Lauren Perry of Westwood soccer
The Westwood soccer team welcomed CTSC rival Huntland to Dyer-Bouldin Field on Thursday night for their 2nd conference match of the week. The Lady Rockets struggled to find the back of the net in a shutout loss to the Lady Hornets. Huntland dropped Westwood by a final score of 5 to 0.
The Lady Rockets are now off until Tuesday, September 5th when they play host to Fayetteville. That match will get underway at 5:30 PM.
The Nashville Sounds got a go-ahead single from Matt McBride in the sixth inning and never looked back in a 9-3 win over the Round Rock Express in front of 8,359 fans at First Tennessee Park Thursday night.
McBride’s base hit to left field snapped a 3-3 tie and was one of Nashville’s 15 knocks in the win over their American Southern Division rival.
The two teams exchanged two-run homers in the first two innings. Round Rock’s Will Middlebrooks launched a two-run blast off Nashville starter Daniel Mengden to give the Express a 2-0 lead in the first. Chris Carter returned the favor when he drilled a two-run homer off Express starter Dario Alvarez to even the game at 2-2.
Nashville grabbed a 3-2 lead in the third when Franklin Barreto drilled an RBI triple off the wall in deep left field. The lead didn’t last long as Round Rock’s Doug Bernier singled in a run in the fourth to make it 3-3.
Mengden tossed four innings before leaving in favor of Chris Bassitt. The reliever tossed two scoreless innings to help set the stage.
When Bassitt was finished for the night, the offense turned it on. Starting with McBride’s go-ahead base hit in the bottom of the sixth, Nashville scored two runs in the sixth, seventh, and eighth to take a comfortable 9-3 lead.
Nashville came up with nine hits in the final three innings and got dominant pitching from the bullpen as they pulled away.
Following Bassitt’s two innings, Sam Moll worked a perfect seventh, Raul Alcantara set the side down in order in the eighth, and Logan Bawcom did the same in the ninth. Nashville pitchers retired the final 13 Round Rock batters they faced.
Carter, Franklin Barreto, and Yairo Munoz had three hits apiece to lead the offensive charge. Every other hitter in the starting lineup contributed a hit.
Bassitt earned the win, his fourth of the season. Tyler Wagner was tagged with the loss after allowing two runs in two innings.
Game two of the four-game series is scheduled for Friday night at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Zach Neal (3-8, 5.47) starts for the Sounds against right-hander David Ledbetter (3-3, 4.18) for the Express. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
The Coffee County Claybusters are getting set to begin another season and are looking for interested middle school and high school student-athletes. This state and national championship clay target team is the official Coffee County school sport program that excels at trap and skeet shooting competitions around the state.
Students in any of the local middle schools or high schools who might be interested in joining are asked to attend a pre-season meeting coming up on Wednesday, August 30th. The meeting will begin at 6 PM and will be held in the cafeteria of the Coffee County Middle School. Interested shooters AND their parents are both requested to attend. If you need more information, contact Scott Dickson at: Scott.Dickson@tn.gov
Kyle Seager (aka “Corey’s Brother” for Players Weekend) capped a five-run eighth inning with a three-run homer, sealing the Mariners’ 9-6 win over the Braves on Wednesday night at SunTrust Park.
Seager (3-for-5, four RBIs) extended the Mariners’ lead shortly after Taylor Motter — who replaced Robinson Cano after the star second baseman exited with left hamstring tightness — hit a go-ahead, two-run single off Braves reliever Jim Johnson. Johnson (6-3) allowed four runs without recording an out.
The Mariners, who collected 15 hits, are 1 1/2 games behind the Twins for the second American League Wild Card spot, pending the result of Minnesota’s game against the White Sox.
Mariners starter Erasmo Ramirez allowed three runs over six innings, retiring 14 of the last 17 batters he faced. He also had his first two career hits, the first being an RBI single in the second.
Freddie Freeman extended his hitting streak to 12 games with an RBI double and Nick Markakis added two RBIs to lead the Braves’ offense. Starter R.A. Dickey struggled with knuckleball command, allowing four runs on 11 hits over six innings.
