Category: Sports

The spectacular high school tennis career of Maddie Taylor came to a close on Tuesday in the semifinals of the Region 4AAA singles tennis tournament at Columbia. Taylor, who finishes her career with a record of 46 and 9 in the last 3 years, lost in straight sets(1-6/1-6) to defending state quarter-finalist Kylie Humphrey of Oakland. Taylor, a 4 year starter for Coffee County, was one of 5 senior tennis players on this year’s team and helped lead the Lady Raiders to a District 8AAA title in 2015. Taylor was the lone qualifier for Coffee County in the region. The Coffee County tennis team is coached by Mike Ray.

Matt Olson delivered a clutch two-out hit to lift the Nashville Sounds to a 2-1 win and series sweep over the Fresno Grizzlies in front of 4,645 fans Tuesday night at First Tennessee Park.

Olson, who went 6-for-12 in the four-game series, hit a ground-rule double down the right field line to snap a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the sixth.

The Sounds trailed early when Fresno pushed a run across against Dillon Overton in the second. Max Stassi tripled to the wall in right-center and scored on a groundout by Andrew Aplin.

Outside of the early run, Overton was brilliant on the bump. The left-hander allowed just the one run on four hits in 6 2/3 innings. He issued one walk and matched a career-high eight strikeouts.

In the month of May, Nashville starters have covered over 100 innings and are 8-5 with a 2.52 ERA. They’ve collectively put together nine quality starts.

Andrew Lambo sparked a two-out rally in the fourth with a two-out single to right-center. Playing in his first Triple-A game, Ryon Healy tripled off the wall in right-center to score Lambo and even the game at 1-1. Just called up from Double-A Midland earlier in the day, Healy went 3-for-4 in his Sounds debut.

It remained tied until the sixth when Olson came through with the big hit. It was Jake Smolinski who started the inning with an infield single. He moved up to second on Healy’s third hit of the night, a single to right-center.

The stage was set for Olson who hit a smash down the right field line. The ball got stuck in the Fresno bullpen and was ruled a ground-rule double. Smolinski scored the go-ahead run and Healy was sent back to third base.

The lead held as Overton handed off to the bullpen for the final 2 1/3 innings. Ryan Brasier, Daniel Coulombe and J.B. Wendelken shut down Fresno the rest of the way.

At 20-19, the Sounds are over .500 for the first time in the 2016 season. The four-game sweep is the first since the Sounds swept the Las Vegas 51s on May 29-June 1 of last year.

The Sounds have a day off Wednesday before beginning a four-game series against the Sacramento River Cats on Thursday night at First Tennessee Park. Left-hander Eric Surkamp (1-1, 2.25) starts for Nashville. Sacramento has not named a starter. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.

The 2016 season is the Sounds’ 19th year in the Pacific Coast League and their second as the Oakland Athletics’ top affiliate. Tickets are available now by calling (615) 690-4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com.

3 big plays accounted for 3 Red Raider touchdowns as Coffee County closed out the spring football season with a 3 to 0 win over Franklin County on Monday in Winchester. The Red Raider defense was spectacular as Deaaron Rozier scampered 60 yards on a fumble recovery for a touchdown and Reese Pratt returned an interception 35 yards for a score. The Raider defense held the first string Rebel offense to 80 yards on 30 plays for a 2 .67 yards per play average. Additionally, the defense forced 6 fumbles and recovered 3 while intercepting 2 passes and had 7 negative yardage plays.
On offense, Alontae Taylor again showed his big play ability as he scampered 70 yards on a keeper for an apparent TD only to have it called back on a hold. Taylor also lined up outside and caught a 70 yard TD pass from Colton Prater for the 3rd Raider score.
Rozier finished the game with 69 yards on 7 carries. Talyor rushed 3 times for 9 yards and caught 1 pass for 70 yards and a TD. Tyrese McGee caught 3 passes for 53 yards to lead the receivers. At quarterback, Taylor was 2 for 4 passing for 48 yards while Prater was 3 for 5 for 105 yards, 1 touchdown and an interception.
After the scrimmage, Coach Sulkowski was pleased with his team’s effort after taking off for the previous 5 days. When asked about his impressions on the spring work, Sulkowski said that his team was “talented without a lot of depth.”
Coach Sulkowski on Deaaron Rozier’s performance

