Category: Sports

The Coffee County Central High School volleyball team completed the season sweep of Tullahoma on Tuesday night with a 4 set win over the Lady Cats in Tullahoma. The Lady Cats did not go down without a fight as they took the first set 25 to 20 before the Lady Raiders rallied to take the next 3 sets. Coffee County won by set scores of: 20-25, 25-22, 25-16 and 25-17.
Aerial William continued her sterling senior season as she led Coffee County with 6 blocks. Those 6 blocks give her 97 career blocks which makes her the all time blocks record holder for Coffee County. Aerial also added 8 kills and an ace on the night to go with her 6 blocks. Baylee Nester had 8 kills while Kaylee Skipper had 6 kills and led the team in aces with 8. Bailey Morgan led Coffee County in assists with 10 while Tyana Fenton led the Lady Raiders in digs with 8.
They Lady Raiders travel to Murfreesboro on Thursday to take on Middle Tennessee Christian. First serve is set for 6 PM.

It might be by their fingertips, but the Marlins are still clinging to postseason hopes. Christian Yelich knocked a two-run double and Ichiro Suzuki collected two hits, an RBI and a run scored as Miami held off the Braves, 7-5, on Tuesday night at Turner Field.

A night after rallying back from seven down to pull even only to lose, 12-7, the Marlins overcame a two-run deficit in the first inning after Freddie Freeman homered off Jake Esch.

Ichiro’s leadoff triple jump-started a three-run fifth, which put Miami in front to stay. Marcell Ozuna and Justin Bour produced RBI singles in the inning. But Atlanta closed the gap to 6-5 on Nick Markakis’ two-out RBI single in a two-run seventh.
The speed of Miami’s pinch-runner, Yefri Perez, enabled the Marlins to add an insurance run in the eighth. Running for Bour, Perez dashed home on Chris Withrow’s two-out wild pitch.
Freeman’s two-run homer extended his hitting streak to 19 games, and the first baseman reached 30 home runs for the first time in his career. Matt Kemp homered off Esch in the fourth.
A three-run lead nearly slipped away for Miami in the seventh inning, after Atlanta scored twice. Kyle Barraclough had trouble finding the strike zone, inheriting one on and two outs from Mike Dunn, who relieved Austin Brice. Barraclough walked Kemp before Markakis delivered an RBI single. After Tyler Flowers walked, Barraclough retired Jace Peterson on a fielder’s choice grounder, preserving a 6-5 lead. In the fourth inning, it was Justin Nicolino who got out of a bases-full, two-out jam, retiring Ender Inciarte on one pitch, inducing a comebacker.
Bash bros: Freeman quickly ignited the Braves’ offense with his two-run homer in the first inning. The blast, which left his bat at 109 mph and traveled 416 feet according to Statcast™, tied the first baseman with Kemp for the team lead with 30 home runs and gave Atlanta its first pair of batters with 30 or more homers in a season since Andruw Jones and Adam LaRoche in 2006. Kemp quickly regained the lead, however, as he hit a solo shot to lead off the fourth. The homer, which had an exit velocity of 108 mph and went 434 feet, marked the left fielder’s fifth in his past 13 games. During that span, he’s batting .368 (21-for-57) with 13 RBIs.

