Thunder Radio takes seriously our commitment to being your hometown radio station. With that in mind, we are pleased to announce a tentative lineup for exclusive coverage of Coffee County Central High School baseball and softball broadcasts. 2018 marks the 20th year that Thunder Radio has been your eyes and ears for spring sports.
Thunder Radio’s unrivaled coverage will bring you at least 20 regular season games, plus selected postseason games for the Raiders and Lady Raiders. Lucky Knott, the voice of the Raiders and Lady Raiders for most of the past 20 years, will again lend his talents and passion to Thunder Radio’s exclusive broadcasts. Also, the Thunder Radio sports staff will keep you updated with daily reports on all spring sports all season long as part of our daily sports updates online and in our sports broadcasts.
Our broadcasts will begin on Monday, March 12th with Coffee County softball at home vs. Franklin County. And, as always is the case with spring sports, when weather forces cancellations and postponements, Thunder Radio will keep you updated on that as well. For more than complete prep sports coverage, remember, nobody does sports like Thunder Radio!
They came back to salvage a point, but the Nashville Predators ultimately fell to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2, in a shootout on Wednesday night at the Air Canada Centre. The result snaps Nashville’s three-game win streak but still gives them points in 12 of their last 13 games.
It’s also the second consecutive game that has seen Nashville come back from multi-goal deficit to record at least a point, an impressive showing of resilience, but they simply ended up on the wrong side of the shootout in Toronto.
Maple Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen starred on the night, making 44 saves in total (and six more in the shootout) to give his team the win.
“Their goalie played really well,” Predators Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “I thought we got going in the second period and third period and had lots of looks, lots of opportunities, but their goalie played really well tonight. You have to give him credit, but it’s tough. You battle back in a game like that and goes to a shootout and you lose, so it’s not that you’re completely disappointed with the way you played, but you hate the result at the end of the night.”
“We created a lot of chances and Andersen played a really strong game and gave them a chance,” Preds goaltender Pekka Rinne said. “We’ll take that point, but anytime you play a good game like that, it’s disappointing to lose.”
James van Riemsdyk gave Toronto a 1-0 lead after one period of play, and Kasperi Kapanen extended the lead to two when he beat Rinne for a shorthanded marker in the second stanza. But before the middle period was out, Colton Sissons capitalized to sneak one past Andersen to get the Preds on the board and give them life heading into the third.
In fact, it took just 25 seconds into the final frame for Viktor Arvidsson to wire home his team-leading 18th of the season, and the Preds continued to pellet pucks at Andersen, but he continued to turn the Preds aside through the rest of regulation and overtime.
Ryan Ellis scored for the Preds in the seven-round shootout, but Andersen ended it when he stopped Arvidsson to finish the night.
From here, the Predators head to Ottawa to face the Senators on Thursday night in the second half of the back-to-back set in Ontario, with Kyle Turris set to make his return to the Canadian capital.
And while the Preds will hope to have a lead heading into the third period this time around, recent events have shown they might just find a way no matter what happens.
“We’re sticking to our game plan and not trying to change too much,” Rinne said. “We kept playing like we were playing and that worked for us. Even after that tying goal we had a few really good chances and just couldn’t bury them.”
Notes:
Predators forward Calle Jarnkrok skated in his 300th career game on Wednesday in Toronto.
Ryan Ellis recorded a helper on Colton Sissons’s goal and is now one assist away from 100 in his NHL career.
Nashville’s eastern Canada swing continues on Thursday when Kyle Turris returns to Ottawa to face his former club for the first time (at 6:30 p.m. CT). The Preds then wrap things up on Saturday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
Garrett Booth of CHS basketball[Photo by Demarco Moore – Manchester Times]
Playing their 1st home game since January 9th, the Raider and Lady Raider basketball teams welcomed Franklin County to The Patch on Tuesday night for a district doubleheader. The Lady Raiders won their 6th straight game 61 to 45. The Red Raiders broke their 4 game district losing streak with a 64 to 44 victory.
In a physical girls’ game, Coffee County was able to limit the turnovers in the 2nd half to build a 7 point halftime lead into 20 points in the 4th quarter. The Lady Raiders guaranteed a berth in the region tournament with the win over the Rebelettes.
Bella Vinson led Coffee County in scoring with 19 points while Jacey Vaughn added 18 points. Alliiyah Williams finished with 8 points and 6 blocked shots to be named the Crazy Daisies player of the game. The Lady Raiders improved to 22 and 2 overall and 9 and 1 in district play.
