Category: Sports

As the fall sports season gets ready to crank up, Thunder Radio sports continues our series of previews for the fall prep sports teams. Each day, we will spotlight a different team as we count down to the opening of practices and games of the upcoming season. Today, we look at the Coffee County Central High School girls’ soccer team.
Coach David Amado has been pleased with his team’s work this summer in conditioning and skill work. The Lady Raiders have shown excellent progress in passing the ball and maintaining possession. The Lady Raiders will need to replace 5 seniors from last year including the starting keeper, leading goal scorer, the leading defender and two critical midfielders. Those important positions made up the bulk of the Lady Raiders strong defense and midfield dominance in 2016. Even with several returning starters, Amado still stressed that every position is still up for grabs.
Ashley Woods has had an excellent summer as she has made a strong case for the starting job in net for Coffee County. “Ashley understands the game and is doing well in goal” said Amado. Amado called out the strong leadership of his returning seniors: Woods, Maggie Lashlee, and Maddie Creek for setting a positive attitude this summer. He is also excited about the young talent on the offensive end and said his squad is playing smarter and reading the game better. Amado hopes to get more consistent play from his young team this week at camp and also wants to see a player step up to fill the all important middle back position.
Coach Amado loads his Lady Raiders up on Wednesday morning to travel to Cleveland, TN for their annual visit to the Lee University team camp. Coffee County will take part in the 4 day camp which concludes on Saturday. Coffee County will close their preseason workouts with a pair of scrimmages at home. Coffee County will host Nolensville on August 8th and Ooltewah on August 10th. Before that, the Lady Raiders will host their annual scrimmage play day on Saturday, August 5th at their home field along with Carden-Jarrell Field.

The Lady Raiders will begin the regular season on Tuesday, August 15th at Smyrna. Coffee County’s first home game will be on Thursday, August 17th at 7 PM. Thunder Radio will feature Coffee County as part of the First National Bank Hometown Sports Series 3 times in the regular season, beginning on August 29th in their home match with Warren County.

Though this season’s first half did not evolve as well as the Cubs had hoped, their perfect start to the second half has provided indication they could once again have some fun in October. The defending World Series champs matched a season-best five-game winning streak with Tuesday night’s 5-1 win over the Braves at SunTrust Park.

After rain delayed the start of the game for 2 1/2 hours, Javier Baez recorded three hits and teamed with Willson Contreras to homer off Sean Newcomb during a four-run third inning that proved decisive for the Cubs, who now sit just 2 1/2 games behind the first-place Brewers in the National League Central race.
The Braves entered this series just a half-game behind Chicago in the Wild Card race, but with consecutive losses they have fallen into fifth place, eight games behind the second-place Rockies.
“We have guys that have done it before and take pride in what they do,” Cubs starter John Lackey said. “We want to do better than what we did in the first half for sure.”
Nick Markakis’ second-inning leadoff home run accounted for the only damage incurred over five innings by Lackey, who was activated off the disabled list earlier Tuesday and entered having surrendered an NL-high 24 homers. He allowed five hits with one strikeout and two walks, earning his first win since June 18.
The Braves were not able to overcome the fourth-inning struggles endured by Newcomb, who allowed five earned runs over 5 1/3 innings. The rookie southpaw produced a 1.48 ERA as he completed the first four starts of his career in June. But he has been charged with at least four earned runs in each of his first three July starts.
Both starting pitchers had completed their pregame preparations as the tarp was pulled on and off the field twice with the expectation the game was about to begin.
“Waiting around is not the best,” Newcomb said. “I was on the [bullpen] mound for about 10 pitches when they pulled the tarp. I think there were two other times I started playing catch and they pulled the tarp again. So, it’s hard to get in a groove there, but that’s stuff you have to deal with.”
Inconsistent command has plagued Newcomb throughout his professional career and did so again in the third inning, when he issued consecutive one-out walks to Ben Zobrist and Kris Bryant. He did not hit the strike zone with any of the 13 pitches thrown within this sequence of consecutive plate appearances. But he did find too much of the plate with the 1-0 fastball Contreras drilled over the center-field wall for a two-out, three-run homer that gave the Cubs the lead.
“[Contreras] is really turning into a leader,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “He was very upset with himself when he hit into that double play his first time up. But he comes back and hits a three-run homer after that. He is definitely turning into a force.”
The Braves made things interesting when they came within one swing of erasing a three-run, ninth-inning deficit against Wade Davis in Monday’s series opener. But their bid to spend a second straight night creating late-inning intrigue faded after putting two on with one out in the eighth. Carl Edwards Jr. sandwiched a Freddie Freeman strikeout between Brandon Phillips’ leadoff single and a Matt Kemp walk. The right-handed reliever ended the frame with consecutive strikeouts of Matt Adams and Markakis.
“We just couldn’t bunch anything together tonight,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “We had some guys on and couldn’t get the big hit.”
Braves center fielder Ender Inciarte has gone hitless during this series. This marks just the third time this season he has been held hitless in consecutive games and first time since April 22-23.
R.A. Dickey will take the mound when for Wednesday’s 11:10 p.m. CT series finale. Dickey has produced a 1.09 ERA over his past five starts, and he has allowed just three earned runs over his past 27 innings at SunTrust Park.

