Category: Sports

Sophie Vinson Signs Golf Scholarship with Trevecca

Sophie Vinson signs her college scholarship with Trevecca surrounded by family and coaches. Front Row(left to right): Brandy Vinson, mother; Olivia Vinson, sister; Sophie Vinson; Matt Vinson, father; Bella Vinson, sister. Back Row(left to right): Marshall Gilliam, assistant CHS golf coach; David Vinson, uncle; Joel Vinson, grandfather; Nancye Vinson, grandmother; Mike Ray, CHS head golf coach.

Coffee County senior golfer Sophie Vinson has signed a national letter of intent to continue her education and golf career at Trevecca Nazarene University. Vinson becomes the 16th Coffee County golfer to sign a college scholarship in the past 9 years. Vinson chose the Nashville university in a signing ceremony at CHS on Thursday. Vinson joins 2016 CHS graduate Teagan Perry on the Lady Trojans squad.
When asked why she chose Trevecca, the opportunity to play with her former teammate was a selling point to Vinson. “Teagan being thee was important and I know she will help me a lot in the transition from high school to college.” Vinson, who wants to major in communications, was at no loss for words when it came thanking people who helped her along the way. “There are so many people to thank, my parents and family, my coaches, my teammates, my classmates and the whole community have done so much to help me achieve this(scholarship)” said Vinson.
Coffee County head golf coach Mike Ray was effusive in his praise for Sophie. “Sophie will succeed because she has a determination and a will to compete and excel. She has great family support and is not afraid of hard work” added Ray.
Treveccca competes in Division II of the NCAA as a member of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. The Lady Trojans have won 5 straight conference championships. Trevecca golfer Alexa Rippy has qualified for the NCAA Division II National Championship to be held on May 17th thru the 20th in Findlay, Ohio. Trevecca is coached by David Head.

Preds, Ducks Clash in Playoffs Again

In a rematch of last year’s Round One series, the Nashville Predators and Anaheim Ducks will meet in the 2017 Western Conference Final.
The Predators closed out their Round Two series in six games by prevailing 3-1 on home ice over the St. Louis Blues. The Ducks won four of five, including a Game Seven at home, after dropping the first two games to the Edmonton Oilers to advance in their series.
For Nashville, reaching the conference final was historic – the franchise has never been this far in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in their previous 19 years of existence.
“It’s a big step for us – not only for us as players, but also as an organization,” goaltender Pekka Rinne said. “It’s something that we haven’t done before. To see that third goal – that empty-netter – that’s a great relief. It was a really tight game, and [the Blues] played hard. All series, I thought each game was really hard and tight – a lot of one goal games. To see Jarny put that in – that was a great feeling, and obviously a big relief.”
The conference final is set to begin on Friday in Anaheim, with the first two games being played at Honda Center, before Games Three, Four and Six* (*if necessary) will be at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
For now, here are the cliff notes for this year’s Western Conference Final:
Preds Record vs. Ducks in 2016-17 Regular Season: 1-1-1
The Predators fell to the Ducks in their most recent meeting, 4-3 in a shootout on March 7, after Anaheim rallied from an early two-goal deficit to tie the game and later win in the extra rounds of a shootout. The first two contests of the season series were both blowouts, with Nashville winning 5-0 on Nov. 12 in the only contest of the season series in Music City. Anaheim won 6-1 on Oct. 26 on home ice.
How They Got Here:
Nashville knocked off the top team in the West in the First Round when they swept the Chicago Blackhawks. Now they’ll have to face the conference’s No. 2 team in Round Three. The Preds followed their upset of the Hawks in Round One by taking Game One on the road in St. Louis and then claiming three wins on home ice to advance to the conference final.
Anaheim also swept their Round One series, taking out the Calgary Flames in four games. The Ducks took the first two games at home and then rallied from a three-goal deficit in Game Three to win 4-3 in overtime in Calgary. In Round Two, the Ducks dropped both games at Honda Center to open their series with the Edmonton Oilers. But in Game Three, the Ducks’ offense connected repeatedly for a 6-3 win to get on the ledger. Anaheim later evened the series in Game Four with another road win. The series may have turned in Game Five when the Ducks came back from three goals down in the final four minutes of regulation to force overtime. In the second extra session, Corey Perry tallied the game-winner. After dropping Game Six by a whopping 7-1 margin in Edmonton, the Ducks found redemption in Game Seven with 2-1 triumph.
History:
Barely a year ago, the Predators forced the first Game Seven in franchise history in their Round One series with the Ducks and took the series-deciding game, 2-1, at Honda Center.
The changes to both teams have been low in number but high in impact since that postseason meeting, with the Preds trading former captain Shea Weber for P.K. Subban in the summer and the Ducks replacing Head Coach Bruce Boudreau with Randy Carlyle (who previously won the Stanley Cup with Anaheim in 2007). The Ducks also acquired 30-goal-scorer Patrick Eaves, who is currently injured, at the Trade Deadline.
Carlyle had the Ducks rolling down the stretch, going 15-0-3 to close out the regular season, including a March 7 shootout win over the Preds. That momentum has rolled into the playoffs for Anaheim as well, with the Ducks going 8-3 in the postseason.
Similarly, the Predators are a blazing 8-2 in the playoffs and have been immaculate on home ice, going 5-0 at Bridgestone Arena. Nashville has won nine consecutive at home in the postseason, dating back to a 3-1 win over the Ducks in Game Six of their 2016 First Round series.
The Preds also won a 2011 First Round meeting between the two teams.