After averaging just 38 points a game in their 4 game district losing streak, the Red Raiders finally got their offense on track on Tuesday. Racing out to a 9 to 0 lead before Franklin County could score, the Raiders carried a 14 to 3 lead into the 2nd period. Franklin County was not able to carve the deficit below 10 points the rest of the night as the Raiders improved to 14 and 8 on the year and 6 and 4 in district play.
Garrett Booth led the Raiders in scoring with 21 points including five 3 pointers to earn the Crazy Daisies player of the game honor. Darius Rozier chipped in 11 points while brother De’Aaron Rozier finished with 7. Grey Riddle had 6 points as 10 Red Raiders scored on the night.
Coffee County returns home on Friday night when they welcome Shelbyville to the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym. The girls’ game will tip off at 6 PM. Friday night will also be Senior Night as it will be the final home game of the year for Coffee County. Thunder Radio begins live coverage with the Powers Storage Pregame Show at 5:50.
The Coffee County Claybusters were back in action on Saturday for an AIM shooting event at Big Springs in Christiana. In the Junior Division, Class A&B; the Claybusters #1 team won their classification over Riverdale. In the Sub-Junior Division, the Claybusters got a clean sweep as the Claybusters #2 team beat out the Claybusters #3 team for the title.
In the Junior Division, Austin Schaller of Coffee County won the individual title shattering 96 clay targets out of 100. Alexus Stacey won the Lady Shooter title as she hit 96 targets out of 100. In the sub-juniors, Tucker Carlton of Coffee County was the champion has he hit 97 targets to edge teammate Logan Meadows who shattered 96 targets.
The Claybusters had a total of 8 shooters hit 90 or more targets on the day. In addition to Schaller, Stacey, Carlton and Meadows; Hayden Jacobs hit 91 targets while Victoria Majors, Cheyenne Martin and Emma Mathews all hit 90 targets.
The Claybusters are back in action on Saturday when they compete in an individual shoot. That shoot will take place at the Highland Rim Shooters Club in Tullahoma.
One year after welcoming Bartolo Colon and R.A. Dickey to Spring Training, the Braves open their camp to a multitude of highly touted prospects, many of whom were not yet born when the aforementioned former Cy Young Award winners began their respective careers.
Youth will certainly garner much of the focus, as the Braves will welcome eight of their Top 10 prospects, including each of their top four, to their big league Spring Training this year. Seven of those players rank among MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 prospects and the other — Cristian Pache — just missed being placed on this illustrious list.
Ronald Acuna, who ranks as MLB Pipeline’s No. 2 overall prospect, headlines the talented young crop that will come to Braves camp looking to either secure a job or show how close they might be to getting a call to the big leagues. The other members of the Top 100 coming to camp include right-handers Kyle Wright (ranked 30th) and Mike Soroka (31st); left-handers Luiz Gohara (49th), Kolby Allard (58th); and Max Fried (83rd) and third baseman Austin Riley (97th).
“Everybody is excited about our young players,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “We’ve been talking about them for how long? Now, all of the sudden, they show up and I want to see them go.”
Wright, who was taken fifth overall out of Vanderbilt in last summer’s Draft, will be experiencing Spring Training for the first time. Acuna was used as an extra in some Grapefruit League games last year, but he’ll join Soroka, Gohara, Allard and Riley as newcomers to the big league side of camp.
Fried is the Braves’ only representative on the Top 100 list who was in big league camp last year. The 24-year-old southpaw stands with Wright as the only members of this group who were born before the Braves won the 1995 World Series.
Wright was born 26 days before Tom Glavine tossed his gem, David Justice homered and Mark Wohlers induced the Carlos Baerga fly ball that Marquis Grissom snared in left-center field to provide Atlanta its only World Series title.
“I always used to tell Chipper [Jones], ‘I can’t wait until you guys get your two at-bats so we could get our young guys a chance to play in those Spring Training games,'” Snitker said. “You knew what the [veterans] were going to do, but it’s the young players who make it exciting.”
Gohara began last season with Class A Advanced Florida and ended it with a five-start stretch at the big league level that left a good impression on Freddie Freeman, Snitker and many members of the Braves’ organization. The big southpaw is a favorite to win one of what appears to be two available rotation spots.
Fried was called up to the Majors from Double-A Mississippi in August and was given a chance to make four starts in September. There’s a chance he could win a rotation spot, but it seems more likely he’ll start the season with Triple-A Gwinnett and continue his development.
