Category: Sports

Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman as part of an offensive outburst in a 14-4 victory over the Braves on Wednesday night at SunTrust Park.

Washington collected a season-high 20 hits and continued its dominance over Atlanta, improving to 31-9 against its National League East rival since the start of the 2015 season.
“We had a big offensive night, especially out of Bryce and out of Zim, and when you get 20 hits, it’s almost everybody,” Nationals manager Dusty Baker said.
Harper extended his mastery of Julio Teheran, drilling a first-inning solo shot and adding a second-inning grand slam to secure the 12th multi-homer game of his career. He notched a four-hit game, and Zimmerman recorded his sixth career grand slam off Ian Krol in the eighth inning. That provided some comfort for Joe Ross, who endured a two-run first before settling in and limiting the Braves to three runs over seven frames in his season debut.
The visitors tallied seven earned runs over just four innings against Teheran. Harper, who has hit .455 (15-for-33) with seven homers in his career against the Braves’ ace, caused most of the damage.
“[Harper] is real hot right now, obviously, and Julio was a little off and we got hurt,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “But with that being said, when he left, we were in the game. The eighth inning was what killed us. I was still feeling good at 7-3. We had two at-bats left. Who knows what might happen? The way these guys keep fighting, that eighth inning was toughest to [swallow], more than the early innings when you have time to come back.”
Freddie Freeman became the first player in Atlanta Braves history to reach safely in 12 consecutive plate appearances when he hit a third-inning solo home run that traveled an estimated 420 feet with a 102-mph exit velocity, per Statcast™.
Harper drilled the first pitch he saw — a 90.7-mph fastball — an estimated 388 feet with a 103-mph exit velocity, according to Statcast™, over the right-center-field wall with two outs in the first inning. While that solo shot might not have been a home run at Turner Field, which had a 390-foot power alley in right-center, his grand slam was a no-doubter as it traveled 415 feet with a 106-mph exit velocity.
“I just try to have good at-bats and try to get pitches over the plate that I can drive and not look at who I’m facing that day or what he’s going to do to me or anything like that,” Harper said. “Just trying to see a pitch and try to drive it as best I can, and hopefully good things will happen.”
It looked like Ross might be in trouble when he retired just one of the first five batters faced and allowed RBI singles to both Nick Markakis and Brandon Phillips. But he ended the first-inning threat on Adonis Garcia’s fifth double-play groundout of the season. Ross showed some poise as he retired 14 of the final 15 batters faced after Freeman’s home run.
“I just tried to keep my breaking ball down,” Ross said. “The first few innings, I hung a few sliders that they hit early in the count. So they kind of took advantage of that. But after that, I just tried to work quick, get ground-ball outs, work on my sinker, and it kind of paid off.”
After hitting a pair of long balls on Wednesday, Harper now has 30 home runs in the season’s first month (March/April) since 2013, tying Justin Upton for the most in the Majors during that span.
Stephen Strasburg will try to continue his early-season success as the Nationals go for a sweep of the Braves in Thursday’s series finale. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. CT.  Matt Kemp is expected to return to the lineup when Atlanta sends R.A. Dickey to the mound on Thursday. Kemp has been sidelined since April 7 with a strained left hamstring.