Sounds Falter Late, Losing Streak Hits Four Games

The losing streak for the Nashville Sounds hit four games as the Albuquerque Isotopes took game one of the series, 7-5, in front of 7,860 fans at First Tennessee Park Thursday night.

The Sounds (13-17) held a 4-2 lead into the seventh inning but the bullpen faltered down the stretch. Michael Brady allowed a run in the seventh, and Aaron Kurcz coughed up the lead in the eighth when Albuquerque plated a pair of runs to take a 5-4 lead. It’s the first time the Sounds have lost a game when leading after six innings.

The loss wasted a solid effort by Sounds starter Chris Smith. The veteran right-hander allowed two runs on four hits over six innings. He walked a pair and struck out six. Smith’s third-inning strikeout of Mike Tauchman was the 1,000th of his career.

His battery mate, Matt McBride, came up with a big hit for Nashville. Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the fourth, McBride found himself at the dish with the bases loaded. The catcher sent a line drive into the left-center gap, clearing the bases to give the Sounds a 3-2 lead.

With one out in the fifth, Matt Olson drew a walk to spark another rally. With Matt Chapman at the plate, Olson swiped second base to get into scoring position.

Chapman was retired on a fly out, but Joey Wendle blooped a double down the left field line to score Olson and give the Sounds a 4-2 lead.

After Smith finished his six innings, it was all Albuquerque. Brady’s throwing error helped the Isotopes plate a run in the seventh, and a balk by Kurcz in the eighth contributed to the Isotopes taking the lead.

The Sounds loaded the bases with nobody out in the ninth but only came away with one run on Matt Olson’s sacrifice fly.

Kurcz was tagged with the loss, his third of the season. Austin House earned the win to improve to 3-0 for Albuquerque.

Game two of the four-game series is scheduled for Friday night at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Daniel Gossett (0-2, 4.91) starts for Nashville while Albuquerque has not announced a starter. First pitch is slated for 6:35 p.m.

CHS Softball Clips Shelbyville; Secures a Region Tournament Berth

Tori Bell of CHS softball (Photo by John St. Clair, stclair-sports.com)

The Coffee County Lady Raiders punched their ticket to next week’s Region 4AAA softball tournament with a 2 to 1 win over Shelbyville on Wednesday night in the District 8AAA semifinals.  Tori Bell hit a massive solo home run and Kaylee Skipper pitched a 5 hitter with 6 strikeouts.  The win advances Coffee County to Thursday’s district championship.