The Iowa Cubs used three huge innings and 23 hits to dispatch the Nashville Sounds, 16-7, Tuesday night at Principal Park.

Iowa used a five-run first, four-run third, and four-run seventh to kept the Sounds chasing all night. The 23 hits allowed by Nashville pitchers was one shy of tying the franchise record of 24 in a single-game.

Ben Bracewell started for the Sounds and deserved better than the eight earned runs charged to his final line. The right-hander yielded five infield singles and dealt with two errors in the first inning that put Nashville in a 5-0 hole after the one.

A run in the second, and two in the third trimmed Nashville’s deficit to 6-3 heading into the last of the third, but every time the Sounds made it interesting, Iowa responded with more runs.

The Cubs plated four runs on five more hits in the bottom of the third to build their lead to 10-3. Again, the Sounds responded with three in the fifth to make it a 10-6 game.

Center fielder Yairo Munoz launched a solo homer in the top of the seventh to draw the Sounds within three runs at 10-7.

Nashville reliever Kyle Finnegan kept the Sounds in the game in the middle innings. The right-hander tossed 3 1/3 scoreless innings and racked up four strikeouts in the process.

Iowa responded to Nashville’s flurry of runs with another explosion of their own. The Cubs used five doubles off Tucker Healy to score another four runs in the bottom of the seventh.

It forced Sounds Manager Ryan Christenson to turn to a position player to pitch in the eighth. Ryan Lavarnway’s one inning of relief marked the eighth time a position player has pitched for Nashville in 2017.

Iowa’s fireworks on offense overshadowed a big offensive night for Nashville. Four different Sounds had multi-hit games, including three-hit games from Renato Nunez and Munoz.

Game three of the four-game series is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in Des Moines. Right-hander Kendall Graveman makes a rehab start for the Sounds against right-hander Seth Frankoff (1-5, 4.15) for the Cubs. First pitch is set for 12:08 p.m.

As the fall sports season gets ready to crank up, Thunder Radio sports continues our series of previews for the fall prep sports teams.  Each day, we will spotlight a different team as we count down to the opening of practices and games of the upcoming season.  Today, we look at the Coffee County Middle School girls’ soccer team.

Coach Travis O’Kelley has begun preseason workouts with a large and inexperienced squad heading into the season.  Coming off another conference finals appearance, the Lady Raiders will need to replace the majority of their offensive production from last year.  Thus far, O’Kelley has been pleased with the early results of their preseason practices from returning keeper Lucy Riddle.  “Lucy is stopping everything” said O’Kelley speaking of his 8^th grade netminder.  In front of Riddle, 8^th graders Jayda Wright and Alexis Rayman will form the nucleus of the Lady Raider defense.  On the offensive end, returning players Marley Perry, Arianna Hansen and Katie Cotten will be the odds on favorites to carry the offensive workload for Coffee County.

Coach O’Kelley has been pleased with his team’s athleticism and effort in practice.  With so many inexperienced players fighting for positions, the Lady Raiders are looking to improve their communication and spacing in the coming workouts.  O’Kelley wants to see his team continue their hard work in learning the game, especially in moving and spacing without the ball.

Coffee County will close their preseason workouts with a scrimmage at home on August 8^th against Siegel.  That match will get underway at 4:30 PM at CCMS.  They will follow that up with their annual Kicking Cancer Play day on August 12^th.  The Lady Raider varsity and JV teams will take part in the all day scrimmage event with a portion of the proceeds given to a cancer charity.

The Lady Raiders will begin the regular season on August 17^th when they host travel to McMinnville to take on conference rival Warren County.  Thunder Radio will feature Coffee County as part of the First National Bank Hometown Sports Series on September 18^th in their home match with White County.

