Category: Sports

A Daniel Ríos brace split amongst the two halves, coupled with a long-range Kharlton Belmar goal, powered Nashville Soccer Club to a huge three points with a 3-1 victory at Charlotte Independence on Saturday night. The points moved Nashville SC just two behind first place in the USL Championship’s Eastern Conference.

Nashville opened the scoring early in the 7’ minute with Ríos bagging his first of the night off a corner kick seemingly straight off the training ground. After numerous back and forth passes resulting from a Lebo Moloto corner, Taylor Washington threaded a pass through the defense to Ríos, who blasted the shot over the head of Charlotte keeper Brandon Miller. Miller was left frozen as the ball hit the top of the net.

Midway through the half, Charlotte found an equalizer on its first offensive chance from a scramble in the box, breaking Nashville SC’s 489-minute club-record shutout streak. Forward Enzo Martinez fired a long range shot through traffic, beating keeper Matt Pickens low to the right side of the net.

In the second half, Nashville flexed its offensive muscle as Alan Winn earned a penalty in 54’ minute. Ríos cooly converted two minute later from the spot to give the forward his second of the evening, his third multi-goal match in a NSC uniform and his 17th of the season.

In the 60’ minute, Belmar added a third from outside the box courtesy of a Matt LaGrassa pass. Belmar’s strike was on target and deflected just inside the far post to double the lead. Matt Pickens and the defense salted away the rest of the match to earn all three points.

Here are three takeaways from the win:

1) Six Straight Results

While Nashville’s shutout streak was broken in the match, the result streak stayed very much intact with the two-goal victory. It is the sixth straight result, five of those wins, for the Boys in Gold. In those six matches, Nashville has scored 13 goals and conceded just once in the longest such streak for any team challenging for the top spot in the East.

2) Ríos Keeps Pace

Daniel Ríos is hot on the heels of the USL Championship’s Golden Boot leader, Solomon Asante of Phoenix Rising FC. After Asante scored twice in Phoenix’s 4-2 win on Friday night, Ríos matched Asante on Saturday to remain just one behind him. Asante leads the league with 18 goals this season while Ríos has 17. Nashville’s leading goal scorer is in search of the Championship’s first-ever back-to-back 20 goal seasons after hitting an even 20 last year while on loan with North Carolina FC.

3) LaGrassa Starts, Lancaster Returns

Two of Nashville SC’s key pieces have missed significant time in the last six weeks following injuries suffered on July 6 in Nashville SC’s match at Louisville City FC. In the 3-1 victory on Saturday, Matt LaGrassa earned his first start since the injury, going 60 minutes before being subbed out. Forward Cameron Lancaster saw the field for the first time since his injury as a substitute coming on in the 85’ minute for Ríos. With a two-match week on tap next week, a healthy LaGrassa and Lancaster will be pertinent to Nashville’s continued success in August.

Up Next

Nashville SC will return to First Tennessee Park for a two-match homestand next week starting with an important matchup against New York Red Bulls II on Wednesday night. It is the replay of a game postponed following severe weather on June 26. The game will start fresh with a 0-0 scoreline and will go 90 full minutes. All final ticket holders to the match will be able to enter Wednesday’s match with the same ticket.

The Coffee County Middle School soccer team will host their 15th annual “Kickin Cancer Playday” on Saturday at CCMS.   Six varsity and 6 JV teams will be in action in the all-day event.  The first game is scheduled for 9 AM with the final game set to kick off at 3:30.  The tournament features 30 minute varsity and 20 minute JV games.

The CCMS varsity will play at 9 AM, and 2:50 PM.  The JV Lady Raiders will compete at 9:40 AM and 3:30 PM.  All games will be held at the CCMS soccer field behind the Coffee County Middle School.

The Manchester Youth Football League will get their Southern Middle Tennessee Youth Football Association(SMTYFA) season underway on Saturday at Carden-Jarrell Field.  Saturday’s action features a triple-header of games as Manchester plays host to Franklin County.  Due to expected high heat index readings in the afternoon, league officials have moved the starting times up on Saturday.  The Division 1 Raiders will take on Franklin County at 9 AM.  The Division 2 Raiders will kick off at 10:30 and the Division 3 team is set to get underway at noon.

