Category: Sports

Maddie Taylor serves at the District Tournament on Friday (Photo by Michelle Taylor)

Maddie Taylor punched her ticket to the Region individual tennis tournament on Friday as she advanced to the finals in singles. Taylor fell in the finals but by virtue of getting a win in the all important semifinals, Taylor will compete in the Region Tournament scheduled for next week in Columbia.
Taylor was joined in the semifinals by Ali Shelton who fell in her bid to face off with Taylor in the finals. Coffee County also had semifinal appearances by a pair of doubles teams as the team of Trevor Ivy-Bodman and Shlip Patel made it to the semifinals in the boys’ bracket as did the team of Makayla Morgan and Kayla Wright on the girls side.
Taylor knocked out last year’s defending district champ and #1 seed in the semifinals by a pair of 6 to 3 scores. In the finals, Taylor dropped both sets by identical 6-3 scores. The team of Morgan and Wright pushed their match to a 3rd set, superset tiebreaker before falling to the drop seeded team in the district. After losing the first set 2-6, Makayla and Kayla battled back to take the 2nd set 6-2 before falling in the tiebreaker set by a score of 10 to 3.

Rhianna Roberson

The Coffee County Lady Raider softball team was 1 and 1 in elimination play on Saturday to finish in a 5th place tie in their own Coffee County Classic softball tournament this weekend. The rain and severe weather held off until late Saturday allowing the tournament to get down to the semifinal games before rain and lightning forced the cancellation of the remainder of the tournament. Gibbs, Baylor, Tullahoma and Siegel were the 4 teams remaining when play was suspended before being cancelled.
The Lady Raiders opened play on Friday afternoon with 3 games at Terry Floyd Field. In the opener, the Lady Raiders got a come from behind 5 to 2 win over Warren County before a game played in front of the student body. Rhi Roberson got an RBI single in the 6h inning to tie the game at 2 before Abby Woods singled home the eventual winning run. Freshman Haley Richardson got the win in the circle and Katie Rutledge came on for the save in the 7th. Roberson was named the Thunder Radio player of the game.
In the 2nd game, Kaylee Skipper took a hard luck 6 to 2 loss to Cookeville as the Lady Cavaliers made the most of 6 unearned runs. Abby Woods and Lauren Tomberlin had doubles for Coffee County as part of the 7 hit attack. Woods also scored a run to earn the Thunder Radio player of the game award.

In Friday’s nightcap, the Lady Raiders were held to 1 hit as they fell to Creek Wood by a score of 5 to 2. Coffee County got a pair of walks and scored on a passed ball and an error in the 3rd inning. Rhianna Roberson was 1 for 2 for the Lady Raiders and Tori Bell was named the Thunder Radio player of the game.
On Saturday, Coffee County opened single elimination bracket play with a 2 to 1 walk-off win over Franklin County. Tied at 1 after 3 innings, the Lady Raider defense held the lead runner at 3rd base in the top of the 5th inning of the time limit game. Coffee County loaded the bases as Raven Rogers singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 5th to give the Lady Raiders the win. Abby Woods and Rogers each had 2 hits on the game as Coffee County pounded out 8 hits. Katie Rutledge pitched the 5th inning to get the win.
In the final game, Coffee County went toe to toe with Gibbs for 4 and a half innings before the Lady Eagles eliminated the Lady Raiders 4 to 1. Coffee County got 6 hits in the loss to outhit the Eagles but was only able to push a run across in the top of the 5th. Haley Hinshaw reached on a fielder’s choice and scored on an error for the Lady Raiders only run. Hinshaw finished the game going 2 for 3 at the plate with a pair of singles.
Coffee County will next be in action this coming weekend in the District 8AAA tournament at Franklin County. When the schedule is announced, we will keep you updated here on Thunder Radio.
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Diana Davis in action in the pole vault

The rains stayed away long enough on Saturday for the Coffee County track teams to travel to Tullahoma to compete in the Rudy Hensel Mid-State Championship.  The Lady Raiders came away with a 2^nd place team finish while the Red Raiders came in 7^th place overall.

