Category: Sports

Members of the Coffee County Youth Bass Club at Normandy Lake on Saturday

It was a busy weekend for members of the Coffee County Bass Club. On Saturday, a pair of boats competed in the 2017 Costa Bassmaster High School Southern Open presented by Dick’s Sporting Goods on Lake Chickamauga at Dayton. 357 teams competed from all over the southeast in the event. The Coffee County team of Isaac Turner and Cam Rutledge were the top finishers for the Raider anglers as they finished in 134th place. The duo landed 3 fish weighing in at 5 pounds and 10 ounces. Following the event, the Coffee County team of Braeden & Colby Thurmond are in 20th place in the state standings.

On Sunday, the Coffee County team hosted a club tournament on Normandy Lake. The team of Hunter Sanders and Brayden Majors won the event with a stringer totaling 8.62 pounds. Majors won the big fish honors as he landed a 2.73 pound largemouth.

Complete Normandy Tournament Results:
Big Fish: Brayden Majors 2.73 lbs
1st: Hunter Sanders/Brayden Majors 8.62 lbs
2nd: Shannah Frame 7.24 lbs
3rd: Hunter Haley/Garrett Fellers 3.19 lbs
4th: Blake Mangrum 3.08 lbs
5th: Issac Turner 3.07 lbs
6th: Hogan Scott/Jacob Garms 2.15 lbs
7th: Braeden Thurmond/Colby Thurmond
The Coffee County anglers are back in action on Saturday when they travel to Tims Ford for a club tournament. Boats will hit the water at daybreak.

Greg Rollins of Monteagle

Greg Rollins of Monteagle, Tennessee, won the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Music City Division tournament on Tims Ford Reservoir after weighing five bass Saturday, April 29th totaling 15 pounds, 15 ounces. Rollins pocketed $3,426 for his win.
According to post-tournament reports, Rollins targeted postspawn smallmouth bass on both ends of the lake, keying on pea gravel with a Carolina rig.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Greg Rollins, Monteagle, Tenn., five bass, 15-15, $3,426
2nd: Tony Eckler, Lebanon, Tenn., five bass, 15-14, $1,427
2nd: Hunter Bouldin, McMinnville, Tenn., five bass, 15-14, $1,427
4th: Brent Sain, Manchester, Tenn., five bass, 15-1, $999
5th: Bill Darby, Fayetteville, Tenn., five bass, 14-13, $685
6th: William Merrick, Mount Juliet, Tenn., five bass, 13-13, $628
7th: Adam Wagner, Cookeville, Tenn., five bass, 13-12, $671
8th: Jerry Reagan, Byrdstown, Tenn., five bass, 13-2, $514
9th: Matt Stanley, Alexandria, Tenn., five bass, 12-15, $457
10th: Kenneth Smith, Tullahoma, Tenn., five bass, 12-8, $400
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Timothy Minton of Smiths Grove, Kentucky, caught a bass weighing 4 pounds, 4 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – which earned him the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $215.
John Davenport of Huntsville, Alabama, won the Co-angler Division and $1,873 Saturday after bringing a five-bass limit totaling 12 pounds even to the scale.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: John Davenport, Huntsville, Ala., five bass, 12-0, $1,873
2nd: Bill Bruce, Hendersonville, Tenn., five bass, 11-3, $834
3rd: Larry Goss, Hartsville, Tenn., four bass, 8-11, $558
4th: Brice McMaster, Antioch, Tenn., three bass, 7-9, $389
5th: Craig Allen, Kingston Springs, Tenn., three bass, 7-4, $334
6th: Robert Harris, McEwen, Tenn., three bass, 7-0, $306
7th: Corey Poss, Smithville, Tenn., three bass, 6-13, $278
8th: John Wilkerson, Nashville, Tenn., three bass, 6-8, $450
9th: Gaylon Calahan, Winchester, Tenn., three bass, 6-2, $222
10th: Josh Bates, Pulaski, Tenn., three bass, 6-0, $245
Davenport also caught the biggest bass among Co-angler Division anglers, a fish weighing 4 pounds, 9 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $205.
The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five winners in each qualifying event, will be entered in the Oct. 12-14 BFL Regional Championship on Wheeler Lake in Decatur, Alabama. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard.
The 2017 BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 tournaments throughout the season, five qualifying events in each division. The top 45 boaters and co-anglers from each division, along with the five winners of the qualifying events, will advance to one of six regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the BFL All-American. Top performers in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the FLW Tour.
For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the BFL on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing.
About FLW
FLW is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money in 2017 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW conducts more than 274 bass-fishing tournaments annually across the United States and sanctions tournaments in Canada, China, Mexico, South Africa and South Korea. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show, broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, while FLW Bass Fishing magazine delivers cutting-edge tips from top pros. For more information visit FLWFishing.com and follow FLW at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat.