The Coffee County Middle School volleyball team visited Tullahoma on Thursday for a good old-fashioned rivalry game.  In a match you heard here on Thunder Radio, the Lady Raiders rallied to capture a 3 set win.  Coffee Middle won by set scores of 12-25, 25-20 and 15-6 to improve to 2 and 0 on the season.

Coffee County got off to a rocky start as Tullahoma rolled off 9 straight points to break open a close first set.  The Lady Raiders went from trailing 9 to 7 to falling behind 18 to 7 giving Tullahoma a stranglehold on the first set.  In the 2^nd set, Coffee Middle rallied from a 19 to 17 deficit to score 8 of the last 9 points and force a decisive 3^rd set.  Tullahoma took an early 3 to 0 lead in the 3^rd set before Coffee County got 6 straight points to take the lead.  After Tullahoma tied the score at 6, Coffee County scored 9 straight points to capture the rivalry win.   The Lady Raiders got strong service games in their 2 set wins.  Savannah Cooper ripped a pair of aces in the final points of the 2^nd set and Katie Lawrence served 3 aces in the final 4 points of the 3^rd set to claim the match win.

Lawrence led the Lady Raiders in kills with 5 to go with 3 aces. Cooper led the team in aces with 5 and added 3 kills.  Cooper and Kurry Neel tied for the team lead in digs with 5.  Gracie Campbell led the Lady Raiders in assists with 11.

The Lady Raiders are back in action on Monday when they host conference foe Harris.  Monday’s match will be the home opener for the Lady Raiders.  First serve is scheduled for 5 PM.

Download the broadcast at: https://www.thunder1320.com/downloads/

The Coffee County CHS football team closed out the scrimmage portion of their preseason on Thursday night in Cleveland.   The Raiders visited Walker Valley for a “dress rehearsal” scrimmage featuring total game-like conditions including special teams.  Thanks to a huge 4^th quarter by the freshmen Red Raiders, Coffee County claimed a 37 to 26 win.

The starters played the entire first half and 1 series of the 2^nd half before coming out trailing 20-16.  Coffee County moved the ball well with the first team but a pair of penalties deep in scoring position robbed the Raiders of a pair of scoring opportunities.  C.J. Anthony and Marshall Haney had rushing touchdowns while Ethan Baker was credited with a safety when he forced the punter to kick the ball out of the back of the end zone.  Coach Doug Green called out the good play of Kelvin Verge who had some clutch catches at big moments in the game.  He also praised Colin Ward who had over 100 yards receiving.

The Red Raider freshmen came on to play the 4^th quarter against the Walker Valley JV.  The freshmen got 3 touchdowns in their limited minutes as Konor Heaton had a pair of scores and Tyler Luttrell added a score.

“I thought we threw and ran ball well” said Raider head coach Doug Greene.  “We need to do a better good communication on defense and we need to do a better job protecting the football” added Greene.

“(Friday) we will watch film and start polishing what we are doing as our complete focus turns to Franklin County.”  The Red Raiders open the regular season next Friday, August 23^rd, when they travel to Winchester to take on Franklin County.  Thunder Radio will once again be your exclusive home for Red Raider broadcasts.  The opening kick-off is set for 7 PM, our live pregame coverage gets underway at 6 PM.

The Coffee County CHS golf team welcomed Warren County and Grundy County to Willowbrook on Thursday for their home opener.  With neither opponent fielding a women’s team, the Red Raiders were the only Coffee County squad in action.  The Coffee County men defended their home course with a pair of wins in the 9 hole affair.  Coffee County outscored Warren County 173 to 178.  Grundy County was a distant 3^rd at 223.

Logan Hale and Chris Robinson carried the mantle for the Red Raiders as each shot matching 41’s for the low rounds of the day.  Chase Hancock carded a 44, David O’Connor had a 47 and Blake Perry fired a 54.

The win Improves Coffee County to 4 and 2 on the season.  The Raider golfers are back on the course on Monday when they welcome Tullahoma and Cannon County to Willowbrook for a 9 hole, three-way match.  That match will get underway at 4 PM.

The Coffee County CHS volleyball team closed out the scrimmage portion of their preseason on Thursday night welcoming Enrichment Fellowship of Tullahoma to the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym.  Coffee County dominated in the 3 set win by set scores of 25-6, 25-11 and 25-13.

