Category: Sports

Hallie Wimberley

The Westwood Lady Rockets softball season came to a close on Saturday morning with a 16 to 4 loss at the hands of Moore County in the 3^rd round of the Duck River Valley Conference postseason tournament.  Westwood held leads in the first and second innings as Coach Angela Houck’s young squad was not going down without a fight.  Tied at 4 entering the 3^rd inning, the Lady Raiders of Moore County scored 3 runs in the 3^rd inning before a 9 run explosion in the 4^th.   The Rockets were held to 2 hits on the game but benefitted from 8 walks, 7 of those coming in the first 2 innings.  Hallie Wimberley and Alex Nelson each had a hit for Westwood while Haidyn Campbell and Faith Willoughby each had 2 walks.  Campbell, Willoughby, Wimberley and Amber Smith notched RBI for the Lady Rockets.

Deandre Wakefield

The Coffee County Central High School baseball team’s bats came alive in a pair of Friday night wins in the Mountain Valley Classic baseball tournament.  Coffee County, playing in Marion County, defeated the host school 10 to 7 to open play on Friday as Noah Anderson was 3 for 4 at the plate with 2 doubles and 3 RBI.  Deandre Wakefield finished 2 for 3 with a double and Gavin Husted had a solo home run.  In the nightcap, Coffee County used a 7 run 2^nd inning to dump Cumberland County 9 to 2.  Wakefield was 2 for 3 at the plate with an RBI, a stolen base and 2 runs scored.  Zach Wise was 2 for 3, Jacob Langham was 2 for 4 and Nathaniel Tate added a 2 RBI triple.  Coffee County will close out the pool play round on Saturday morning when they take on Lookout Valley at 11 AM at Grundy County High School.

Griffin Meeker

The Coffee County Middle School JV baseball banged out 11 hits as they opened the CTC JV baseball tournament with an 11 to 0 win over South Franklin on Friday night at CCMS. Nick Watkins was 3 for 3 with a double to lead the Raider hitting attack. Griffin Meeker and Braxton White each added a pair of singles for Coffee County. The JV Raiders are back in action on Saturday as they take on Warren County at 12:30 PM at Coffee County Middle School. The tournament concludes on Sunday afternoon.

Madison Hershman

Banging out 11 hits and collecting 19 walks helped the Westwood Lady Rockets softball team crush Huntland 17 to 2 on Friday night in the elimination round of the Duck River Valley Conference. Madison Wakefield led the Rocket assault as she 3 for 4 on the day with 3 RBI. Haidyn Campbell, Hallie Wimberley and Alex Nelson all finished with 2 hits apiece as Nelson also had 3 RBI. Kiely Featherson walked all 5 times she batted on Friday night to earn 3 RBI herself and perhaps become the first player in the history of the sport to be patient enough to earn 5 walks. Campbell earned the win in the circle has she scattered 3 hits and struck out 10 Lady Hornet batters. Westwood advances to Saturday’s 3rd round where they take on either Moore County or Community at 9 AM at Huntland.

Alise Clark

The Coffee County Middle School tennis team continued to show improvement with a strong showing on Friday night in Lewisburg. The Raider netters, who opened the season at Lewisburg without a win 4 weeks ago, got 3 wins each from their girls and boys squads. The Red Raiders got singles wins from Joseph Sadler and Luke Irwin before the pair teamed up for a 6-3 doubles win. For the Lady Raiders, Alise Clark, Anna Amado and Sydney Bell. The Raider netters hit the road again on Monday when they take on Tullahoma at 4 PM at Tullahoma High School. Coffee County returns home on Tuesday for a 4 PM match with Westwood at the Coffee County Raider Academy.

After avoiding matching the worst start in franchise history on Friday, the Braves are now thinking sweep. Nick Markakis had three hits and drove in three runs on Saturday to spark a 6-4 win over Miami at Marlins Park, giving Atlanta its first series victory of the season.

The Marlins stayed within striking distance against Atlanta right-hander Bud Norris, who allowed a two-run homer to Adeiny Hechavarria and a solo shot to Justin Bour. But the two blasts weren’t enough to prevent Miami from dropping three straight and remaining winless (0-4) at Marlins Park.
“It’s another big win for us,” said Norris, who picked up his first “W” of the season. “We want to keep this thing moving. So we’ve got another chance tomorrow and hopefully get a sweep.”
The Braves got to Marlins right-hander Tom Koehler for six runs (five earned) on nine hits in 3 2/3 innings. Markakis did the big damage with a two-run single in the second and an RBI double in the fourth.
Jason Grilli locked down the save, striking out Giancarlo Stanton — who fanned four times on the night — with two on in the ninth inning.
“I don’t think [Stanton] was necessarily pressing,” Miami manager Don Mattingly said. “Obviously, probably a little frustrated by the way the game ended. But he’s had some good at-bats, and you see some at-bats when he’s not quite on it. Usually with guys, they’re always close. They feel like maybe they’re this far away [several feet], but they’re really only inches away. One good swing or one good take, and the next thing you know, those guys are on a roll. There really is nothing about him that concerns me.”
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez was hoping not to have to extend his bullpen for a second consecutive game after using relievers for 4 2/3 innings on Friday night, but Norris ran out of gas after throwing 98 pitches in 5 1/3 innings. Atlanta’s bullpen again responded with solid relief work. Norris allowed four runs, all earned, on seven hits, including two home runs. He issued three walks and had five strikeouts before exiting the game with a 6-4 lead.
“Our bullpen has been terrific, lights-out the last two days,” Gonzalez said. More >
Hot at the top: Markakis moved to the leadoff spot at the start of this series, and the veteran right fielder has been a thorn in the side of the Marlins. He drove in three runs Saturday night after delivering a key RBI single Friday night to help the Braves win their first game of the season.
Right-hander Jhoulys Chacin will take a 0.00 ERA to the mound Sunday at 12:10 p.m. CT in search of his first win of the season after having a six-inning no-decision in his first start. Chacin is 1-4 (5.25 ERA) in four career starts against Miami, but he did not face the Marlins last year.  Thunder Radio will bring you that broadcast beginning with the pregame show at Noon on the Braves Radio Network.