With just 17 professional innings under his belt, Wright will likely begin this season with Florida or Mississippi. Soroka and Allard successfully skipped the Class A Advanced level last year and now seem destined to open this year with Gwinnett. Both have the potential to join Atlanta’s rotation at some point this summer.
Johansen scored with 42 second to play in regulation before Josi won it in overtime, as the Nashville Predators came back to defeat the New York Islanders by a 5-4 final on Monday night at Barclays Center. It’s Nashville’s third consecutive victory, and the first time they’ve come back to win a game this season when trailing after two periods of play.
The Predators entered the third period down 4-3, but several monstrous saves from Pekka Rinne kept Nashville in it, and then sustained pressure with the goaltender pulled in the final two minutes led to Johansen roofing the puck off a rebound to force OT.
Then Josi found a way, just as the Preds have done 32 times this season.
“I thought we played a pretty good game,” Josi said. “We showed a lot of character just staying with it and not getting frustrated and got rewarded at the end.”
“If you didn’t care who [won] you’d probably like the overtime,” Nashville Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “I’m glad we won. It’s something we’ve been working on a lot and talking about a lot. So, it was good. But they certainly had some looks, we had some good chances. It was exciting.”
John Tavares got the home team on the board first with a power-play goal, but two strikes from Fiala in less than two minutes gave the Preds a 2-1 lead midway through the first period. Before the opening frame was out, however, Ryan Pulock and Casey Cizikas put the Islanders back in front.
The Islanders then went up 4-2 early in the second, but Preds kept putting shots at the net in the stanza, and Calle Jarnkrok deposited his 11th of the season after a scrum in front to cut the New York lead to one after 40 minutes of play.
After what Rinne admitted was a “frustrating” start, the netminder made save after save before the last-minute score, but none of his 24 saves was bigger than his lunge across the crease to rob Mathew Barzal point blank with the leather.
And before long, Josi capitalized on a rebound to give the Preds wins in 10 of their last 12 games, not a bad start to the four-game trip.
“I thought that going into the third, we had played such a strong game and we were down pretty much because of me and couple weak goals,” Rinne said. “But I have to say that last three games we’ve played such good hockey and tonight was no different. I thought that we created a ton of chances… and obviously a big relief seeing Josi’s OT goal go in.”
Rinne Rebound:
Allowing four goals in the game’s first 24 minutes is hardly characteristic for Pekka Rinne.
But all of a sudden, the veteran netminder found a way to reverse course. And instead of letting the frustration get to him, he channeled it to record his eighth consecutive victory with some of his most impressive saves of the season, none better than the lunge in overtime.
For a team that thrives on their goaltender, the Preds certainly had plenty of motivation to tie the game, and then eventually win it – but that’s just another night in the crease for Rinne, who somehow ended up being the star by night’s end.
“We owed Peks one of those games,” Johansen said. “He’s had our back all year and he’s been phenomenal. He’s definitely given himself a case for the Vezina [Trophy], in my opinion. We have the utmost trust in him. For him to keep his composure and play like he did in the third and overtime, that’s impressive as a teammate to watch.”
“At the end of the day, when that game’s hanging on at 4-3, and he made two, three, four of those big saves that he did – maybe five I don’t know – that gave us an opportunity,” Laviolette said. “Again, to hang in there, to get to that two-minute point where we could pull the goalie and ultimately score the goal.”
Notes:
With an assist on Kevin Fiala’s first goal, Kyle Turris collected his 200th assist in the NHL.
Nick Bonino recorded an assist on Fiala’s second goal, his 200th NHL point.
Nashville’s four-game trip continues on Wednesday in Toronto before meeting the Senators on Thursday and Montreal on Saturday.
The NHL Department of Player Safety announced Predators winger Filip Forsberg will be suspended three games for his hit on Rangers forward Jimmy Vesey.
The Department said Forsberg delivered a “late, high hit causing an injury” to Vesey during Saturday’s game.
Playing their 7th straight road game, the Raider and Lady Raider basketball teams traveled to Tullahoma on Friday night for a district doubleheader. Both teams held 6 game winning streaks in the rivalry with the Wildcats. The Lady Raiders improved that streak to 7 games with a 53 to 44 win. The Red Raiders saw their streak come to an end in a 35 to 31 defeat.
The Lady Raiders jumped out to a 9 to 0 lead on Tullahoma in the first quarter to set the tone for the game. Coffee County was able to build a 13 point lead at the 4 minute mark of the 4th quarter but could not put the Lady Cats away until the closing seconds. Bella Vinson led Coffee County in scoring with 23 points including 8 free throws in the final period. Abby Morgan notched 14 points on the night, all coming in the 2nd half, including three First National Bank 3 pointers. Jacey Vaughn had 7 points and Jenna Garretson added 6 points as the Lady Raiders improved to 21 and 2 on the year and 8 and 1 in district play. Vinson and Morgan were named the Crazy Daisies co-players of the game.