A little more than a week later, Jon Lester and the Cubs have distanced themselves from the frustration they carried into the All-Star break. The veteran left-hander helped the defending World Series champs remain perfect in the second half with Monday night’s 4-3 win over the Braves at SunTrust Park after an hour-long rain delay before first pitch.

“We got a good feeling as our pitchers are coming out dominating and our hitters are having really good at-bats,” Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo said. “It is a good formula.”

Pitching for the first time since allowing the Pirates 10 runs in just one inning on July 9, Lester limited Atlanta’s potent lineup to just three hits and one run over seven innings. Ben Zobrist’s two-run single off Julio Teheran in the fifth inning provided the lead for the Cubs, who have won four straight to remain third in the National League Wild Card race, 1 1/2 games ahead of the Braves.
Lester’s effort was preserved when the Cubs gained a necessary insurance run courtesy of the consecutive two-out doubles Javy Baez and Addison Russell in the eighth inning.
“There have been some things in the last couple of starts that haven’t felt right, but I was able to get my body to repeat better tonight,” Lester said. “My stuff had a little bit more crispness to it than in the last couple of starts. That is a positive and I will build off of that.”
The Braves, who opened the second half by sweeping the D-backs, gained an early lead via Brandon Phillips’ third-inning single and saw Teheran keep the Cubs scoreless until he began the two-run fifth by walking Jason Heyward. Freddie Freeman made a couple of run-saving plays at first base during the fifth and sixth innings. He also singled in the two-run ninth Cubs closer Wade Davis endured before escaping a bases-loaded jam to remain perfect through 18 save opportunities.
“It was exciting, kind of like a playoff game with the energy and everything else in that stadium,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “It was good to see the guys come back. It was a good, hard-fought game by both sides.”
After Javier Baez followed Heyward’s leadoff walk with a single in the fifth, Teheran’s attempt to pitch inside on Lester’s sacrifice-bunt attempt resulted in a wild pitch that advanced the runners and put them in position to score when Zobrist bounced his two-run single through the middle of the infield. Rizzo and Willson Contreras drew consecutive two-out walks to load the bases before Freeman prevented further damage by snaring a Kyle Schwarber hot shot that would have reached the right-field corner.
“One mistake right there, walking the leadoff hitter cost me two runs, but overall, I think I did pretty good,” said Teheran, who had allowed four earned runs or more in five of the previous nine starts he had made at home.
Welcome cushion: After Teheran pitched around Ian Happ’s sixth-inning leadoff double, Rizzo gave Lester some cushion when he drilled a one-out seventh-inning home run against left-handed reliever Ian Krol. The Cubs first baseman’s 23rd homer of the season was a liner over the center-field wall that had a 107.7-mph exit velocity per Statcast™.
Lester became the first Cubs pitcher to collect an extra-base hit and steal in the same game since Rick Sutcliffe did it on July 29, 1988. Lester accomplished the feat by doubling off the right-field wall in the third inning and swiping a bag in the sixth inning, his first career stolen base.
Sean Newcomb will take the mound when this three-game series resumes Tuesday at 6:35 p.m. CT. Newcomb was impressive in his first four career starts, but he struggled while facing the Astros and Nationals in his final two starts before the break.

The Nashville Sounds dropped an old fashioned pitcher’s duel Monday night 1-0 to the Iowa Cubs. Starting pitchers Corey Walter and Jen-Ho Tseng combined for 12 scoreless innings and allowed just seven hits between them.

The Sounds offense was unable to solve the Tseng riddle. Nashville tallied just three hits in seven innings against the 22-year-old making just his second career Triple-A start. Tseng fanned eight Sounds on the night and induced soft contact all game long.

Walter rebounded nicely after two tough outings prior to the All-Star break. The right hander flung five scoreless innings while allowing four hits, walking a pair, and struck out four batters. Walter scattered the four hits he allowed, not surrendering multiple hits in any one inning.

Joey Wendle legged out his team-leading 23rd double of the season to lead off the fifth inning and extend his hitting streak to a season-long nine games. Wendle’s double was the first of three lead off batters to be left stranded on base for the Sounds in the game.

Iowa opened up the scoring with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Felix Doubront got two quick punch outs to begin the inning before surrendering the first home run of the season for Elliot Soto.

The I-Cubs looked to extend their lead in the eighth inning. Chris Dominguez led off the frame with a ringing double and then swiped third base. Jemile Weeks then lifted a high fly ball to Jaff Decker in center field. Decker measured the fly ball, made the catch and fired home as Dominguez tagged from the third. Catcher Ryan Lavarnway snagged Decker’s throw on one bounce and applied the tag on Dominguez to keep it a one-run game.