Coach Sulkowski on Alontae Taylor

Coach Sulkowski on Tyrese McGee

The 10U Longshots Baseball team based out of Manchester traveled to Pigeon Forge this past weekend to the Ripken Experience to participate in the Ripken Big Bend State Tournament.   On Saturday, the Longshots went 2-0 during pool play.   On Sunday in the single elimination portion of the tournament, the Longshots went 3 and 0 to claim the title.

On Sunday, the Longshots defeated the North Georgia Bulldogs 2-0 in the opening round game. In the semifinals, they dropped the Carolina Reds 8-1 for a berth in the championship game.  In the title game, the Longshots were matched up against Minion Baseball from North Carolina.   The Longshots brought home the championship by a score of 5-3.

The Longshots are now 23-4 on the season.  In the 7 tournaments they have competed in, the Longshots have captured 4 championship trophies and 2 championship runner up trophies.

The Braves rediscovered the long ball Monday night, but some early small ball and Matt Joyce’s late homer led the Pirates to an 8-5 win at PNC Park.

Given a rare start with Starling Marte on the paternity list, Joyce took advantage of the opportunity. The outfielder punctuated Pittsburgh’s three-run first inning with an RBI single to right field off Braves starter Williams Perez. In the seventh inning, he tagged his fifth homer, a two-run shot, into the right-field seats to cap a three-hit day.
“It felt good off the bat. I got it up in the air to right,” Joyce said. “It’s exciting for me to get in there, get some at-bats, play a couple days in a row.”
Left-hander Jonathon Niese made his second straight quality start, limiting Atlanta to two runs on five hits over six innings. He served up his 11th home run, a two-run blast by Jeff Francoeur, but otherwise kept the Braves off the board. Niese pitched particularly well with runners on base, an area he addressed by throwing his last two between-starts bullpen sessions out of the stretch.
“It helps me stay back and stay on line and keep myself under control,” Niese said. “Normally when you throw bullpens, you throw the majority of them out of the windup. … I thought that kind of helped me out today.”
The Braves kept it close with their first multi-homer performance since Opening Day, as Francoeur hit his first of the year in the sixth and Kelly Johnson launched a two-run shot to center off Cory Luebke in the eighth. Atlanta began the night with nine homers, 20 fewer than any other team and fewer than 13 players.
“It’s good to get a home run and get a zero off there, but at the same time, we were down so much,” said Johnson, who also picked up his first homer. “We did fight back. We definitely could have kept it a closer game, and then to have been able to see what would have happened would have been nice.”
The Pirates hit only one ball out of the infield in the first inning, but they still managed to quickly take a three-run lead. John Jaso walked, then Gregory Polanco and David Freese reached on consecutive infield singles to Braves shortstop Erick Aybar. Jaso scored on a wild pitch, Polanco came home on Francisco Cervelli’s RBI groundout and Freese scored on Joyce’s line-drive single to right field.
“We had some well-placed balls today. Not all of them were hit extremely hard, but we found grass, we moved the ball around,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “We weren’t trying to jump things, weren’t trying to pound the ball out of the ballpark. We were able to work a good young pitcher into some situations.”
After stranding a runner at third base during each of the first four innings, the Braves finally dented the scoreboard with Francoeur’s two-run shot in the sixth. It was Atlanta’s 10th home run (second with a runner on base) of the season and just the fourth hit by somebody other than Freddie Freeman. Johnson added a two-run shot in the eighth to give the Braves their first two-homer game since Freeman and Adonis Garcia homered within the first four innings of the Opening Day matchup against the Nationals’ Max Scherzer.
After being called up Monday afternoon, Alen Hanson made his Major League debut as a pinch-hitter in the sixth inning. The Pirates’ No. 10 prospect struck out against Perez, going down on four pitches. Hanson’s stay might be short, likely ending when Marte returns, but he still beamed before the game about the chance to realize his lifelong dream. So did his teammate and close friend Polanco.
“I’m very happy for him to be here. We have so much fun together,” Polanco said. “I’m very proud of him. I told him keep working and you’ll be able to stay here for a long time.”
Aybar’s defensive struggles extended as his limited range prevented him from turning two infield singles into outs during that first inning. But at the same time, Perez’s command was nowhere near as sharp as it had been when he limited the Phillies to two hits over eight innings last week. The right-hander was charged with six earned runs and nine hits over six innings. He posted an 11.21 ERA in the first four starts he made after completing his only other eight-inning effort last year.
“I thought [Perez] pitched well,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “He’s a contact guy. They made contact against him. I think at one point during the first inning, they had loaded the bases without a ball reaching the outfield. They were all ground balls just out of the reach of our infielders. But [Perez] gave us everything we had.”
It took the Braves 37 games to hit their 10th home run this season. They did not need more than 13 games to reach the double-digit mark during any of the previous six seasons: 2015 (10), ’14 (10), ’13 (five), ’12 (11), ’11 (13), ’10 (13).
The Pirates are 17-0 when leading after eight innings this year. Since the beginning of last season, the Bucs are 101-1 when leading after eight.
Aaron Blair will take the mound when the four-game series resumes on Tuesday at 6:05 p.m. CT. Blair completed at least five innings in each of his first three starts, but he lasted just 3 2/3 innings against the Phillies last week.  Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast of that game beginning at 6 PM on the Braves Radio Network.