After each team scored a 1st inning run, Bell hit a one out solo home run to straightaway center field to give Coffee County their only lead of the game.  Skipper worked out of a bases-loaded, one out jam in the 6th inning to shut down a dangerous Eaglette rally.

Shelbyville used 2 hits and an error in the top of the first inning to take a 1 to 0 lead.  Raven Rogers drew a walk and scored on Haley Hinshaw’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 1st inning to knot the score at 1.  Other than Bell’s home run, Coffee County did not get a runner to 3rd base the rest of the game.

Bell finished the game with 2 of Coffee County’s 4 hits on the night.  Ashley Evans and Katie Rutledge each added a single.  Ball and Skipper were named the Crazy Daisies co-players of the game.

Coffee County advances to Thursday’s final against Lawrence County.   The Lady Raiders would need to defeat Lawrence County twice to claim a district title.  The finals will be held at Jim Chance Field on the campus of Lawrence County High School.  The first game begins at 5 PM and Thunder Radio will be on hand to bring you all the action.  Our exclusive coverage begins with the pregame show at 4:50.

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CHS Soccer Season Comes to a Heartbreaking End

Breyer Taylor(left) accepts the game ball from his May 1st record breaking goal at Fayetteville from Coach Robert Harper. Taylor broke Ricky Ramirez’ career goal scorign record with his 52nd goal against Fayetteville. Taylor finished the year with 55 goals.

For the 2nd consecutive year, the Tullahoma soccer team ended the Red Raiders season in the semifinals of the district tournament on the Raiders’ home pitch.  Tullahoma used a goal in the 60th minute to break a 2 to 2 halftime tie and advance to Friday’s District 8AAA finals with the 3 to 2 win over Coffee County.

Coffee County got off to a great start as they controlled the play in the middle of the field in the opening minutes.  John Parigger put Coffee County on top 1 to 0 in the 19th minute off an assist from Paco Barrera.  Tullahoma tied the match in the 26th minute before taking their first lead at the 30 minute mark 2 to 1.  A determined Breyer Taylor muscled his way through the Wildcat defense to level the match in the 32nd minute as the 2 teams went to the half tied at 2.

Despite outshooting Tullahoma 8 to 3 in the 2nd half, Coffee County saw Tullahoma capitalize with the game winner in the 60th minute.  Coffee County made things interesting in the finals seconds as the Raiders got 4 shots in the final 5 minutes with 2 of those coming in the final minute of play.  Coffee County missed a shot high as the horn sounded to conclude the match.  The loss is the first district loss of the year for the Raiders as they will end the season with a mark of 11-4-1.  The loss was the first for the Red Raiders since March 24th.

CCMS Track Sees Title Streak Come to an End

Streaks are made to be broken. Unfortunately, that is not a friendly adage to the Coffee County Middle School track teams as the Raiders and Lady Raiders each failed to finish in the top 2 teams at the CTC Conference Track Meet on Wednesday at Carden-Jarrell Field.
The Lady Raiders saw their string of 4 straight conference titles broken as they finished in 7th place. The Raiders saw their string of 6 straight Top 2 finishes come to an end as they finished in 5th place. North captured the girls’ title with South winning the boys’ crown. Traditionally, Coach Travis O’ Kelly’s teams have rolled up big point totals in the field events and scored well in the team relays to fuel their championship engine. Such was not the case on Wednesday. Macy Tabor was the lone Raider to win an event as she won the girls’ high jump.
Here is the complete team scoring breakdown, along with Coffee County’s top finishers.

Girls Final: North 101 Warren 74.5 East 60 West 58 South 45 Coffee 44.5 Harris 20
Discus – Lexie Hosea (5th/60’ 6”)
High Jump – Macy Tabor (1st/4’ 10” – no misses), Livy Rayfield (7th/4’ 0” – no misses)
Long Jump – Maddie Husted (7th/11’ 8”)
4 x 100m Relay – Reagan Ellison, Maddie Husted, Alyssa Gipson, Livy Rayfield (3rd)
1600m – Olivia Evans (6th/6:55)
100m – Livy Rayfield (5th/14.07)
4 x 200m Relay – Macy Tabor, Maddie Husted, Alyssa Gipson, Reagan Ellison (3rd)
800m – Madison Rooker (6th/3:04)
200m – Macy Tabor (4th/29.87)
4 x 400m Relay – Alyssa Gipson, Anna Takao, Emma Singleton, Ryan Green (3rd)