The Nashville Sounds blasted three home runs in a come-from-behind 9-8 win over the Oklahoma City Dodgers Wednesday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.
Chris Parmelee, Ryan Lavarnway, and Matt Olson all launched homers to erase a 6-2 deficit and allow the Sounds (5-8) to win consecutive games for only the second time in 2017.
Parmelee’s blast gave the Sounds an early 2-0 lead in the first inning, but starter Daniel Gossett couldn’t hold the advantage. The Dodgers (7-7) scored a run in the first, and then exploded for four in the second to take a controlling 5-2 lead after a pair of innings.
The Dodgers’ Darnell Sweeney extended the lead to 6-2 with a solo homer off Gossett in the third. The right-hander allowed six earned runs but didn’t factor into the decision.
The comeback started in the fifth when Lavarnway drilled his first homer of the season – a solo blast to straightaway center field to trim the deficit to 6-3.
Kenny Wilson continued the inning with a base hit to left field, and a stolen base. Melvin Mercedes then hit a bouncer to short, but Charlie Culberson’s throw to third was late where Wilson slid in safely.
It hurt moments later when Dodgers starter Jair Jurrjens self-inflicted with a balk to push Wilson home, and a bases loaded walk to force home Mercedes to make it 6-5.
Olson helped even the game in the sixth when he started the inning with a single. He stole second and scored on a two-out base hit by Mercedes to tie the game at 6-6.
More two-out hitting was present in the seventh when Renato Nuñez rifled a double down the left field line to score Joey Wendle all the way from first. Wendle went 1-for-5 in his first game on MLB rehab assignment.
Olson followed with a titantic two-run homer to give Nashville a 9-6 lead. Olson finished 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI and a pair of runs scored.
While the offense was clicking, Nashville relievers went to work. Tyler Sturdevant and Aaron Kurcz combined to toss 2 2/3 scoreless innings to keep the Sounds in the game.
However, Oklahoma City didn’t make it easy down the stretch. Bobby Wilson’s RBI double off Ross Detwiler made it a 9-7 game in the eighth. Detwiler and Simon Castro combined on a scoreless eighth, but Cody Bellinger’s second homer of the night cut the lead to 9-8 in the ninth.
The Dodgers put the tying run at second base, but Castro buckled down and struck out Willie Calhoun to end the game.
Every Sounds player in the starting lineup had at least one hit while Nuñez and Olson had multi-hit games.
Game three of the four-game series is set for Thursday night in Oklahoma City. Right-hander Corey Walter makes his Triple-A debut for the Sounds against right-hander Joe Gunkel (0-0, 0.00) for the Dodgers. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

>  CHS Soccer defeated Columbia – 1 to 0

>  WMS Baseball HOSTS Moore County – PPD until 4/19

>  CCMS Baseball HOSTS Tullahoma – PPD until 4/25

>  CCMS Softball HOSTS Tullahoma – PPD until 4/25

>  CCMS Tennis at Warren County – PPD, makeup date is TBD

>  CHS Softball HOSTS Shelbyville – PPD, makeup date is TBD

>  CHS Tennis HOSTS Lincoln County – Cancelled, NO makeup

>  CHS Baseball HOSTS Forrest – Cancelled, NO makeup

>  CCMS Track Meet – Cancelled, NO makeup

Briggs Haithcock of CHS soccer

The Coffee County CHS soccer team hit the road on Tuesday for a crucial district match against Columbia.  Battling a talented Lions team, Coffee County was looking to notch their 4th district win in a row.  An early goal in the 2^nd half proved to be enough as Coffee County prevailed in a 1 nil nail biter.

After the 2 teams battled to a scoreless tie in the 1^st half, Briggs Haithcock got the Raiders on the board in the 43^rd minute with an unassisted goal to give Coffee County a 1 to 0 lead.  The Red Raider defense made that goal stand up as Coffee County improved to 4 and 0 on the year in district play.  John Parigger got the win in the pipes as his defense kept the Columbia offensive chances to a minimum.  The Raiders did have to defend several corner kicks, but the defense was up to the challenge.

The Raiders return home on Friday to tangle with Tullahoma for the Coffee Cup Trophy.  That rivalry match gets underway at 7:45 PM at Raider Soccer Field.

It was a new setting but a familiar result for Max Scherzer and the Nationals, who used a two-run fifth inning to mar Mike Foltynewicz’s strong start and claim a 3-1 win over the streaking Braves on Tuesday night at SunTrust Park.