In the top of the ninth inning Matt Olson roped his fourth career triple to get things started. Nashville was unable to cash in, however as Felix Peña retired the next three batters. Renato Nuñez grounded out to the shortstop, Wendle struck out swinging, and Mark Canha grounded out to short to end the game.

The Sounds continue a four-game series against Iowa Tuesday night at Principal Park. Right-hander Ben Bracewell (1-1, 1.80) starts for Nashville against right-hander Aaron Brooks (5-7, 5.96) for Iowa. First pitch is scheduled for 7:08 p.m.

As the fall sports season gets ready to crank up, Thunder Radio sports continues our series of previews for the fall prep sports teams.  Each day, we will spotlight a different team as we count down to the opening of practices and games of the upcoming season.  Today, we look at the Westwood girls’ soccer team.

The Lady Rockets will attempt to repeat their regular season conference title when they begin summer workouts with a team camp on July 24^th thru July 26^th.  Coach Donna Burdine will look to get her young squad off to a strong start as they will work out in the camp led by CHS head coach David Amado and members of the Lady Raiders team.

The number one task facing Burdine and her Lady Rockets is the replacement of most of her offensive weapons from last year.  The graduation of Lady Rocket goal scorers to the high school squad has Westwood at a disadvantage going into the 2017 season.

The depth of Coach Burdine’s team comes from her defense as she returns her goal keeper from last year in Alanna Coker.  Westwood will build their success from the “bottom up” as they should be strongest in the back end.  Coker is one of the 8^th graders that is expected to lead the Lady Rockets this season.  She will be aided by returning defender Lauren Perry, midfielder/forward Diana Ramirez and striker Luz Basurto.   Also expected to provide leadership is 7^th grade returning starter Anna Johnson.

Coach Burdine was excited about her younger players including the speed and athleticism shown by members of the upcoming 6^th grade class.  She emphasized that they would be a healthy competition for starting positions when preseason practices get underway.

The Lady Rockets will begin their season on August 25^th when they host Cascade at Dyer-Bouldin Field.  Thunder Radio will be on hand to bring you the broadcast of that match as part of the First National Bank Hometown Sports Series.  The opening kick is set for 5:30 PM.

“We got up at 7 AM, went to bed at 9 PM and spent the rest of the day on volleyball” is how CHS volleyball coach Andrew Taylor described a busy 3 days of camp at Cumberland University.  The Lady Raiders traveled to Lebanon for the Thursday through Saturday camp last week winding down a busy first week of action.

The camp featured drills, instruction, controlled scrimmages, situational play, team bonding activities, recruiting sessions and even nutrition sessions.  Returning only 2 starters, Coffee County was looking to get an opportunity to develop some team chemistry and find the best possible rotation.  The camp concluded on Saturday with traditional scrimmage games as the Lady Raiders finished the day with a record of 1 and 2.  “We got a lot of positional work and got closer as a team” said Taylor.

Coffee County will travel to Eagleville on Wednesday to begin a team camp that runs through Friday.  Coach Taylor is looking to get a lot more game action for his young Lady Raiders.  Coffee County will return home to host a varsity play day on Wednesday, July 26th.   The Lady Raiders conclude preseason play with a varsity/JV scrimmage play day at Stewarts Creek on August 5th.

The Lady Raiders open the season on August 14th at home when they play host to Middle Tennessee Christian School. That match is scheduled for 6 PM. The Lady Raiders will be featured this fall on the First National Bank Home Town Sports Series. Thunder Radio’s first CHS volleyball broadcast is set for August 15th when they play host to Shelbyville at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym.

Coach Taylor will also be a guest on the July 22nd edition of the Coffee Coaches Show to talk about the upcoming season. The Coffee Coaches Show is heard each Saturday at 10 AM here on Thunder Radio as it is broadcast live from the showroom of Al White Ford/Lincoln.

If the weekend’s events at SunTrust Park were a sign of things to come, the National League Wild Card race might prove to be much more interesting than expected. The Braves enhanced the potential intrigue as they received a career-best three doubles from Brandon Phillips while completing a three-game sweep of the slumping D-backs with a 7-1 win Sunday afternoon.