Boys Final: South 117.5 Harris 83.25 East 68 North 48 Coffee 39 Warren 35.5 West 16.75
Shot Put – Zach Speagle (3rd/36’ 0”)
Discus – Zach Speagle (4th/96’ 8”) Trenton Scrivnor (6th/88’ 8”)
4 x 100m Relay – Jayden Yates, Kelby Walker, Andrew Hite, Hunter Good (7th)
1600m – Jacob Rutledge (3rd/5:26) Ethan Welch (5th/5:43)
4 x 200m Relay – Jayden Yates, Kelby Walker, Andrew Hite, Hunter Good (4th)
400m – Ethan Beaty (5th/1:03.28)
800m – Jacob Rutledge (3rd/2:31)
4 x 400m Relay – Ethan Beaty, Braison Yancer, Jacob Rutledge, Ethan Welch (4th)

CCMS athletes Macy Tabor and Lexie Hosea qualified for the state meet earlier this week.  The TMSAA State Meet is to be held on May 20th at Austin Peay State University.

Middle School Golf Season Comes to a Close

The middle school golf season came to a close on Wednesday in the conference postseason tournament at Tullahoma’s Lakewood Country Club.  Using the Junior PGA team scramble format for scoring, the Westwood Rockets finished the tournament in a tie with Tullahoma for 3rd place with 7 ½ flags.  The Coffee County Middle School finished in 6th place with 3 flags.   Liberty won the tournament with 10 flags.

Freeman, Adonis Homer, but Braves Fall

Carlos Correa’s two-run double, the first of his two extra-base hits on the day, keyed a three-run fifth inning and lifted the Astros to a 4-2 win over the Braves on Wednesday.

By winning both games of the two-game set at Minute Maid Park, the Astros (23-11) are off to their best 34-game start since the franchise began in 1962.
“We have what, 34, almost 35 games now?” Correa said. “I don’t think we need any more tests. We’re very confident and playing really good baseball. I think we have a great team, and we’re going to be able to be successful if we keep doing what we’re doing.”
Houston starter Joe Musgrove (2-3) survived fourth-inning home runs by Freddie Freeman and Adonis Garcia, and he was aided by the Astros turning three double plays. Musgrove gave up four hits over his six innings. Atlanta starter Jaime Garcia (1-2), who retired his first eight batters, walked five and allowed six hits in six innings.
“My sinker was better today,” Musgrove said. “I was able to get some quick outs with that, and then the slider. If I can command the inside part of the plate with that sinker, it makes the slider a lot more effective, and I was able to get some good contact and try to keep us in the game as long as I could.
The homers by Freeman and Garcia gave the Braves a 2-1 lead. Freeman led off the fourth with a blast to left-center for his 12th home run of the season. It traveled 390 feet with a launch angle of 30 degrees, leaving the bat at 101 mph, according to Statcast™. Garcia’s fourth homer of the year was hit at 98 mph and traveled 356 feet at an angle of 27 degrees.
“The Freeman home run was a ‘tip your hat’ moment,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “The Garcia homer was a missed pitch, but [Musgrove] didn’t let losing the lead get to him. I thought he battled and didn’t cave after the two home runs. Very, very gutsy performance.”
In losing its sixth straight, Atlanta was 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
“Again, we’re having a hard time getting that big hit,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “It’s a rough go right now in everything.”
Jaime Garcia appeared to be on cruise control with two outs in the fifth inning, having allowed just one run on four hits to that point. He had walked three, but a pair of timely double plays — including one hit into by George Springer in the fifth — kept Houston’s strong offense in check. But with two outs and none on, the Astros broke through with a timely rally to grab control of the game. An opposite-field single from Carlos Beltran and a walk by Jose Altuve set the table for Correa, who roped a double to deep left, scoring both baserunners to give Houston a 3-2 lead. Two batters later, following a walk to Evan Gattis, Yuli Gurriel chopped a single to center to score Correa, extending the lead to 4-2.
“I was just trying to get a good pitch to hit,” Correa said of his crucial at-bat. “He hung a slider over the middle of the plate, and I was able to drive it for us to take the lead.”
“For the most part I was able to keep us in the ballgame, but it wasn’t our inning,” Garcia said. “You got to limit the damage.” More >
Harris strikes out the side late: Astros setup man Will Harris has been outstanding out of the bullpen this year, sporting a team-best 1.17 ERA among pitchers who have thrown at least 10 innings. Nonetheless, it was a challenge for him to build upon that figure Wednesday. With Houston clinging to a 4-2 lead in the eighth, Atlanta got a leadoff single by Dansby Swanson on a misplayed fly ball and a bunt single by No. 9 hitter Emilio Bonifacio, placing two on with none out for the top of Atlanta’s order. But Harris struck out both Ender Inciarte and Brandon Phillips swinging, and after issuing a walk to Freeman to load the bases and move the potential tying run into scoring position, Harris struck out cleanup hitter Matt Kemp swinging on a curveball in the dirt to keep Houston in front.
With his fourth-inning single, Kemp extended his season-long hitting streak to 11 games. It’s Kemp’s longest streak since hitting in 12 straight from Sept. 7-20, 2016. He’s batting .354 (17-for-48) with five doubles, three home runs and 11 RBIs in this current run. Houston’s Alex Bregman went 0-4, bringing his 10-game hitting streak to an end.
Following Thursday’s off-day, the Braves continue their road trip with three games at Miami, starting on Friday at 6:10 p.m. CT. Winless in four decisions, Mike Foltynewicz gets the start for the Braves.