The Mets didn’t often see Bartolo Colon as hittable as he was Wednesday night at SunTrust Park, where the Braves veteran faced his former team and gave up three doubles and a walk before recording an out.

Trailing 5-0 before the bottom of the third inning, the Braves made things slightly interesting before the Mets ended any suspense by tacking on a four-run fifth inning against reliever Josh Collmenter en route to a 16-5 win before a crowd of 22,656, most of whom were gone by the seventh inning.

Things went from bad to blowout when the Mets scored seven runs in the eighth against relievers Eric O’Flaherty and Matt Wisler, who got rocked for a second consecutive night after giving up a ninth-inning grand slam in a Braves win Tuesday.

Colon (1-3) will turn 44 in three weeks, and his past three starts have served as a reminder that the oldest player in baseball is mortal, not an ageless pitching machine despite his performance the previous three seasons with the Mets.

He lasted four innings Wednesday and gave up seven hits, five runs and two walks without a strikeout as his ERA climbed to 6.27. In his past three starts, Colon has pitched 16 innings and surrendered 28 hits, 15 runs and five walks with nine strikeouts.

After sweeping the Padres in the first four games at SunTrust Park, the Braves have lost five of the past six at home and fell back to last place in the National League East with Wednesday’s loss. After the four-game Mets series finale Thursday, the Cardinals come to town for a three-game series before the Braves have another three-city trip.

Jose Reyes matched a career high with five RBIs for the Mets, who racked up 20 hits and won for the fourth time in six games since losing 10 of 11 and went from last place to third in the division with the win. They took two of three at Washington before coming to Atlanta and winning two of the first three in a four-game series that ends Thursday night.

Colon left with the Braves trailing 5-1, replaced by pinch-hitter Emilio Bonifacio with two on and two out in the fourth inning. Bonifacio has struggled mightily but came through with a two-run pinch-hit triple, the first triple hit at SunTrust in the 10th game played at the ballpark.

That got the Braves within 5-3, but Collmenter gave up four runs and five hits in the fifth inning capped by a two-run, two-out single by pitcher Jacob deGrom, the second run scoring on the play when Tyler Flowers dropped right fielder Nick Markakis’ throw before he could apply the tag.

DeGrom had his worst start of the season, allowing eight hits, a season-high five runs and five walks in a season-low five innings — after entering with a 2.84 ERA and no starts with more than three runs allowed.

But it didn’t much matter because of the hole that Colon put the Braves in and the big inning against Collmenter at precisely the point of the game where the Braves needed a shutdown inning from their bullpen.

DeGrom had not allowed more than three runs in any of his five previous starts and pitched six scoreless innings of two-hit ball against the Braves on April 5 in a 12-inning, 3-1 Braves win in which both deGrom and Colon were both gone after six innings. Colon was also impressive in that game at New York, the second game of the season, when he held his former team to two hits and one run in six innings.

Colon also limited the Padres to one hit and one run in seven innings on April 16. But in his other four starts, the stocky veteran has allowed 35 hits and 21 runs in 20 innings (9.45 ERA) with seven walks and 11 strikeouts.