“We played really well” said Red Raider head coach Andrew Taylor.  “Offensively, our ball control was outstanding.”  Coffee County attacked with a stunning 38.8% success rate on the night as they had 47 kills to only 7 hitting errors.  The Lady Raiders also captured 42 assists on those 47 kills signaling to the effectiveness of the passing game.

Amanda Mukai led the team in assists with 20.  Sydney Shipley had 4 digs for the Lady Raiders.  Lexi Bryan led the team in kills with 15 and was tied for the team lead in aces with 2.  Abigail Parker finished with 8 kills while Keelie Hillis added 7.

The Lady Raiders open the regular season on Monday night when they welcome old rival Tullahoma to “The Patch.”  First serve is set for 6 PM following the JV game.  Thunder Radio will be on hand to bring you the broadcast as part of the 1^st National Bank Hometown Sports Series.  Our live coverage will begin with the pregame show at 5:50.

The Temple Baptist Christian School volleyball team opened their season on the road on Thursday at Tunnel Hill, Georgia.  The Lady Eagles traveled to take on Dogwood Christian in a varsity/JV doubleheader.  Both Temple teams brought home wins to open the 2019 campaign.

The varsity Lady Eagles had little trouble dispatching the Lady Bulldogs as they won in straight sets.  The JV Eagles needed 3 sets to capture the 2 to 1 win.

The varsity Eagles were dominant in the win in Georgia as they won by set scores of 25-2, 25-6 and 25-7.    The JV Lady Eagles battled to a win by set scores of 25-22, 20-25 and 15-8.

The Lady Eagles will host their home opener on Tuesday when they welcome Shenandoah Baptist Academy of Cleveland to the E.C. Bailey Gym.  First serve is set for 4:30 PM

Joe Palumbo tossed six no-hit innings to lead the Nashville Sounds to a 4-2 win over the Omaha Storm Chasers in front of 9,727 fans at First Tennessee Park Thursday night. The southpaw’s brilliant outing was backed by three home runs from the offense.

The only baserunners Palumbo allowed came via walks. He issued a two-out walk in the first and a two-out walk in the fourth but escaped both innings with no damage. He struck out seven batters and threw 54 of his 81 pitches for strikes.

Jett Bandy fired up the offense in the second inning when he hit the first of three solo home runs by Nashville on the night. Bandy’s 10th of the season gave the Sounds a 1-0 lead.

Eli White hit the second home run of the night in the fourth. The solo shot of Omaha starter Jake Kalish was White’s 14th of the season and made it a 2-0 game.

Andy Ibanez and Ronald Guzman teamed up to put Nashville’s third run on the board in the fifth. Ibanez ripped a double to the gap in left-center and scored moments later when Guzman dropped a single into left field to extend the lead to 3-0. Guzman finished 3-for-4, his second three-hit game with Nashville.

Joe Barlow relieved Palumbo and allowed Omaha’s first hit of the night – a double off the bat of Erick Mejia to start the seventh. Chase d’Arnaud got the Storm Chasers on the board with a run-scoring groundout.

Nashville’s third blast of the game came off the red-hot bat of Nick Solak in the home half of the seventh. His solo homer to right-center gave the Sounds a 4-1 lead. Solak went 2-for-4 and extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a single in the third.

Barlow went 1 2/3 innings and Jake Petricka and Reed Garrett worked the final 1 1/3 to lock in the win.

Game two of the four-game series is scheduled for Friday night at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Tim Dillard (7-8, 4.72) starts for Nashville against right-hander Arnaldo Hernandez (3-8, 7.36) for Omaha. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Post-Game Notes

– With the 4-2 win, the Sounds improved to 54-66 in 2019.

– Joe Palumbo tossed six no-hit innings and picked up his third win of the season (6.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K).

– Jett Bandy’s home run in the second inning extended Nashville’s home run streak to 16 games. Eli White and Nick Solak later homered to give the Sounds 30 in the 16-game stretch.

– Nick Solak extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a single in the third inning. Solak is hitting .433 (26-for-60) with 12 runs scored, 4 doubles, 6 home runs and 18 RBI during the streak.

– The two hits allowed by Nashville tied their season-low (June 12 vs. Las Vegas).

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.