Scherzer extended his early-season success as he recorded seven strikeouts and allowed just two hits over seven scoreless innings. His effort helped the Nationals improve to 16-4 since the start of 2016 against the Braves, who had won five straight games, including each of the previous four played within their new ballpark.
“Against a guy like [Scherzer], you hope you can run his pitch count up and get him out of the game and try the bullpen because he’s really good,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “It’s a tough matchup, but we hung in there and gave ourselves a chance at the end.”
The Braves made things interesting in the ninth as Nationals closer Blake Treinen allowed two hits and issued two walks, including one to Kurt Suzuki, before exiting with one out. Shawn Kelley ended the drama in a unique manner when he induced Emilio Bonifacio’s weak flyout to right and then twice completed a strikeout of Chase d’Arnaud.
As the ground crew brought the tractors around the warning track and the visitors were shaking hands, home-plate umpire CB Bucknor ruled d’Arnaud foul-tipped what had appeared to be the last pitch of the game.
“I was celebrating and happy and high-fiving everybody,” Kelley said. “And then when I saw the umps talking I said, ‘OK, I think this is going to go bad. We’re probably going to have to throw another pitch.’ So I kind of stepped back to the back of the mound for a minute while everybody was kind of getting back into position.”
After d’Arnaud got a second life on a pitch he said he didn’t feel he tipped, Kelley threw him the exact same pitch, a slider that d’Arnaud swung at and missed for what truly proved to be the game’s final pitch. The Nationals escaped with a victory, but they were not happy with the way the final out went down, especially left fielder Jayson Werth who was restrained by his teammates to avoid a confrontation with Buckner.
“What happens if that guy gets a hit and ties it up, and then we play all night?” Werth said. “That affects the rest of the season. It just blows my mind, it really does. I can’t really say what I want to say.”
Wilmer Difo and Adam Eaton recorded RBI singles during the decisive two-run fifth inning against Foltynewicz, who gave up just the two runs on five hits over seven frames. The Braves’ right-hander retired each of the final seven batters faced, but he didn’t gain any offensive support as Scherzer permitted just two baserunners to advance past first base.
Foltynewicz began the fifth inning with a first-pitch changeup that Matt Wieters drilled into the right-field corner for a double. Difo followed with an RBI single and scored when Eaton hit a changeup on the outside corner to center field to give the Nationals a 2-0 lead. The flustered Braves starter walked the next two batters faced, but he escaped without incurring further damage when Ender Inciarte caught Daniel Murphy’s long drive in front of the right-center-field wall. More >
After Nick Markakis followed Freddie Freeman’s leadoff walk with a bloop single in the fourth inning, Brandon Phillips hit into a fielder’s choice and Adonis Garcia grounded into his team-high fourth double play. The only other baserunner to reach second base against Scherzer was Jace Peterson, who walked to begin the third before being stranded when Dansby Swanson struck out for the second time on the night.
“We had one opportunity where we could have gotten something against him, and he shut us down and then he got even more fired up and kept going,” Freeman said. “When he’s out there throwing [114] pitches and he’s still throwing 95 [mph], you know it’s going to be a tough game.”
After recording four extra-base hits, including a pair of homers on Monday night, Freeman opened this series by going 2-for-2 with a pair of walks. The Braves’ first baseman has reached safely in each of his past 10 plate appearances dating back to Sunday and is hitting .577 (15-for-26) over his past eight games.
Julio Teheran will take the mound when Atlanta and Washington resume the three-game series on Wednesday night at 6:35 pm CDT.  Teheran has allowed three earned runs or fewer in each of his seven career home starts against the Nationals.