The Nashville Sounds took full advantage of a huge error in the sixth inning on their way to a 4-1 win over the Fresno Grizzlies in front of 4,971 fans Monday night at First Tennessee Park.

With two outs and the bases loaded in a 0-0 game in the bottom of the sixth, Fresno left fielder Jon Kemmer dropped a fly ball hit by Rangel Ravelo that would have ended the inning. Chad Pinder, Renato Nunez and Jake Smolinski raced around to score the first three runs of the game.

For good measure, catcher Bryan Anderson rifled a double down the left field line to tack on a run and make it 4-0.

The offense was more than enough for Zach Neal and the bullpen. In his first appearance back with Nashville since making his major league debut on May 11, Neal picked up right where he left off.

The right-hander retired the first 10 batters he faced. He worked six innings and allowed one run on three hits. The lone run he allowed was a solo homer hit by Matt Duffy to start the top of the seventh inning.

Over his last three starts, Neal is 3-0 and has allowed only two runs in 21 1/3 innings. He lowered his ERA to 2.53 and improved to 5-1 with the win.

Tucker Healy came on to relieve Neal after he allowed the homer to Duffy and a walk to Jon Singleton. Healy recorded back-to-back strikeouts and retired Jack Mayfield on a pop out to end the inning.

Battling the rain that started in the second inning, Healy retired the side in order in the eighth. J.B. Wendelken took over in the ninth and struck out all three batters he faced to slam the door.

With their third straight win, and fifth in their last six games at First Tennessee Park, the Sounds are 19-19 and even at .500 for the first time since May 2. They will go for their first series sweep in the finale.

The fourth and final game of the series is set for Tuesday night at First Tennessee Park. Left-hander Dillon Overton (1-4, 4.89) starts for the Sounds against left-hander Tommy Shirley (3-2, 3.00) for the Grizzlies. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.

The 2016 season is the Sounds’ 19th year in the Pacific Coast League and their second as the Oakland Athletics’ top affiliate. Tickets are available now by calling (615) 690-4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com.