The Red Raiders struggled again at the free throw line as they were 3 of 16 at the line for the game. But it was 3 turnovers in the final minute that sealed the Red Raiders fate against the Cats. It was a back and forth boys’ contest that saw the lead change hands 4 times in the last 68 seconds. De’Aaron Rozier led Coffee County in scoring with 12 points as he earned the Crazy Daisies player of the game honor. Grey Riddle finished with 9 points and Darius Rozier chipped in 8 points as Coffee County falls to 13 and 8 on the year and 5 and 4 in the district.
Coffee County returns home on Tuesday night when they welcome Franklin County to the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym. The girls’ game will tip off at 6 PM. Thunder Radio begins live coverage with the Char-El Apartments and Home Rental Pregame Show at 5:50.
Kevin Fiala scored twice and the Nashville Predators defeated the New York Rangers by a 5-2 final on Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena. It’s Nashville’s second consecutive victory, giving them points in 10 of their last 11 outings and putting them just two points out of the Central Division lead with three games in hand.
Much like Thursday’s blasting of the Los Angeles Kings, the Preds put up five goals again and fed off the energy of the sold-out Bridgestone Arena crowd – with a record-setting 17,543 fans in attendance. And almost all of them went out into the night pleased with the result.
“I thought for 120 minutes it was pretty good, pretty consistent,” Predators Head Coach Peter Laviolette said of his club’s last two games. “The guys were playing hard. We rolled the lines and rolled the D and had good goaltending.”
“I felt like we were ready to play tonight,” Nashville forward Colton Sissons said. “We played fast and we played with energy and played a pretty smart game.”
After a scoreless opening period, it took P.K. Subban 19 seconds into the middle frame to blast home his 13th tally of the season for a 1-0 Predators lead. Then, after Nashville elected to challenge a Rangers goal for offside – and succeeded yet again – Kevin Fiala beat Henrik Lundqvist before the stanza was out for his 14th of the campaign and a two-goal advantage after 40 minutes.
The second period also brought a bit of animosity – big hits and a scrap between Ryan Johansen and Brady Skjei – events that gave even more life to the Nashville bench.
“It gets the bad blood going a little bit… and you want it a little bit more when it gets like that,” Sissons said of the physicality. “It only made it a better hockey game tonight.”
“Yeah, there was a couple hits in there,” Predators forward Filip Forsberg smiled. “It was fun. As I said, they came out and wanted to be physical and I think we matched that, and points are important.”
The Rangers tallied twice on the power play in the third period, but the Predators struck back almost instantly on both occasions, refusing to let the Rangers even the score. Sissons and Viktor Arvidsson played the role of dream-crushers before Fiala added an empty-net marker to seal it.
Pekka Rinne continued to shine in net, making 20 saves for his 26th win of the season to give him a perfect 7-0-0 mark in his last seven decisions – as well as set the second longest shutout streak in franchise history at 171:47.
And with that, the Predators keep on finding ways to win, good news before embarking on a four-game trip out east that is sure to provide plenty of challenges.
Anything You Can Do…:
It took the Rangers just 21 seconds into the third period to cut Nashville’s lead to 2-1. That goal could’ve easily given New York all the energy necessary to mount a comeback. But Colton Sissons answered.
The Rangers did it again with less than six minutes to play – a power-play goal to cut the lead to one. But 16 seconds later, Viktor Arvidsson struck.
Sissons admitted it wasn’t the best third period for the home club, but the responses deflated the New York bench, and each time they thought they had something going, the team in Gold, and the crowd behind them, squashed all hope of the visitors salvaging a point.
“Really big to answer like that,” Laviolette said. “I don’t like the fact that we took three penalties in the third period. Right away, we had to play in the defensive zone and were taking shots. We had done a pretty good job staying out of the box. To go there three times is not good. That could cost us, but it didn’t. We were able to answer and come back with big goals right after they scored.”
It’s been a theme this season across Nashville’s 31 victories – just find a way to be on the right side of the ledger at the final horn. And much like the previous 30 occasions, they did just that.
“Oh it’s huge,” Forsberg said of the third-period goals. “We obviously know how it feels when they score a goal. You’re about to come back and the other team gets one right away, it kind of sucks the life out of you and we did that twice… I think that was the key for sure.”