The Lady Raiders got 1^st place finishes from Karson Young in the 100M hurdles and the Triple Jump; Sarah Pearson in the 300M hurdles and the High Jump and Diana Davis in the Pole Vault.  The Lady Raiders also got a 1-2-3 sweep in the 300M hurdles as following Pearson were Abbi Hancock in nd place and Chloe Haggard in 3^rd place.  For the Red Raiders, Reece Pratt had a 3^rd place finish in the Shot Put and a 4^th place finish in the discus.   The complete Coffee County results are:

Madison Cox

The Westwood tennis teams traveled to Tullahoma on Friday for their final match of the season. The Lady Rockets got 3 wins in singles play but could not steal a match winner in doubles as they fell 4 to 3. Lauren Perry(4-0), Madison Cox(4-0) and Patricia Barrera(4-2) won their singles matches for Westwood.
The Rockets fell to the Wildcats 6 to 2 as they got a pair of convincing wins in singles play in the match loss. Xander Jones(4-0) and Caleb Simmons(4-1) captured wins over their Tullahoma opponents to close out the season on a high note.

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report

Joe Pavelski scored the tie-breaking goal with 2:40 left in the third period, and the San Jose Sharks defeated the Nashville Predators 3-2 in Game 2 of their Western Conference Second Round series at SAP Center on Sunday.

San Jose’s Martin Jones made 37 saves, and Logan Couture scored a power-play goal in the second period. Joe Thornton had an empty-net goal with 55.6 seconds remaining.

Defenseman Mattias Ekholm scored with 7:04 remaining in the third period to tie the game 1-1, and Ryan Johansen scored with 3.6 seconds left and goaltender Pekka Rinne off the ice for an extra attacker.

Pavelski’s goal, his sixth of this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, gave the Sharks a 2-1 lead. He knocked a rebound past Rinne, who couldn’t control the puck after stopping Matt Nieto’s shot from the left circle. Nieto and Thornton got the assists.

The Sharks took a 1-0 lead at 18:36 of the second period when Couture scored a power-play goal on San Jose’s 16th shot of the game. Rinne stopped Pavelski’s deflection of Brent Burns’ shot from the point but couldn’t control the rebound, and Couture scored from close range.

The Sharks scored 33 seconds after Nashville was penalized for having too many men on the ice. Defenseman Roman Josi, trying to prevent the penalty, came off the ice and over the boards onto San Jose’s bench, to no avail.

The goal was Couture’s fourth of the playoffs and San Jose’s eighth with the extra man. The Sharks went 2-for-3 on the power play in their 5-2 victory against Nashville in Game 1.

The Predators went 0-for-3 on the power play and are 2-for-31 in the playoffs.

Nashville pulled even on Ekholm’s goal. The defenseman beat Jones with a straightaway wrist shot from a few feet inside the blue line that went through traffic and caught the upper right corner.

Nashville forward Craig Smith returned to the lineup after missing Game 1 with a lower-body injury. Smith, who usually plays on the second line, missed most of Game 2 and all of Games 3 and 4 in the Predators’ first-round series against the Anaheim Ducks.

The best-of-7 series now returns to Nashville for Game #3 on Tuesday with a face off scheduled for 8 PM.  Thunder Radio will bring you that broadcast as part of the Fifth Third Bank/Nashville Predators Radio Network.

Nick Markakis hit a sacrifice fly with one out in the 10th inning Sunday to lift the Braves to a 4-3 victory over the Cubs, who had rallied to tie the game in the ninth. With the win, Atlanta snapped a seven-game losing streak against Chicago.