After losing in the first round of the District 8AAA softball tournament on Monday, the Coffee County Lady Raiders needed 4 wins to advance to the Region tournament and 5 wins to claim a district title. That long quest came up just short on Friday night as the Lady Raiders ran into a hot hitting Tullahoma squad and was eliminated 13 to 4 in the semifinals of the tournament held at Franklin County High School.
After getting wins on Tuesday and Wednesday, rain forced a potential triple-header for the Lady Raiders on Friday. Needing a win over Tullahoma in the semifinals, Coffee County could only muster 4 hits in the first 6 innings as Tullahoma banged out 15 hits including a pair of home runs against a trio of Lady Raider pitchers to escape with the win.
The Wildcats got on the board first with a 2 out RBI single from Mo Edde to plate Alyssia Bowen. Macy Ferrell led off the top of the 2nd inning with a solo home run to left field to make it 2 to 0. Coffee County battled back in the bottom of the 3rd inning as Haley Hinshaw doubled and Tori Bell walked before Shelby Scrivnor tied the game with a 2 RBI single. The game stayed tied until the 4th when Kaylee Spain crushed a 2 run home run to right-center field to give the Cats a lead they would not relinquish. Tullahoma added a single run in the 5th and 4 runs in both the 5th and 6th innings t put the game out of reach.
Coffee County did not go down without a fight as the plated 2 runs in the bottom of the 7th on 4 hits before running out of outs. Hinshaw and Katie Rutledge each finished with 2 hits as each had a single and a double. Paige Baker added a double while Scrivnor finished with 2 RBI. Scrivnor was named the Ascend Federal Credit Union player of the game.
The Lady Raiders finish the season with a record of 22 and 18.

The Coffee County Central High School track team qualified 8 athletes to compete in this week’s Sectional track meet on Thursday and Friday at the TSSAA Section 2 Sub-Sectional Meet last Thursday and Friday hosted by Riverdale.

For the Lady Raiders, the familiar names continued their strong season as Diana Davis, Karson Young and Sarah Pearson all qualified in individual events.  Additionally, the 4x800M relay team of Renee Martin, Emily St.John, Makenzie Webb & Byanka Woods got a 4^th place finish which will advance them to Tuesday’s sectional meet at Riverdale.   Davis won the pole vault at 10’ to advance to the sectional.  Young qualified in 3 events as she had a 2^nd place finish in the 100M hurdles, a 2^nd in the Triple Jump and a 4^th in the Long Jump.  Pearson also qualified in 3 events as she was 3^rd in the high jump and 3^rd in the 300M hurdles plus Pearson claimed a 4^th place finish in the 100M hurdles.

For the Red Raiders, Reece Pratt was the lone Sectional qualifier as he had a 4^th place finish in the Discus.   The Section 2 Track Meet will take place on Tuesday at Riverdale High School beginning at 11 AM with the field events.  Another top 4 finish in any of the events will advance these athletes to the state meet next week at MTSU.

Here are the complete finishing results.  (An * indicates a qualifying finish)