“It was fun and we got off on the right foot,” Braves outfielder Matt Kemp said. “That is a good team that we swept and we have to keep going. We’ve got another tough series coming up and it’s time to enjoy it tonight and turn the page [Monday] to get ready for the Cubs.”
Jaime Garcia set the tone for the afternoon as he allowed just four hits and one run over seven innings. Phillips provided a pair of RBI doubles and began the key four-run third inning with a two-bagger against Zack Godley, whose ERA rose from 2.58 to 3.09 as he allowed a season-high seven runs — six earned — over six innings.
“It is nice to get a win, but it is nicer for the team to win three games against a really good team,” Garcia said. “Everybody is playing well right now.”
Though they have lost a season-high five consecutive games and 11 of their past 14, the D-backs still lead the NL Wild Card race. The D-backs lead the Rockies by one game and have a 6 1/2-game lead over the Cubs.
“This is a very resilient group,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. “They have been all year. They should be proud of where they’re at. We know we’ve hit a little stumbling block, and that’s part of the season. That happens in every baseball season, so we’ll enjoy the day off [Monday] and see what we can do on Day 1 in Cincinnati.”
The Braves now own a .500 record (45-45) after the All-Star break for the first time since 2014. They sit six games behind the Rockies, who currently are positioned to grab the second Wild Card entry.
Godley recorded a career-high nine strikeouts, but seven of those were recorded after he allowed Kemp and Matt Adams to homer during a four-run third inning. Kemp’s three-run shot to left-center field was his first long ball since June 21 and just his fourth extra-base hit since June 17. Adams’ solo shot to right-center was just the sixth homer the D-backs right-hander has allowed in 75 2/3 innings this season.
“They just squared some balls up,” D-backs catcher Jeff Mathis said. “Obviously he didn’t have his best stuff today, but they squared a few balls up and put some runs on the board.”
Cognizant that he might be traded within the next couple of weeks, Phillips either enhanced his value or gave the Braves reason to contemplate keeping him. The veteran second baseman delivered a key double during Friday’s series-opening victory and then recorded three-hit performances in the final two games. He scored Ender Inciarte with the RBI doubles he recorded during the first and fourth innings Sunday.
“[Phillips] was one step ahead of us,” Lovullo said. “Fastballs away, he’d hit them the other way. Fastballs in, he’d turn on them. Breaking balls, he’d hammer them. He’s a hot hitter. He’s a proven hitter. He’s a guy that’s been very successful in the National League, so you have to give him credit.”
Before their five-game skid, the D-backs were one of five teams in the Majors to not lose four consecutive games, along with the Dodgers, Astros, Indians and Red Sox.
Julio Teheran will take the mound when Atlanta opens a three-game series against the Cubs on Monday at 6:35 p.m. CT. Teheran has allowed at least six earned runs in four of the nine starts made at SunTrust Park.

With a series victory in sight, the Nashville Sounds faltered against the Omaha Storm Chasers, dropping the series finale 15-1. The Sounds were seeking their first series victory since the beginning of June, a string of ten series.

Two explosive innings highlighted the day for the Storm Chasers. Omaha sent eight batters to the plate in the third inning against Chris Jensen and four of them came around to score. The Storm Chasers tallied a single run in both the fifth and seventh innings before pouring it on in the eighth. Omaha plated nine runs on eight hits in the eighth inning against three different Sounds pitchers.

Nashville’s lone run of the game came in the fifth inning. Melvin Mercedes got the frame started with a base hit followed by a bunt single from Kenny Wilson. Two batters later Franklin Barreto drilled a double off the right field wall to score Mercedes.

Jensen was dealt his first loss of the season after allowing five runs on seven hits in five innings of work.

Chris Bassitt, in his second MLB rehab stint with the Sounds, logged two-plus innings and was tagged for four runs on five hits. He began the eighth inning but allowed three straight hits before being pulled from the game.

Joey Wendle extended his hitting streak to eight games with a one-out, bloop single in the seventh inning. The streak matches a season-high for Wendle who hit safely in eight straight from June 8-16. The Sounds were unable to cash in with runners on the corners and one out following Wendle’s base hit as Barreto and Renato Nuñez each struck out.

Omaha’s Ruben Sosa picked up run scoring doubles against three different Sounds pitchers and drove in four runs on the day.

The 15 runs allowed by the Sounds were a season-high for the pitching staff and the nine-run eighth inning was also a season-high.

The Sounds begin a four-game series against the Iowa Cubs Monday night at Principal Park in Des Moines, Iowa. Right-hander Corey Walter (2-5, 6.75) starts for Nashville against right-hander Seth Frankoff (1-5, 4.15) for Iowa. First pitch is scheduled for 7:08 p.m.