Daniel Castro singled with one out in the Braves’ 10th against Hector Rondon, and reached third on Mallex Smith’s single. Castro then scored on Markakis’ fly ball to left.
“It felt great to get that win, we needed it,” said Smith, who highlighted his three-hit performance with a hit-and-run single in the 10th that moved Castro to third base. “We need to keep winning. This is something we’re just going to try to continue to build on.”
Chicago scored two runs in the eighth and trailed 3-2 in the ninth against Arodys Vizcaino when Ben Zobrist walked, and one out later, reached third on a throwing error by the Braves pitcher, who bounced his pickoff throw past first baseman Freddie Freeman. Addison Russell, whose error in the sixth led to an unearned run, then hit a RBI single to right to tie the game.
“We did a lot of things well,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “We had one mistake on defense, and I thought it was a little bit of a tough hop for Addy, but otherwise, they hit some balls well today, and we hit some balls well today without any luck. I appreciate how our guys came back and had a chance to win the game. It was another entertaining game from the fans’ perspective. I like the fight in our group.”
Atlanta starter Julio Teheran was in line for the win after striking out nine in seven scoreless innings. The Braves took advantage of an error by Russell in the sixth to score two runs against Chicago’s John Lackey.
After the Braves loaded the bases with a single and two walks in the sixth, Adonis Garcia produced a grounder that would have likely resulted in an inning-ending double play had Russell not fumbled the ball, allowing Smith to score. Kelly Johnson followed with another grounder that could have resulted in a double play. But Garcia ducked under the tag second baseman Zobrist attempted to apply before throwing to first base for a force out. Markakis crossed the plate though Garcia was tagged out at the end of a rundown.
“We’ll take it, we’ve given enough away like that,” said Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez, whose team has notched two of its six wins within the past three games. “There’s a good chance they’ll turn [the double play] with Garcia running. They didn’t, so we capitalized with a run, and then Garcia did a nice job on the baserunning there of avoiding a tag, and then we get another run.”
Teheran struggled throughout a frustrating 2015 season, and he did not provide much promise through this season’s first few weeks. But the right-hander looked a lot more like himself this week as he completed this gem just six days after limiting the Red Sox to one run over seven innings. After allowing a leadoff single to Dexter Fowler and issuing a two-out walk to Anthony Rizzo in the first, the Braves right-hander retired 19 of the final 21 batters he faced. He notched three of his nine strikeouts against Kris Bryant.
Once Teheran exited, the Cubs mounted a short rally. With one out in the eighth against Jim Johnson, pinch-hitter Matt Szczur reached on a bunt single and advanced to third on Fowler’s double. Hunter Cervenka replaced Johnson, and induced an RBI groundout from Heyward. Bryant, starting for the first time since he sprained his right ankle on Thursday, then smacked a RBI single to pull within 3-2.
Mike Foltynewicz will take the mound when Atlanta opens a three-game set against the Mets on Monday at 6:05 p.m. CT at Citi Field. Foltynewicz will fill the rotation spot that opened when Bud Norris moved to the bullpen.  Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast of that game beginning at 6 PM on the Braves Radio Network.

The Nashville Sounds finished their four-game series against the Round Rock Express at Dell Diamond on Sunday afternoon with a 3-0 shutout win and took three out of four games to win their second series of the season.

Sounds starter Zach Neal was brilliant in the series finale. The right-hander pitched four 1-2-3 innings and recorded 11 consecutive outs from the second inning through the sixth. The former Oklahoma Sooner picked up his third win of the season in 7 1/3 shutout innings surrendering just four hits.

The Sounds broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning as Andrew Lambo’s two-run single to right scored Renato Nunez and Jake Smolinski to put the Sounds on top 2-0.

Daniel Coulombe continued his dominance out of the bullpen as he relieved Neal in the eighth. Coulombe retired the only two batters he faced and preserved the shutout leaving Round Rock third baseman Patrick Kivlehan stranded on third to end the inning.

The Sounds added an insurance run in the top of the ninth inning on a two-out RBI double from Bruce Maxwell to score Lambo and the Sounds led 3-0 going into the bottom of the ninth.

Nashville native Andrew Triggs came on in the ninth inning to earn his first save of the year as the Sounds shutout the Express 3-0.