Reid Lawrence of CHS golf
The CHS linksters welcomed Shelbyville to Willowbrook on Tuesday afternoon. The Red Raiders welcomed the Eagles for an 18 hole district match. Coffee County struggled to score in the match but was able to capture their 20th win by a team score of 328 to 346.
Austin Farris had the low round of the day for Coffee County as he shot an 80. Samuel Prater and Reid Lawrence carded matching 82’s. Josh Perry fired an 84 and Matthew Hale got around in 86 strokes. The JV team lost a 9 hole match to Shelbyville. The JV Red Raiders were led by Chris Robinson who shot a 49. Chase Hancock fired a 50, Blake Perry had a 56 and David O’Connor shot a 63.
After the match Coach Mike Ray stated “definitely not one of our better rounds of golf today; but we got the win and we best play better on Thursday when we take on Tullahoma.” The Red Raiders are back in action on Thursday when they travel to Tullahoma to take on the rival Wildcats. That match is set to get underway at 4 PM at Tullahoma’s Lakewood Country Club.
Patricia Barrera of Westwood soccer
The Westwood soccer team opened the 2017 season at Dyer-Bouldin Field on Tuesday evening. In a match you heard here on Thunder Radio as part of the 1st National Bank Hometown Sports Series, the Lady Rockets played host to Cascade. A hat trick by Cascade’s Ellie Chumbley proved to be the difference as Westwood fell 4 to 2 to the Lady Champions.
After a scoreless first 20 minutes, Cascade got on the board 3 times in the final 7 minutes of the half including a goal by Makenna Lamb as the halftime horn sounded to give Cascade the 3 to 0 lead at intermission. Westwood coach Donna Burdine made some adjustments at the half and got some more offensive pressure in the 2nd half as Patricia Barrera punched home a goal in the 49th minute unassisted. Chumbley answered one minute later with her 3rd goal to push the deficit back to 3. Despite the long odds, the Lady Rockets kept applying pressure notching their 2nd goal in the 53rd minute as Diana Ramirez scored on a feed from Barrera in the 53rd minute to close out the scoring. Westwood keeper Alanna Coker had 7 saves in net for the Rockets.
The Lady Rockets are back in action on Thursday evening as they host Huntland. That match is set to begin at 5:30 PM at Dyer-Bouldin Field. You can download a copy of the broadcast by visiting out downloads page at: http://www.thunder1320.com/downloads/
Alliyah Williams of CHS volleyball
The Coffee County CHS volleyball team hit the road on Tuesday night to take on non-district rival White County. Despite getting 30 kills and 8 service aces, errors in the hitting and service games caused the Lady Raiders to fall in 4 sets. Coffee County lost by set scores of 10-25, 25-16, 8-25 and 22-25.
Alliyah Williams had her best game of the year as she led the team in kills with 10 and aces with 3. Fellow senior Tyana Fenton led the team in digs with 23 while Williams added 8. Amanda Mukai led the Lady Raiders in assists with 23.
The Lady Raiders travel to Fayetteville on Thursday night for a huge district battle with Lincoln County. First serve is set for 6 PM at Lincoln County High School.
Carrying the confidence he gained while conquering Coors Field to record his first career win last week, rookie Lucas Sims subdued the Mariners’ powerful lineup and benefited from the two-hit performance Nick Markakis notched in the Braves’ 4-0 win on Tuesday night at SunTrust Park.
“He’s come a long way,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said of Sims, who has shown why he was once a top prospect. “He’s worked his tail off and had to work his way back up [through the Minors]. I told him last week, ‘You should feel good about this, because you’ve worked your butt off to get this opportunity.’ He’s doing well with it.”
Markakis homered to begin the fourth inning and added a fifth-inning RBI single to provide sufficient support to Sims, who scattered three hits over six scoreless innings. Making his fifth career start, the suburban Atlanta native pitched around Robinson Cano’s fourth-inning leadoff double and stranded a pair of runners when Yonder Alonso grounded out to end the top of the fifth.
“You like when it’s smooth sailing, but it’s not always going to be that way,” Sims said. “Leadoff doubles happen and leadoff homers happen. Obviously, you just try to minimize those the best you can. I’ve got a pretty good defense behind me. They were making some great plays. I was trusting them, executing the pitches and letting those guys go out and pick it for me.”