He got knocked around Wednesday by a Mets team that was without injured hitters Yoenis Cespedes, Lucas Duda and Wilmer Flores. Michael Conforto and Asdrubal Cabrera started the game with consecutive doubles and Jay Bruce drew a walk before Neil Walker doubled to drive in the second run of the inning.

The inning could have been worse for Colon if Walker hadn’t forgot how many outs there where when he ran from second on Reyes’ two-out pop fly that Dansby Swanson caught in shallow left field. Walker was already at third base before turning around and trying to scramble back, to no avail. Easy double play.

Colon also got an inadvertent assist from a former Mets teammate in the three-run third inning when Reyes wasn’t paying attention as he walked back to second base on T.J. Rivera’s fly out to right field. Markakis threw to Swanson, who alertly tagged the unaware Reyes a step away from second base to end the inning.

But the Braves didn’t take advantage of the Mets’ carelessness, and soon Braves relievers were giving up multiple runs much as Colon had.

Jace Peterson added a two-run double for the Braves, Tyler Flowers had two hits and a walk and Swanson reached base four times on three walks and an error. Swanson has reached base in 10 consecutive games, totaling seven hits and eight walks in that span, after going 1-for-20 with no walks in his previous five games.

The Nashville Sounds saw their five-game win streak halted Wednesday night by the Round Rock Express 7-3. A four-run third inning off Paul Blackburn was the difference in the game as the Express snapped a five game skid.

The streak of innings pitched without surrendering an earned run by Sounds (11-12) starting pitchers came to an end Wednesday night when Ronald Guzman lined a single up the middle to score Josh Wilson in the third inning. The streak reached 27.2 frames. Jared Hoying followed that up with a run scoring double then Brett Nichols drove in a pair of runs with a single to make it 4-0 Express (12-15).

The next inning Renato Nunez put the Sounds on the board with a solo home run, his fourth straight game with a dinger. He leads the team with seven on the season and extended his hitting streak to eight games.

Sounds starter Paul Blackburn (1-3, 3.04) was chased from the game with two outs in the fifth inning after a two-out double, a walk, and an RBI single. The 23-year-old allowed five runs on seven hits on the night.

Nashville had a golden opportunity to chip away at the 5-1 deficit in the top of the sixth when the first three batters were issued free passes. Matt Chapman’s sacrifice fly was all the Sounds could muster, however, and the Express held on to a 5-2 advantage.

For the second straight game Joey Wendle drilled a home run as he took Tanner Scheppers deep in the home half of the seventh inning to trim the deficit to 5-3. Round Rock would get that run back and add an insurance run in the bottom half of the inning when Brett Nicholas recorded a sacrifice fly for his fourth RBI of the game and Cesar Puello grounded out and allowed Guzman to score from third.

Trailing 7-3 in the eighth inning the Sounds brought the tying run to the plate with two outs in the form of Chris Parmelee who pinch hit for Ryan LaMarre. With the wind blowing out to right field and a right-hander on the mound, Manager Ryan Christenson wanted a left-handed bat but Parmelee was unable to deliver as he struck out swinging.

Franklin Barreto recorded his ninth multi-hit game of the season with a trio of singles in the contest. Barreto also swiped his third base of the season.
The Sounds continue a four game set with the Express Thursday night for game three of the series. Right-hander Chris Smith (1-1, 2.18) takes the mound for the Sounds against right-hander Anthony Bass (0-0, 0.96) for Round Rock. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

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

Visiting their old rivals in Tullahoma, the Lady Raider softball team had revenge on their minds.  The Lady Raiders were stinging from a loss on Monday night in Lawrenceburg and a loss to Tullahoma on April 9^th.  Turns out, the Lady Wildcats did help the Lady Raiders get that sweet revenge and clinched at least a share of the regular season district title.  In a game heard here on Thunder Radio, Coffee County blasted the kittens by a final score of 9 to 4.