Led by Sean Manaea’s 11 strikeouts, the Nashville Sounds edged the Oklahoma City Dodgers, 5-1, Saturday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

The left-hander was two strikeouts shy of tying his career-best 13 he set last season with Double-A Midland. The lone run he allowed was a solo homer hit by James Ramsey in the second inning.

Nashville built a lead before Manaea even took the mound. For the second straight night, Tyler Ladendorf started the game with a base hit and came around to score. This time it was Renato Nunez who drove in Ladendorf with a single up the middle to make it 1-0.

Manaea then got off to a roaring start when he struck out the side in the bottom of the first.

The Sounds added to their lead when Matt McBride reached on a two-out single in the second. It was quickly followed by a two-run homer by Joey Wendle, his first of the season to make it 3-0.

Ramsey’s homer made it a 3-1 game, but Nashville wasted little time erasing it. Nunez belted a mammoth solo homer to deep left field to put the lead back up to 4-1.

From there, Manaea went into cruise control. He struck out one batter in every inning, including two in the fifth and sixth frames. He left with two outs and the bases loaded in the sixth in favor of Eduard Santos.

The right-handed reliever came on and retired Alex Hassan on a popup to preserve the 4-1 lead.

Rangel Ravelo gave the Sounds an insurance run in the eighth when he lined a base hit to left to score Jake Smolinski.

Santos tossed a scoreless eighth and continued with the same in the ninth. He finished the night with a 4-6-3 double play to send the Sounds to consecutive wins – the first time doing so in the 2016 season.

Game three of the four-game series is set for Sunday afternoon in Oklahoma City. Right-hander Chris Smith (0-1, 5.73) starts for the Sounds against right-hander Zach Lee (2-0, 1.50). First pitch is scheduled for 2:05 p.m.

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

Filip Forsberg

James Neal got things started and Filip Forsberg received a bounce in the third as the Nashville Predators defeated the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 in Game One of their Western Conference Round One series at the Honda Center on Friday night.

Nashville will carry a 1-0 series lead into Game Two for the first time since 2012, exactly the start the club wanted in a hostile environment away from home.

“You have to start somewhere,” Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy here tonight. I thought it was a pretty evenly matched game… The second period was really important to get the tying goal and push on from there. Guys went to the net hard in the third period and we were able to get one.”

Neal finished off the Nashville pressure on the opening shift of the game, when he collected the puck in the slot and wristed a shot through the wickets of Anaheim goaltender John Gibson for a 1-0 lead a mere 35 seconds into the contest. The goal, assisted by Ryan Johansen, was Neal’s 16th career postseason tally. After the Ducks rang one off the post minutes later, Ryan Getzlaf took advantage of a 5-on-3 power play and converted at the netmouth to even the score before the opening frame was out.

Ryan Kesler gave the Ducks their first lead of the series at 0:48 of the second period as he wristed a shot past a screened Pekka Rinne from the left circle. But then, Colin Wilson evened the score on a magnificent play when he directed a Ryan Ellis feed – with just one hand on his stick – into the back of the cage for his first of the playoffs.

“It was awesome,” Ellis said of the Wilson goal. “Willy was calling for it, so I knew he was driving the middle. I just threw a pass in there and he was flying, it was a great goal to grab the momentum back for us there and good to see Willy flying out there.”

In the third, Forsberg tried to feed Craig Smith at the midway mark, but the puck never got there, instead deflecting off of Anaheim defenseman Shea Theodore’s skate and over the line for a 3-2 Preds lead, a marker that proved to be the game winner. Rinne and the Preds withstood the final push from the Ducks to claim the victory in a tightly contested outing.

“It’s exactly what we expected,” Ellis said. “It’s going to be a hard fought series; we’re going to war every single night, and they played a solid game. A 3-2 game is playoff hockey, and they’re a great hockey team. We know we’re going to get their best next game and we’ll be bringing ours.”