The Coffee County golf teams hosted their final home match of the year on Monday as the Red Raiders and the Lady Raiders honored their 4 seniors. Immediately afterwards, Coffee County took on Warren County, Sale Creek and Tullahoma in a 9 hole match. The Lady Raiders took care of Sale Creek and Warren County while the Red Raiders were swept in their match with Tullahoma and Warren County
The Lady Raiders honored seniors Savannah Quick and Sophie Vinson prior to the shotgun start of their match with Sale Creek and Warren County. Ashley Gilliam shot the low round of the day firing an even par 36. Savannah Quick added a 40 while Sophie Vinson finished with a 43 to give the Lady Raiders a team score of 76. Sale Creek finished in 2nd place with a 02 and Warren County was 3rd at 105. The win improves the Lady Raiders record to 44 and 3.
The Red Raiders honored seniors John Parigger and Matthew Wright prior to the match. Parigger promptly went out and shot an even par 36 but it was not enough to claim the win as the Red Raiders finished with a team score of 159. Tullahoma won the match with a score of 147 while Warren County finished at 154. Reid Lawrence added a 40, Samuel Prater shot a 41, Austin Farris had a 42 and Matthew Wright finished with a 43.
The CHS golf teams will travel to the Bear Trace Golf Course at Tims Ford on Thursday for a matchup with district foes Lincoln County, Franklin County and Tullahoma. That 18 hole match will tee off at 1 PM.

The Coffee County Lady Raider volleyball team got a 4 set win over Fayetteville on Monday night in a non-district contest in Fayetteville.  The Lady Raiders served well and dominated the net to win by set scores of: 25-23, 25-16, 17-25 and 25-15.  The Lady Raiders served 20 aces and had 35 kills to dominate the match.

Bailey Morgan led Coffee County in aces with 5 and kills with 10.  Rachel Henley led the team in assists with 12 while Tyana Fenton led the Lady Raiders in digs with 10.  Baylee Nester had 4 aces and 7 kills, while Lindsey Perry added 8 kills and a block.

The win improves Coffee County’s record to 13 and 9 overall.  The Lady Raiders are back on the road Tuesday as they travel to take on Tullahoma in a district rivalry contest.  That match is set to get underway at 6 PM at Tullahoma High School.

An early goal for Westwood proved to be more than enough for the win on Monday as the Lady Rockets dropped Fayetteville 3 to 0 in a home conference match.  A first half goal by Brittney Hernandez and second half goals from Faith Willoughby and Anna Johnson powered Westwood to the conference win.

Hernandez opened the scoring in the 15^th minute with a goal as Westwood’s offense controlled the time of possession.  Westwood keeper Anna Coker did not face a shot on frame in the first half as the Lady Rockets took the fight to the visiting Lady Tigers.  In the second half, Willoughby connected on a penalty kick and Johnson added Westwood’s 3^rd goal in the 43^rd minute.  Coker finished the night with a pair of saves.  The win improves the Lady Rockets record to 2 and 3 overall and 2 and 1 in conference play.

The Lady Rockets are back in action on Tuesday night when they play host to Community in a 5 PM contest.  Thunder Radio will be on hand to bring you the broadcast as part of our 1^st National Bank Hometown Sports Series.    We begin with the pregame show at 4:50 PM.

After a shaky start, the Coffee County Middle School soccer team was able to dispatch North Franklin on Monday night in Winchester. The Lady Gators got an early goal before Coffee County battled back for the 2 to 1 win in the conference matchup.
After giving up a goal in the 8th minute, the Lady Raiders got the benefit of a fortunate bounce off of a corner kick that ended up in the North Franklin goal in the 15th minute. Reagan Ellison added Coffee County’s game winning goal in the 29th minute to send the match to the half at 2 to 1. In the second half, Coffee County was able to change their defensive alignment to shut down any North Franklin comeback attempt.
The Lady Raiders travel to Sparta on Thursday night for a conference match-up with White County. That match will kick off at 5:30 PM.

The Coffee County Middle School volleyball team won their 5th match in a row on Monday with an exciting 3 set win over Eagleville. The Lady Raiders won by set scores of 25-14, 16-25 and 16-14. The Lady Raiders had to fight off 2 match points in the 3rd set to gain the win.  Lauren Brandt led the Lady Raiders in aces with 5 while Kiya Ferrell led in kills with 5.
The Lady Raiders are back in action on Thursday when they play host to White County. That match gets underway at 5 PM at the Coffee County Middle School Gym.