The Sounds return to Nashville for an eight game homestand beginning with a four-game series against the Iowa Cubs on Monday. Both teams had yet to announce their starter for game one of the series at the time of print. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.

A pitchers’ duel through five innings turned into a hitters sixth inning as both teams broke through for the games only runs at Dell Diamond Saturday night and the Express took game three of the four-game series from the Sounds 3-2.

The Sounds broke through first in the top of the sixth inning as Max Muncy singled to right to score Joey Wendle to break the scoreless tie. Renato Nunez then hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Chad Pinder and the Sounds led 2-0.

Round Rock answered back in the bottom of the frame scoring three runs with two outs to take a 3-2 lead. Round Rock shortstop Jurickson Profar singled to right field to score Ryan Strausborger to cut the Sounds lead in half. Later in the inning Round Rock designated hitter Patrick Kivlehan doubled to left field to score Profar and Doug Bernier and the Express took their first lead of the series 3-2 after six.

Angel Castro came on in relief for Sounds starter Dillon Overton in the seventh inning. Castro pitched a scoreless seventh inning after issuing a lead-off walk to Round Rock second baseman Pedro Ciriaco.

Overton who had a one-hit shutout through five innings was roughed up in the sixth as he gave up three runs on four hits in the inning and finished his night with seven strikeouts.

The Sounds had opportunities in the seventh and eighth innings getting the potential tying run in scoring position in both innings but did not capitalize and fell in game three to Round Rock 3-2.

The Sounds and the Express conclude their four-game series Sunday afternoon when the Sounds send right-hander Zach Neal (2-1, 4.22) to the mound and Round Rock will counter with right-hander Anthony Ranaudo (1-0, 1.93). First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.

Five goals in the third period led the San Jose Sharks to a 5-2 victory over the Nashville Predators in Game One of their Western Conference Round Two series on Friday night at SAP Center. The win gives San Jose a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

“I thought we had good jump right from the beginning and had a couple chances early,” defenseman Roman Josi said. “I thought we played well in the first two periods, and in the third, we have to make sure we’re better in the next game.”

A scoreless first period was kept that way thanks to more than one lightning-quick glove save from Preds goaltender Pekka Rinne in the Nashville crease.

It was Mike Fisher who opened the scoring on the night, converting on a power-play opportunity for a 1-0 Nashville lead. Ryan Johansen went across the San Jose zone with a pass to Fisher in the left circle, where No. 12 in white sniped a shot to the top left corner past goaltender Martin Jones for his second of the postseason.

Once the third period got underway, the Sharks capitalized on a power play of their own as Tomas Hertl snuck one by Rinne down low at 2:37 to even the score at 1-1. Nine minutes later, it was former Preds forward Joel Ward who cashed in on a breakaway at 11:49 to give San Jose their first lead of the evening. Logan Couture got another power-play marker for the Sharks before Johansen cut the San Jose lead to one with an extra-attacker goal, but the Sharks finished things off with two goals into an empty net to seal the win for the home club.

“I think it was just shooting ourselves in the foot,” Johansen said of the third period. “We turned over the puck a few times, took a couple penalties, and they fed right into that. We just got away from our game plan and our structure a little bit. We’re going to learn from tonight, and that’s why it’s a best-of-seven. We’ll be ready to play next game.”

Game Two comes on Sunday evening, allowing the Preds time to regroup and refocus before the puck drops once more in what could be another long series.

“I thought it was an even game until they scored that third goal, so there’s so positives, there’s some negatives that we have to take out too,” defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. “But its Game One out of seven, so we’ll come back for Game Two.”

Gif of the Game:

The puck comes oh-so close to entering the Preds net, but sits on the goal line for a moment, before being cleared away.

Game Two between the Preds and Sharks is set for Sunday evening at 7 p.m. (CT). The series shifts to Nashville for Games Three and Four, beginning on Tuesday night.