Notes:
With his goal on Saturday, P.K. Subban continues to average over a point per game over his last 21 contests, tallying nine goals and 13 assists for 22 points since Dec. 13. Subban is one of three NHL defensemen to lead his team in points.
Nashville has scored five goals in two-straight games; tonight is also the 10th time this season they’ve scored at least five.
The Predators will now head out for a four-game trip, beginning on Monday night in Brooklyn against the New York Islanders. Nashville will then jet off to Canada for contests in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal to round out the excursion.
Members of the 2018 Motlow Lady Bucks softball team, front row from left: Ace Hanson, Nikita McCreary, Kendall Durard, Sarah Wilson and Breanna Owens. Second row from left: Ariel McAtee, Kylie Thackerson, Miranda Cooksey, Caroline Sarris, Madison Hopkins and Madison Woodruff. Back row from left: Emily Parks, Haley Hinshaw, Chelbie Gannon, Samantha King, Ciera Dobbins, Annsley Kalamon and Jennifer Corbitt. [Photo by Jeff Reed Photography]
Head Coach Janice Morey enters her third season at the helm of the Motlow Lady Bucks with five returning sophomores, one transfer sophomore, and 12 freshmen on her 2018 softball roster.
The Lady Bucks will open the season Tuesday, Feb. 6, with a 1 p.m. doubleheader against Northeast Mississippi in Booneville, Miss. Following a trip to Meridian, Miss., and a conference-opening road trip to defending champion Chattanooga State, Motlow will play its first home game on Tuesday, Mar. 6, against visiting non-conference opponent Calhoun from Decatur, Ala.
Morey will lean on her returning sophomores heavily to provide leadership and production, especially in the early going as the freshmen get accustomed to the college game.
“Breanna Owens, Sarah Wilson and Ciera Dobbins return to the infield, while Chelbie Gannon and Miranda Cooksey return in the outfield,” said Morey. “The addition of a local familiar face to the sophomore list, Mattie Woodruff, is expected to contribute to our team in big ways both offensively and defensively.”
The Lady Bucks’ leading returning hitter is Fayetteville’s Owens, who garnered 141 at bats last season and hit .298 with 11 doubles, 16 runs batted in and six stolen bases. Owens also went 6-16 in the circle in 2017 with a 5.51 earned run average and 57 strikeouts in 128 innings pitched.
Lewisburg native Cooksey returns after getting 107 plate appearances and hitting .252 with nine doubles, two home runs and 15 RBI. Shelbyville’s Gannon hit .240 with seven doubles and 14 RBI, and LaVergne’s Dobbins hit .220 in 132 at-bats with five doubles and nine RBI. Sparta’s Wilson returns in the circle, where she went 5-16 with a 6.23 earned run average in 139 innings.
Rutherford County native Woodruff has joined the Lady Bucks as a sophomore after a stellar prep career at Riverdale High School, where she was named Region 7-AAA Most Valuable Player following her senior season.
There remains a lot of playing time available and a significant amount of expectation on the incoming freshmen. Coach Morey is excited to add to her pitching staff and to add more speed to this year’s squad.
“A pair of freshman pitchers, Samantha King and Kendall Durard, should definitely contribute to the existing pitching staff in a positive way for us,” added Morey. “Having speed on the bases will be new for us as Kylie Thackerson, Ariel McAtee and Ace Hanson all bring that element to our team.”
Madison Hopkins is from Lewisburg and played at Cornersville, Haley Hinshaw was a member of the standout program at Coffee County, and McAtee played at Stewarts Creek High School in Smyrna.
Thackerson was a standout at Scottsboro High School just across the state line, Jennifer Corbitt comes west after playing at Bradley Central, and Morey picked up a pair of players from Hendersonville in Hanson and Annsley Kalamon.
Caroline Sarris came the farthest to wear the green gold after attending Kell High School in Acworth, Ga. Morey continues to sign some of the area’s best players, including Durard from Shelbyville and Emily Parks, who played her prep ball at Moore County.
Perhaps the most heralded freshman is standout pitcher King, who played at Forrest High School in Chapel Hill. She pitched the Lady Rockets to the Class A state championship game and was named all-state after her senior season.
The Lady Bucks were barraged with injuries and attrition in 2017 and finished the season with a 13-35 record and an early exit from the TCCAA tournament. In Morey’s first season, her Lady Bucks sported a 28-24 mark and played into the third round of the conference tournament. This year’s TCCAA tournament will be held at Chattanooga State beginning May 6.