The Coffee County Youth Bass Club kicked off the fall season on Saturday with a club fishing tournament on Nickajack Lake. The club tournament allows the members to fish against one another to build points toward earning a state tournament bid in the spring. The club also awards prizes to members.
The boat of Colby Thurmond and Braeden Thurmond came in first place with a total of 2.04 pounds. That was just barely enough to edge out the second place boat of Taylor Fletcher and Blake Mangrum who had a total weight of 2.02 lbs. The big fish award went to Braeden Thurmond who tipped the scales at 2.04 pounds for his bass.
Club members will have the opportunity to return to Nickajack this Saturday to compete in the Tennessee Bass Nation trail event. The next club event is scheduled for October 15th at Tims Ford. For more information about the Coffee County Youth Bass Club, you can check out their Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/Coffee-County-Youth-Bass-Club-1227052340639230/?fref=ts

After squandering a seven-run lead, the Braves still found a way to frustrate the Marlins. Nick Markakis homered in the second and added the go-ahead RBI double in the sixth inning that lifted Atlanta to a 12-7 victory on Monday at Turner Field.

The Marlins were mounting what would have been their biggest comeback win of the season, pulling even in the sixth on Giancarlo Stanton’s pinch-hit sacrifice fly. But Atlanta regained the lead in the bottom half on Markakis’ two-out double off Brian Ellington and tacked on four more runs through the eighth.
“When you get out to a 7-0 lead, you don’t really think they’re going to come back,” Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman said after going 3-for-4 on his 27th birthday. “They came back and came back fast. The bullpen after Folty went down really stepped up big for us. We were able to score some runs off some pretty tough pitchers.”
Tyler Flowers drove in a game-high four RBIs as the Braves improved to 9-4 in the season series and delivered another blow to Miami’s shrinking postseason chances. The Marlins had a chance to gain ground on the Cardinals and Mets in the National League Wild Card race but instead fell to 71-73 and remained five games back on a night they could have gotten back to .500.
“It felt kind of like those NBA games when you get down by 20, 25, and then they catch up and you’re out of gas,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “I’m not quite sure that’s what happened, but we weren’t quite able to stop them. You’re only going to be able to come back so many times.”
Marlins starter Andrew Cashner has been dealing with blister-related issues for weeks, and several times he was checking the finger between pitches, but Cashner said it was a non-issue. It was the Braves that repeatedly applied the pressure, tagging the right-hander for seven runs on six hits in two-plus innings. Since being acquired from the Padres in late July, Cashner’s ERA with Miami is 6.13, with 27 earned runs in 39 2/3 innings.
“I definitely have got to be a lot better,” Cashner said. “I didn’t really locate at all tonight. We’re still in the hunt. I’ve got to definitely pitch better. Tonight was probably my worst outing of the season. It was a nice job by the offense to pick us up, get us back in the game. Just couldn’t find a way.”
Ender Inciarte tripled to open the first and scored. In Atlanta’s five-run third, Inciarte doubled to lead off the inning. All five batters Cashner faced reached and scored.
In the fourth, the Marlins scored five runs off Mike Foltynewicz, who exited in the inning with a left calf contusion after he was struck by Marcell Ozuna’s comeback liner. Miami tied it with two in the sixth inning on Martin Prado’s RBI single and Stanton’s pinch-hit sacrifice fly.
When Ryan Weber replaced Foltynewicz in the fourth inning, he toed the rubber with two outs and the bases loaded. The 26-year-old right-hander remained poised, however, and escaped the jam by getting Justin Bour to fly out to center field. The Braves’ bullpen ultimately allowed only two runs over 5 1/3 innings, as Jim Johnson capped the strong showing by retiring the Marlins in order in the ninth and effectively picking up Foltynewicz after he unraveled in the fourth.
“It was outstanding, all of them,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said about his relievers. “[Weber] just getting that [flyout]. It’s not the greatest matchup in the world against that lumberjack [Bour], so that was huge. And then all of them just kind of picked each other up. [Chaz Roe] did a great job coming in and allowing only one [inherited] run — I think is all in his inning, and then [Gordon Beckham] made a great play up the middle for the double play to get [Mauricio Cabrera] out of trouble. The bullpen did a great job, and defensively there in the infield, we did a great job.”
Ichiro Suzuki reached another milestone in Miami’s five-run fourth inning. When Ichiro delivered a two-out RBI single to right, it was his second hit of the game, and career No. 3,024, which moved him past Lou Brock (3,023) into 25th place on Major League Baseball’s all-time hits list. The hit was a meaningful one because it closed the Marlins’ gap to 7-3, and the team tacked on two more runs. Ichiro finished with three hits, running his count up to 3,025. More >
Markakis padded Atlanta’s early 1-0 lead with a homer to lead off the second. The blast marked the right fielder’s ninth in his previous 224 at-bats. The 32-year-old walked in his following plate appearance before scoring the final run in the