CHS Baseball Season Comes to a Close

Jacob Duncan of Coffee County baseball

The clock finally struck midnight on the Cinderella season for the Coffee County CHS baseball team at Franklin County on Tuesday.  The Red Raiders came up one rally short as they fell 6 to 4 to Franklin County in the losers’ bracket of District 8AAA tournament.  After rallying from deficits of 3 to 0 and 4 to 3, a 9th inning rally by Franklin County ended the Raiders’ season.

Tied at 4 in the bottom of the 6th inning, Coffee County left the bases loaded in their best opportunity to avoid extra innings.  The Red Raiders also got runners on in the 8th and 9th innings but got not complete their 3rd straight come from behind win in this tournament.

Coffee County was led in hitting by Jacob Duncan who had a pair of singles, a run scored and an RBI.  Jacob Langham had a double and 2 RBI with a run scored.   Coffee County will finish the year with a final record of 18 and 15.

Lady Raider Softball Falls in District Tournament; Set to Play Wednesday

Haley Richardson of CHS softball(Photo by John St. Clair, stclair-sports.com)

In spite of a good start, the Coffee County Lady Raider softball team fell in the winners’ bracket finals to Lawrence County on Tuesday night in the District 8AAA softball tournament.  A 2 run first inning lead was not enough to hold off the Lady Cats on their home field as Coffee County fell by a final score of 8 to 4.

Coffee County struck first in the bottom of the first inning after Haley Hinshaw was hit by a pitch and scored on a triple by Raven Rogers.  Rogers scored on a sacrifice fly by Katie Rutledge.  Lawrence County tied the game in the 4th inning before erupting 5 runs in the 5th inning.  The Lady Cats added their 8th run in the top of the 6th.  The Lady Raiders rallied for 2 runs in the 6th inning but were not able overcome Lawrence County’s lead.

Haley Richardson led Coffee County in hitting with 2 hits and 2 RBI as she was named the Crazy Daisies player of the game.  Rogers finished with a triple, an RBI and a run scored.

Coffee County now falls into the loser’s bracket where they will take on Shelbyville on Wednesday.  First pitch is set for 6 PM at Lawrence County.  Thunder Radio will be on hand to bring you all the action.  Lucky Knott will bring you all the action beginning with the pregame show at 5:50

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