The Lady Raiders got off to a fast start, scoring 4 runs in the first inning as they batted around getting 3 hits, 2 walks and benefited from a Tullahoma error.  Haley Hinshaw had the big blast as she hit a 2 RBI double in the frame.  The Lady Raiders held a 5 to 1 lead entering the 6^th inning but sent 8 hitters to the plate scoring 4 more runs.  Haley Richardson had a bases clearing double in the frame for the big blast in the contest.  Richardson finished with 2 hits and 4 RBI and also got the win in the circle for Coffee County.  Hinshaw finished with a double and a triple and drove in 4 runs as well.  For their heroics, Hinshaw and Richardson were named the Crazy Daisies co-players of the game.  Katie Rutledge finished the game going 4 for 4 with a double while Raven Rogers had 3 singles and scored 2 runs.

The Lady Raiders conclude the regular season on Wednesday night when Shelbyville visits Terry Floyd Field.  A win would clinch a regular season district title for Coffee County.  First pitch is set for 7 PM.  Thunder Radio will be on hand to bring you all the action beginning with the pregame show at 6:50 PM.

You can download the broadcast at: http://www.thunder1320.com/downloads/

One of the certainties of the spring sports season is the appearance of the Coffee County Middle School softball team in the Central Tennessee Conference(CTC) post season tournament finals.  Tuesday was no different as the Lady Raiders squared off against North Franklin at Warren County.  Needing to win once to claim another conference title, the Lady Raiders had the mojo on their side.  Coffee Middle raced out to an 8 to 0 lead on their way to an 8 to 3 win and their 3rd CTC title in 4 years.

After being held to only 1 hit in Saturday’s semifinal win, Coffee County banged out 6 hits including 2 in the first inning as they built a 1 to 0 lead.  Keri Munn went the distance in the circle allowing 6 hits and only 1 earned run while striking out 5.  Kiya Ferrell had a single, a double, an RBI and reached on an error as she scored 3 runs.  Jayden Scheller finished with a single, 2 sacrifices and 2 RBI.

Coffee County got on the board in the first inning when Ferrell led off with a single, moved to 3^rd on a pair of wild pitches and scored on a double steal after Justus Turner walked.  Munn drove in Turner on a groundout.  The Lady Raiders added 3 runs in the 3^rd inning.  Ferrell led off the 3^rd inning by reaching on an error and scored on a Jayden Scheller sacrifice fly.  Turner reached on a fielder’s choice and scored on a wild pitch before Keri Munn added the 3^rd run after singling and scoring on Amber Ingleberger’s bunt single.  Coffee County added 3 runs in the 4^th inning when Olivia Evans led off with a single and scored on Ferrell’s double.  Ferrell scored on another double steal and Munn reached on an error and scored on a sacrifice ground out by Scheller.

The Lady Raiders finish the season with a final record of 15 and 2 with the only losses of the year coming at the hands of the North Lady Gators.

Joseph Sadler of CHS tennis

The Coffee County Red Raider tennis team traveled to Fayetteville on Tuesday to battle Lincoln County for the District 8AAA team tennis title.  Needing a win to punch their ticket to the Region 4AAA team tennis tournament, Coffee County pushed the regular season champion Falcons to the brink before falling 4 to 3.

Coffee County got wins in singles play from Grey Riddle(8-8/7 to 3 in tiebreaker) and Joseph Sadler(8-1).  In doubles play, Shlip Patel and Joseph Sadler got a win by a score of 8 to 6.  Coach Mike Ray was pleased with his team and their performance on the night and the season.  “I am very proud of my kids.  They play with a lot of heart and a lot of intensity” said Ray.  He went on to add “Lincoln just made a few better shots today.”

Coffee County finishes the season with a record of 10 and 2 with both losses coming at the hands of Lincoln County.  Coach Mike Ray and members of the Coffee County tennis program will be guests on Saturday’s Coffee Coaches Show.  The Coffee Coaches Show is broadcast live each Saturday at 10 AM from the showroom of Al White Ford/Lincoln.  The Coffee Coaches Show is heard exclusively on Thunder Radio.