Then, with two outs and a runner on second in the sixth, Markakis strolled to the plate with the score tied at 7 and delivered an RBI double that gave Atlanta the lead for good. The at-bat marked Markakis’ 86th of the season with two outs and runners in scoring position and raised his average to .279 in such situations. No batter in the Majors had more than 72 at-bats with two outs and RISP entering Monday.
“It was definitely a game where you could get lax and let them run away with it, but we continued to battle and put up good at-bats,” Flowers said. “It seemed like we did a real good job situationally, getting guys over and getting them in. It was a good day taking advantage [of situations]. It wasn’t the best day for pitching on either side, but we found a way to win.”
Off the bench, Derek Dietrich gave the Marlins a boost. In the five-run fourth inning, Dietrich had a pinch-hit RBI single. Dietrich, who attended Georgia Tech, also opened the seventh with a single. At the time, the Marlins were down, 8-7, and he represented the tying run. A key play in the seventh was turned by Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman, who made a diving stop on Dee Gordon’s sharp grounder. Dietrich advanced to second with one out, but he was stranded.
“That makes it, obviously, difficult to swallow,” Mattingly said. “You get to seven. You’re seven down and get back in it, and tie it, and actually have shots to go ahead. Then, not to be able to hold it down.”
Jake Esch (0-1, 4.82 ERA) makes his third Major League start at 6:10 p.m. CT on Tuesday in the middle of three games at Turner Field. The right-hander has been used in the rotation as a spot starter since David Phelps went on the disabled list with a left oblique strain.
Atlanta will counter with Matt Wisler, who will be making his first start since sustaining an oblique injury against the Padres on Aug. 31. The right-hander allowed three runs on a season-high 10 hits against the Marlins during the Fort Bragg Game on July 3.  Thunder Radio will bring you the action on the Atlanta Braves Radio Network immediately following our 1st National Bank Hometown Sports series broadcast of Westwood soccer tonight.

The air attack of Walker Valley proved to be effective against a depleted Red Raider secondary on Friday night as the visiting Mustangs dropped Coffee County 49 to 28.  The visitors from Bradley County used 4 passing touchdowns in the first half to build a 42 to 7 lead at intermission.  Coffee County was able to rally for 3 second half touchdowns but it was not enough to pick up the non-region win.

Coffee County was held to 110 yards of offense in the first half highlighted by a 55 yard touchdown run from Alontae Taylor.  Taylor also added a touchdown in the 3^rd quarter as Dearron Rozier and Silas Vaughn scored the other 2 touchdowns for the Red Raiders.  Vaughn, an offensive tackle, rumbled in from 18 yards with 2:41 left in the game as he scooped up an errant lateral and carried it in for the score.  For his head’s up play, Vaughn was named the Thunder Radio/Crazy Daisies player of the game.

Taylor led Coffee County in rushing with 183 yards on 22 carries and 2 TD’s.  Rozier finished with 83 yards on 15 carries and a score.   Coffee County will return to region action next Friday when they travel to Riverdale.  Kickoff is set for 7 PM.