GIRLS EVENT	PLACE	ATHLETE	RESULT
100M Dash	12	Javan Vurge	13.67
100M Dash	22	Jasmine Farrar	14.72
100M Dash	27	Thanatch Boonpichetwan	19.20
200M Dash	11	Javan Vurge	28.45
200M Dash	19	Daisy Munoz	31.47
400M Dash	19	Kelsea Selvage	01:21.97
400M Dash	21	Lili Harris	01:30.30
800M Run	9	Emily St. John	02:48.76
800M Run	11	Makenzie Webb	02:54.87
100M Hurdles	2*	Karson Young	16.12
100M Hurdles	4*	Sarah Pearson	16.83
100M Hurdles	5	Abbi Hancock	17.33
300M Hurdles	3*	Sarah Pearson	49.06
300M Hurdles	5	Chloe Haggard	54.04
300M Hurdles	15	Ali Robinson	01:04.80
4×100 Relay	8	Jasmine Farrar, Chloe Haggard, Abbi Hancock & Izzy Huddleston	55.63
4×200 Relay	7	Jasmine Farrar, Izzy Huddleston, Daisy Munoz & Reagan Rice	02:03.94
4×800 Relay	4*	Renee Martin, Emily St. John, Makenzie Webb & Byanka Woods	12:28.67
High Jump	3*	Sarah Pearson	4-08.00
High Jump	6	Diana Davis	4-08.00
Long Jump	4*	Karson Young	16-05.00
Long Jump	10	Sarah Pearson	14-07.00
Triple Jump	2*	Karson Young	34-02.00
Pole Vault	1*	Diana Davis	10-00.00
Discus	5	Svietlanna Miadzvedzeva	78-05
Discus	10	Keishel Norton	62-02
Discus	12	Faith Floyd	61-09
Shot Put	5	Carlie Barnes	29-05.50
Shot Put	6	Keishel Norton	29-00.00
Shot Put	10	Svietlanna Miadzvedzeva	26-01.00
BOYS	PLACE	ATHLETE	RESULT
100M Dash	23	Michael Lockhart	12.50
100M Dash	25	Zach Morgan	12.73
100M Dash	27	Elii Deford	13.58
200M Dash	20	Elii Deford	27.04
400M Dash	10	Jalen Cummings	55.15
400M Dash	20	Johnny Dulin	59.65
400M Dash	22	Joe Melton	01:00.38
800M Run	18	Daniel Lee	02:25.2
800M Run	24	Chandler Poe	02:34.1
1600M Run	15	James Lynn	05:14.49
1600M Run	16	Andrew Godwin	05:19.02
1600M Run	20	Andy Rosson	05:23.33
3200M Run	16	Neil Slone	12:37.68
3200M Run	18	Aaron Buck	12:54.48
4×100 Relay	6	Elii Deford, Johnny Dulin, Michael Lockhart & Zach Morgan	51.15
4×800 Relay	7	Reuben Chaput, Owen Teague, Trevor Reese & Andrew Godwin	09:18.4
Long Jump	15	Johnny Dulin	17-11.00
Long Jump	18	Zach Morgan	17-00.00
Discus	4*	Reece Pratt	105-02
Discus	16	Chase Davis	59-08
Shot Put	6	Reece Pratt	41-07.00
Shot Put	19	Chase Davis	26-10.00

At the conclusion of Friday night’s District 8AAA soccer championship, members of the District 8AAA All-District 1st and 2nd teams were honored and recognized.  Representing Coffee County on the First team were: Breyer Taylor, Paco Barrera and Ben Reid.  Joining those Raiders as 2nd team selections were Tyler Walker, John Parigger and Victor Ramirez.  The Red Raiders finished the regular season as the 2nd place team before being eliminated in the semifinals of the district tournament.

Coffee County senior basketball player Wyatt Day signed a letter of intent to play college basketball next season with Martin Methodist on Friday at a ceremony at Central High School. Day, used mostly at the win g this past year, is projected to compete as a combo guard at Martin.
Coach Micah Williams was effusive in his praise for Day saying: “Wyatt has had a great career here at Coffee County and his signing represents a huge accomplishment for him.” Williams went on the say that Martin was impressed with Wyatt’s scoring ability and obvious offensive talents. “Wyatt understands the game of basketball and is a student of the game” added Williams.
When asked why he chose Martin, Day liked the idea of being close enough to home so that his mother and sister could see him play. “Pulaski was cool, I liked the small town feel” said Day. “They also have a good business program for my major” added Wyatt. Day thinks he will end up as a shooting guard at the college level and looked forward to the opportunity to impress his coaches during a full JV schedule at Martin.
Martin Methodist is located in Pulaski, Tennessee and competes in the Southern States Athletic Conference as a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics(NAIA). Martin Methodist is coached by Scott Combs.