The Nashville Sounds used a balanced offensive attack and a solid performance from starter Zach Neal on the way to a series-opening 5-3 win over the Oklahoma City Dodgers Tuesday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.
Nashville (4-8) busted out of an offensive funk and put up nine hits and drew four walks to give Neal some overdue run support. The right-hander responded with 5 2/3 innings of two-run ball to pick up his first win of the season. Neal limited Oklahoma City (7-6) to six hits, didn’t walk a batter, and struck out five.
After Neal and Oklahoma City starter Justin Masterson exchanged zeros in the first inning, the Sounds got to Masterson in the second.
Chris Parmelee drew a walk and Renato Nuñez singled to put a pair of runners on for Matt Olson who knocked in the first run of the game with a sharp single to right field.
Olson scored a run of his own when Masterson uncorked a wild pitch, and Franklin Barreto added a sacrifice fly to give the Sounds a 3-0 cushion.
They added to the lead in the fourth with timely two-out hitting. Melvin Mercedes fired up the rally with a two-out double to right-center. Barreto reached on an error, Andrew Lambo walked, and Mark Canha made it hurt with a two-run single to left field to make it a 5-0 game.
The run support was a welcome site for Neal and the pitching staff. Over the recent six-game homestand, Nashville scored a total of eight runs.
Neal breezed through the first three innings, racking up three strikeouts in the process. O’Koyea Dickson broke up the shutout with an RBI triple in the fourth, and Alex Verdugo followed with a sacrifice fly to pull the Dodgers within 5-2.
The bullpen did the trick the rest of the way as Tucker Healy, Josh Smith, and Bobby Wahl slammed the door. Healy inherited a runner in the sixth and got Brett Eibner on a bounce out to end the frame. He then struck out a pair in a scoreless seventh.
Smith followed suit with a pair of strikeouts in a scoreless eighth before handing off to Wahl. The hard-throwing closer allowed a one-out solo homer to Bobby Wilson but earned the save.
Nuñez and Canha had multi-hit games while every Sounds player in the lineup reached base at least once.
Game two of the four-game series is scheduled for Wednesday night. Right-hander Daniel Gossett (0-1, 4.00) starts for Nashville against right-hander Jair Jurrjens (1-0, 1.50) for Oklahoma City. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.

> CCMS Tennis vs. Tullahoma – Girls won 5 to 0, and Boys tied 2 to 2
> CCMS Soccer lost to Tullahoma – 4 to 0
> CHS Softball defeated Franklin County – 11 to 5
> CHS Tennis HOSTS Tullahoma – Match postponed, to be concluded on Wednesday
> CCMS/WMS Golf HOSTS Tullahoma & Webb at Willowbrook – PPD, Rescheduled for May 8th
> CCMS Baseball at Tullahoma – PPD, Rescheduled for April 24
> CCMS Softball at Tullahoma – PPD, Make-up date TBD
> WMS vs Riverside Christian – DRVC Tournament in Shelbyville – PPD, Rescheduled for Friday at 4 PM
> CHS Baseball at Forrest – Cancelled, will not be made up
> CHS Soccer vs. Marshall Co – Cancelled, will not be made up

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

After their longest break of the season, the Coffee County Central High School softball team returned to action on Monday in Winchester against Franklin County.  The Lady Raiders, fighting off some rust from the layoff, used a pair of home runs in extra innings to get the 11 to 5 win.  The win gives Coffee County a season sweep over the improved Rebelettes.

After trailing 3 to 2 entering the 6^th inning, Coffee County tied the game in the 6^th inning and took a 2 run lead in the 7^th inning.  Franklin County tied the game in the bottom of the 7^th inning and had the winning run at 3^rd when the Lady Raiders got out of the jam.  In the 8^th inning, Coffee County scored 6 runs powered by a solo home run by Lauren Tomberlin and a grand slam by Tori Bell.

The Lady Raiders hammered out 21 hits on the night.  Raven Rogers led the hit parade with 4 singles.  Haley Hinshaw finished with 2 doubles and a single and Katie Rutledge had 3 hits and 3 RBI with 2 singles and a double.  Tomberlin, Kaylee Skipper, Gracie Pippenger, Kasarah Scheller and Ashlynn Morton all had 2 hits.

The Lady Raiders return to Terry Floyd Field on Tuesday for another district contest, this time against Shelbyville.  Thunder Radio will be on hand to bring you all the action.  First pitch is set for 7 PM and Lucky Knott begins our broadcast with the pregame show at 6:50.

Filip Forsberg

Kevin Fiala has put the Chicago Blackhawks on the brink.

Filip Forsberg scored twice in the third period and Fiala ended it in overtime as the Nashville Predators came back to defeat the Blackhawks by a 3-2 final in Game Three on Monday night at Bridgestone Arena to take a commanding 3-0 series lead. Nashville trailed 2-0 headed into the third period, but two goals from Forsberg changed everything before Fiala ended it shortly after midnight on Tuesday morning.

It now gives Nashville a chance to sweep the Blackhawks on Thursday night, a task that won’t be easy, but is certainly doable.