In dropping to two games back of the American League’s second Wild Card spot, the Mariners committed a pair of errors that led to their bullpen allowing a pair of unearned runs. Starting pitcher Marco Gonzales left a runner stranded in scoring position during each of the first three innings, but then allowed a run in both the fourth and fifth innings.
“We got to get him over the hump in the fifth inning, but certainly his stuff is good enough,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “Tonight was a challenge with how hot it was, and the fourth inning did take a little bit out of him.”
Markakis recorded just one home run through the first 467 at-bats recorded against a left-handed pitcher with the Braves. But his fourth-inning leadoff shot against Gonzales was his third homer within a span of 22 at-bats against southpaws. The veteran outfielder then greeted left-handed reliever James Pazos with a two-out RBI single in the fifth.
“It was a changeup,” Gonzales said of the home run. “It was not a bad pitch, but he reached out and got it before it broke. Hats off to him as he put a good swing on the ball and he got it out.”
After striking out on a 3-2 changeup with two on in the first inning, Markakis went to the plate in the fourth looking for the off-speed pitch.
“I was on the fastball, but I had the changeup on my mind,” Markakis said. “Luckily, he put it over the plate and I put a good swing on it.”
The Braves have made numerous baserunning mistakes during the first two games of this series, but they gained fortune after Ozzie Albies was hung out to dry after he rounded third base on Ender Inciarte’s sixth-inning infield single. When shortstop Jean Segura threw to third baseman Kyle Seager, Albies hit the brakes, realizing he could not score. Seager’s dropped throw from Mike Zunino during the ensuing rundown allowed Albies to dive headfirst across the plate and give the Braves a 3-0 lead.
“It was a crazy game and a crazy play in the game,” Servais said. “The runner came around third, and Segura did a nice job to throw behind, and we had them in a rundown. Zunino executed fine, but we just didn’t finish the play.”
Sims’ effort was just the fourth scoreless performance by a Braves starting pitcher at SunTrust Park. The others were provided by Mike Foltynewicz (June 7 vs. Philadelphia), R.A. Dickey (June 19 vs. San Francisco) and Sean Newcomb (Sunday vs. Cincinnati).
The Mariners’ Erasmo Ramirez will start as the series concludes Wednesday Ramirez owns a 3.18 ERA in his past three starts and has allowed one earned run over his last 12 innings. R.A. Dickey will take the mound Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. CT for the Braves. The knuckleballer has surrendered 22 home runs, 16 of which have been hit at SunTrust Park.
Ali Shelton of Motlow soccer
The Lady Bulldogs of Georgia Military Institute launched a full scale ground assault against the Motlow Lady Bucks soccer team on Monday afternoon at the Raider Soccer Field. GMI used 3 goals in the first 14 minutes on their way to a 7 to 0 win over Motlow. The soccer match was the final scrimmage of the preseason for Motlow who opens the season this weekend with a pair of matches in Mississippi.
After Motlow got a pair of shots off in the first 5 minutes, Georgia Military got goals in the 9th, 11th and 14th minutes. The Bulldogs outshot the Bucks 18 to 6 in the first half as they added a goal in the 26th minute to take a 4 to 0 lead into halftime. In the second half, GMI added goals in the 58th, 61st and 89th minutes. Motlow had its best scoring opportunities in the 61st and 68th minutes only to see the Bulldog keeper make a pair of saves.
Unofficially, Motlow was outshot 31 to 12 in the match. The Motlow keepers did record 17 saves. Former Coffee County Lady Raider Ali Shelton entered the match in the second half and had 5 saves on 7 shots.
Matthew Pittman of CHS football
The Coffee County Central High School Freshmen and JV football teams welcomed Franklin County on Monday night. In the freshman game, the visiting Rebels scored on the first 4 drives of the first half as they rolled to the 50 to 27 win.
Quarterback Matthew Pittman was the star of the show for Coffee County as he rushed 21 times for 168 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Thru the air, Pittman was 7 of 17 for 172 yards and another 2 touchdowns. C.J. Anthony had both touchdown receptions as he caught 5 passes for 122 yards.
The JV Raiders lost by a final score of 12 to 0. The freshman and JV teams will be back in action on Monday when they travel to Tullahoma for a doubleheader. The freshman game will kick off at 5 PM.