Cade Giles of CHS baseball

Closing out the regular season in Murfreesboro, the Coffee County CHS baseball tangled with Central Magnet on Tuesday.  Coach David Martin, whose Red Raiders open district tournament play on Thursday, used the opportunity to get his pitching staff a light workout and his hitters some extra swings against a good team.  Coach Martin used 7 pitchers to grab the 4 to 0 non-district win.

The Raiders got a run in the first inning as Jacob Langham led off with a double and scored on a Nathaniel Tate fielder’s choice.  The Raiders scored 3 more runs in the 4^th inning using 3 hits and an error by Central Magnet.  Davis Green got the start on the hill and got credit for the win.

Coffee County finished the regular season with a record of 15 and 13 which represents the first regular season winning record for the Red Raider baseball team since 2010.

Earlier on Tuesday, it was announced that Cade Giles had been named the District 8AAA Most Valuable Player.  Additionally, 3 Red Raiders were named to the All-District team and 2 Red Raiders were named honorable mention.  Named to the All-District team were: Giles, Noah Anderson and Jacob Langham.  Receiving honorable mention were Grant Sadler and Nathaniel Tate.

Coffee County opens District 8AAA tournament play on Thursday night at Powers Field.  Coffee County will take on the winner of Wednesday’s play-in game between Lincoln County and Tullahoma.  First pitch is set for 6 PM, Thunder Radio will be on hand to bring you all the action.  Lucky Knott kicks off Thunder Radio’s exclusive coverage with the pregame show at 5:50.

John Parigger of CHS Soccer(Photo by Pascale Randolph)

The Coffee County CHS soccer team continued their post season tune-up tour on Tuesday night at Warren County.  For the second night in a row, Coach Robert Harper substituted liberally to keep his starters fresh for next week’s district tournament.  After a nip and tuck first half, the Red Raiders roared to a 7 to 0 win.

Coffee County got on the board early when Paco Barrera scored in the 3^rd minute off an assist from Chase Harper and Briggs Haithcock.  Breyer Taylor added an unassisted goal in the 17^th minute to give the Red Raiders a 2 to 0 lead they would carry into the half.  In the first minute of the second half, John Parigger made a diving save in goal to stop a sure Warren County goal.  That seemed to spark Coffee County as the Raiders tallied goals in the 43^rd minute(Taylor with assists by Harper and Parigger), 53^rd minute(Warren County own goal off a crossing pass by Pablo Leiva), 55^th minute(Ben Reid on a long free kick), 57^th minute(Ethan Abplanalp with an assist from Parigger) and in the 69^th minute by Parigger, who had moved out of goal to a forward position.

Coffee County closes out the regular season on Thursday night when they travel to Smithville to take on DeKalb County.  That match is set to begin at 7 PM.  The Red Raiders will open District 8AAA Tournament play on Tuesday when they play host to the winner of this weekend’s quarterfinal matchup between Lawrence County and Franklin County.  Tuesday’s match will get underway at 7 PM and will be held at the Raider Soccer Field behind the Raider Academy.

Tyler Rigney of CCMS tennis

The Coffee County Middle School tennis teams hosted Lewisburg on Tuesday in their final match of the year.  The Raiders and Lady Raiders were each looking to finish out the season with an undefeated record.  The Red Raiders won by a final score of 5 to 2.  The Lady Raiders lost 5 to 4.

The Red Raiders got wins in singles play from Jaden Talley(6-3), Luke Irwin(7-5), Landon Booth(6-4) and Tyler Rigney(6-3).  The doubles team of Rigney and Booth won their doubles match 6 love.  The Red Raiders finished the season with a final record of 10-0-1.

The Lady Raiders struggled in singles play only capturing 2 wins out of 6 matches.  Jayda Wright(6 to 3) and Wren Lawson(6 to 4) had the wins for Coffee Middle.  The teams of Sydney Bell/ Lucy Riddle(6 to 6/7 – 4 in tiebreaker) and Wren Lawson/Paige Meadows(7-5) got doubles wins.  The Lady Raiders finish the season with a record of 10 and 1 on the year.

Coffee County Middle School tennis is coached by Tiffany McCormick.