco Cervelli and Jordy Mercer before inducing a Jose Osuna groundout that ended what proved to be the Pirates’ final threat.
“That’s a big situation; you’ve got the tying run up,” Motte said. “I was just coming in to try and leave it where it was. I came in trying to make my pitches, and I was able to do so and keep the ballgame where it was.”
Proving yet again the value of his production in the leadoff spot, Inciarte matched his previous career-best hit total through his first four plate appearances, then secured his first five-hit game with an eighth-inning single. His third-inning RBI single accounted for Atlanta’s first run, and his fifth-inning leadoff single helped extend that frame long enough for the recently acquired Adams to hit a two-run homer that traveled a projected 390 feet, per Statcast™.
“Inciarte just had a really good evening,” Cole said. “He was able to spoil a bunch of pitches in the first and had good at-bats throughout the game.”
Jim Johnson induces a groundout from Josh Harrison to secure the save in the Braves’ 5-2 victory over the Pirates
R.A. Dickey will take the mound when Atlanta and Pittsburgh resume the series Tuesday night. The knuckleballer has allowed eight home runs at home in 30 1/3 innings pitched.

Daniel Gossett dealt and the offense mashed as the Sounds capped off their eight-game road trip with a 9-3 handling of the Sacramento River Cats.

Gossett (2-4, 3.89) was spectacular as he mowed through the River Cats (16-27) line up to the tune of eight shutout innings including retiring the final 14 batters he faced. He needed just 91 pitches to get through a career-high eight innings and struck out six River Cats along the way while yielding just four singles.

Everyone got in on the action for the Sounds (20-19) offensively. All nine batters recorded a base hit and came around to score. For the second straight game Matt Olson did the heavy lifting as he drove in four of the nine runs on the night for the Sounds. Over the eight games in California Olson drove home 13 runs including seven in the final two games.

Like the previous seven games on the road trip the Sounds opened up the scoring. Chris Parmelee got the third inning started by roping a base hit into right field followed by singles from Kenny Wilson and Jaycob Brugman. The run scoring single for Brugman extended his hitting streak to ten games, which matches a career-long. With runners on the corners, Olson flexed his muscles and took the ball over the fence the opposite way to make it 4-0 Sounds.

Matt Chapman stayed hot in the fourth inning by leading off with a solo dinger, his ninth of the season, all of which have come in the month of May. Joey Wendle launched a two-run blast in the fifth inning to give the Sounds three homers on the night. Monday night’s trio of home runs gave the Sounds seven multi-home run games on the eight game road trip.

The River Cats avoided being blanked on back-to-back nights with a two-out rally in the ninth inning off Aaron Kurcz. Ryder Jones doubled, Austin Slater was hit by a pitch, and Jae-Gyun Hwang took Kurcz deep to put up a three spot on the scoreboard.

The win puts Nashville above .500 for the first time since April 8 when the Sounds were 2-1 after defeating Round Rock. They had been right at .500 six times since then but were never able to get over the hump.

The Sounds went 6-2 on the road trip, outscored their opponents 64-23 and outhit them 88-58.

The Sounds begin a nine-game, eight-day home stand Tuesday night against the Omaha Storm Chasers. Right-hander Daniel Mengden (1-1, 3.38) starts for Nashville against right-hander Christian Binford (3-0, 1.80) for Omaha. First pitch is slated for 6:35 p.m.