Anthony Rizzo smacked a tiebreaking RBI single with one out in the eighth inning and Matt Szczur followed with his first career grand slam to lift the Cubs to a 6-1 victory over the Braves on Friday at Wrigley Field. With the win, the Cubs are now 17-5 and off to their best start since the 1907 team was 18-4 in its first 22 games.

With the game tied at 1 in the Chicago eighth, pinch-hitter Tommy La Stella doubled to left off Jim Johnson before getting forced out at third on Dexter Fowler’s fielder’s choice. Jason Heyward walked and Ben Zobrist singled to load the bases and chase Johnson. Rizzo greeted lefty Eric O’Flaherty with a single to center to score Fowler. Szczur then launched an 0-1 pitch from Chris Withrow into the left-field bleachers for his second home run of the season.
“I can’t explain the feelings I have,” Szczur said. “I was super excited. I want to contribute to the team and make an impact, and it’s great to do so in that manner.”
The Braves had taken a 1-0 lead in the fourth on Freddie Freeman’s leadoff home run, only the fifth by Atlanta this season, and the Cubs tied the game in the fifth on David Ross’ RBI single. Chicago starter Jon Lester struck out 10 over seven innings but did not get a decision. He has begun the season with five straight quality starts for the first time in his career but has received just one run of support in 20 1/3 innings at home.
“I liked the way we played, but the eighth inning unraveled on us,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said after his team dropped to 5-18. “La Stella hits a double and then all of a sudden the wind changed. Earlier in the game, [La Stella’s double] wouldn’t have gone anywhere. That kind of changed everything and Szczur got the big hit.”
Starter Aaron Blair impressed as he limited the Cubs to one run and two hits over six innings. The young right-hander once again displayed a good mix of offspeed pitches while keeping Chicago’s hitters off balance. After walking two of the first three batters he faced, the Braves rookie retired each of the next 11 batters. The highly-regarded prospect has effectively commanded his offspeed pitches (changeup and curveball) while pitching into the sixth inning in each of his first two career starts.
Before surrendering their fourth grand slam of the season and third within the past eight days, the Braves were unable to take advantage of the bases-loaded threat against Lester in the seventh inning. The threat ended with Nick Markakis’ groundout, but it was quieted when Jace Peterson struck out in a pinch-hit appearance. While carrying 13 pitchers over the past few days, the Braves weakened their bench and consequently been been forced to send Peterson and Kelly Johnson to the plate for pinch-hit opportunities against left-handed pitchers.
“I was hoping we could score a run in the seventh there,” Gonzalez said. “We had nobody out and [Drew Stubbs] at the plate. I was thinking, ‘If he splits a gap here, I’m going to let [Blair] hit,’ because he was that good. But you’ve got a situation where it’s a 1-1 game in the seventh and runs are at a premium.”
Lester has been working on his throws to first, but had a problem in the seventh. The Braves had runners at first and second with nobody out when Erick Aybar bunted toward the pitcher. First baseman Rizzo was charging in, but Lester fielded the ball and didn’t throw. Aybar was safe and the bases were loaded. Maddon went to the mound to remind Lester that he could get out of the mess, and the lefty did by striking out the next two batters before getting Markakis to ground out to Rizzo at first.
“I never had a handle on it,” Lester said. “I fielded it, the ball rattled around in my glove and I reached for it twice and I didn’t have a handle on it and ate it. Believe me or not on that. There’s no point in rushing a throw when I don’t have a handle on the baseball.”
Said Ross: “I’d rather he not make an error. If he does have half a grip or is unsure of himself, then don’t throw it. There are so many ways to get out of it and he did.”
Javier Baez doubled to open the Chicago fifth, the first hit off Blair, and one out later, he scored on Ross’ single to left. Ross now has five RBIs in his past five games. The veteran didn’t record his sixth RBI last season until Aug. 4, and totaled nine in 72 games in 2015 when he batted .176.
Julio Teheran will take the mound when Atlanta and Chicago resume this three-game series on Saturday at 2:20 p.m. CT. Teheran produced his most impressive start of the young season on Monday, when he limited the Red Sox to one run over seven innings.