“It’s a big win for us, but we have to come back with the same mindset,” defenseman Ryan Ellis said. “They played a very good game, and we clawed and fought our way back in overtime.”

Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne kept his shutout streak alive through the first 20 minutes, including a desperation save after a dump-in took a carom off a stanchion and turned right for the net. Rinne, who had already vacated the goal in an attempt to play the puck, dove back with no time to spare and got his stick on the puck just enough to change the trajectory, one of the more remarkable saves in recent memory.

The Blackhawks finally solved Rinne in the second period, however, as Dennis Rasmussen and Patrick Kane gave Chicago a 2-0 lead after two, ending Rinne’s shutout streak at 141:05, the longest in postseason franchise history. But the Predators weren’t about to give up.

“We found ourselves down a lot this year going into third periods, and for whatever reason, we seem to play our best when we’re down,” Ellis said. “You never want to be down, but when we are down we’re pretty comfortable playing from behind.”

Unlike the previous two contests, it was Nashville looking for their first goal of the game in the third, and Forsberg tallied twice, beating Corey Crawford to even the score at 2-2 and force overtime. Once in the extra session, the Predators kept buzzing, and Fiala ended it at 16:44 of OT to give his club a 3-0 series lead.

“We were focusing on just getting one and getting on the scoreboard,” Rinne said. “A lot of times that helps and opens the game up… I think that’s what happened when we scored the first one and we stuck with it.

“When it’s a sudden death OT, it’s a great feeling [to get a win]. There’s a lot of adrenaline and it’s a big relief.”

The win in front of the home crowd made it that much sweeter, and Head Coach Peter Laviolette summed up the atmosphere within Bridgestone Arena to perfection.

“It was a 10,” Laviolette said. “I’m not sure there’s another place like it.”

The third time was the charm.

After Kevin Fiala was unable to convert on two glorious chances on Corey Crawford, he didn’t miss again. After another shift in the Chicago zone, James Neal found the fleet-footed winger, and Fiala tucked a backhander past the outstretched glove of Corey Crawford to send the Nashville faithful into a frenzy shortly after the clock had struck midnight.

And for Fiala, who was one of Nashville’s best players all night long, it was a perfect exclamation point to end the evening.

“I think it’s the team, just the character,” Fiala said of the night. “Everybody, when we went in [the locker room] after the third period, we could feel it, we were going to do it. Everybody believed in it, just working hard. From the first to the last guy, we knew we were going to do it.”

Fiala’s head coach continues to gain confidence to utilize him in different situations, and the opportunities throughout the night told the story in Game Three.

“That’s good for him,” Laviolette said of Fiala. “He’s a young kid. He’s in a big situation like that, and I thought he handled it well tonight. You talk about experiences you grow and learn from, whether they’re coming back in the third period or not – a young player like Kevin – I thought that he played a really good game tonight… Some of his best chances were in this game in overtime. The last goal was a really patient goal. To wait it out like that – it was nice to see.”

Notes:

The Predators have now won three consecutive postseason games at Bridgestone Arena in overtime, dating back to last season in the Second Round against San Jose.

Monday marked Filip Forsberg’s second career multi-goal postseason performance.

Nashville’s lineup remained unchanged from the previous two games of the series.

Game Four between the Predators and Blackhawks comes on Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena, a 7 p.m. CT start.

Jayda Wright of CCMS tennis

The Coffee County Middle School tennis teams put their perfect season records on the line on Monday as they traveled to Tullahoma to take on the Wildcats.  In a match shortened due to lightning in the area, the Raiders got an overall team win.  The boys battled to a 2 to 2 tie.  The Lady Raiders swept Tullahoma 4 to 0.

For the Red Raiders, Tyler Rigney got a 6 to 0 win in singles play.  Landon Booth was ahead in his match to give the Raiders the tie.

The Lady Raiders got singles wins from Jayda Wright(6 to 0), Anna Amado(6 to 2), Lucy Riddle(6 to 0), Wren Lawson(6 to 1) and Paige Meadows(4 to 0)  for the 5 to 0 win.

The Raider netters return to action on Tuesday when they travel to McMinnville to take on Warren County.  That match gets underway at 4 PM.