“We’ll have our work cut out for us in Game Two,” Laviolette said. “The challenge will be to go back and look at things to see what we can do better, and I’m sure they’ll do the same thing. To get off to the right start is a good thing. There’s so much hockey left to be played.”

Preds defenseman Ryan Ellis was noticeable throughout Game One for all the right reasons, and after feeding Colin Wilson’s second-period, one-handed tally, he found himself sprawled out on his own goal line and denying the Ducks a go-ahead goal of their own.

“It was a 3-on-2, I think me and [Mattias Ekholm] had been out there for a while, so we were pretty tired. Pekka made a great save, and at that point, to just get your body on the puck,” Ellis said. “Do whatever you can to keep it out and Pekka recovered well to make the save too.”

“I’m not sure at the time he went down that was the plan, but he found himself there and was able to put up a wall on the goal line and the puck stayed out,” Laviolette said of Ellis.

Ellis finished with 19:55 of ice time and one assist on the night and was one of the deciding factors in the final result. The Preds are well aware that there’s plenty of hockey left, however, starting with Game Two on Sunday.

“We enjoy it for 10 minutes or whatever, and then Game Two is next,” Ellis said. “They’re going to be playing hard; they know they have to win that game and we’re going to come out and try to give it our best too.”

Neal’s goal at 0:35 of the first period was the second-fastest postseason goal from the start of the game in Predators franchise history. Adam Hall holds the record with a goal at 0:16 of the first period on April 7, 2004, at Detroit.

Ryan Johansen and Filip Forsberg each now have seven points in seven career playoff games.

Game Two gets underway on Sunday night at 9:30 p.m. (CT) in Anaheim before the series shifts back to Nashville for Games Three and Four, beginning on Tuesday.  Thunder Radio will once again bring you the broadcast on the Fifth Third Bank/Nashville Predators Radio Network.

On the ropes early, and in danger of extending their season-opening losing streak even further, the Braves showed resolve and rallied behind three RBIs from Adonis Garcia, including a tiebreaking two-run single in the eighth inning, to defeat the Marlins, 6-3, on Friday at Marlins Park.  Garcia, who committed two errors in the third inning, became the Braves’ offensive hero late with his key hits, which enabled Atlanta to avoid dropping to 0-10 for the first time since 1988. The Marlins, meanwhile, let a three-run lead slip away. They had the chance to break the game open early but bounced into three double plays, and fell to 12-26 all-time against Atlanta at Marlins Park.
Marlins lefty Wei-Yin Chen, going 10 days between starts due to a bruised left elbow, gave Miami a terrific start. He faced the minimum for 6 1/3 innings as the Marlins built their three-run lead. But with one out in the seventh, Atlanta started its comeback. Daniel Castro and Freddie Freeman had back-to-back singles, and Garcia dropped an opposite-field RBI double. Chen was lifted for David Phelps, who induced an RBI groundout from Gordon Beckham. Phelps then struck out pinch-hitter Kelly Johnson.
In the eighth inning, Nick Markakis had a game-tying single off Chris Narveson, who loaded the bases with two outs by hitting Freeman with a pitch. Bryan Morris entered and surrendered the two-run single to Garcia and an RBI single to Beckham.
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez pushed all the right buttons in a four-run eighth inning. Down 3-2, pinch-runner Mallex Smith stole second and scored the tying run courtesy of Markakis, who was moved to the leadoff spot for this game. Pinch-hitter A.J. Pierzynski was hit by a pitch and scored the go-ahead run on Garcia’s hit.
When Chen walked Markakis on four pitches to start the game, it looked like it could be a wild night for the left-hander. But Chen induced a 6-4-3 double play, and retired Freeman on a grounder to short. The lefty retired 12 straight and held Atlanta hitless until Beckham’s one-out single in the fifth. The next batter, Jeff Francoeur, bounced into a 5-4-3 double play. Chen, however, settled for a no-decision.
Double-play trouble for Miami: The Marlins were all over Braves starter Williams Perez early, collecting eight hits and two walks off the right-hander in 4 1/3 innings. But they managed just three runs, the third coming on Martin Prado’s RBI double. But Prado bounced into two double plays, in the first off Perez and in the seventh inning against Alexi Ogando. Christian Yelich also tapped into a 4-6-3 double play in the third inning off Perez.
Bud Norris gets the start on Saturday in the second of a three-game series at Marlins Park. First pitch is set for 6:10 p.m. CT. Norris has dropped his first two decisions this season, both to Washington. He looks to improve on a 6.00 ERA over 12 innings this season.  Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast of Saturday’s game beginning with the pregame show at 6 PM on the Braves Radio Network.

Renato Nunez and Matt Olson hit back-to-back home runs in the sixth inning to lead the Nashville Sounds to a come-from-behind 5-3 win over the Oklahoma City Dodgers Friday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

Nashville trailed, 3-2, when Nunez launched a solo shot off Dodgers reliever Red Patterson to tie the game. Just moments later, Olson drilled his own solo shot over the right field wall to give the Sounds a 4-3 lead.

They never trailed again as they added an insurance run on Nunez’s sacrifice fly in the eighth.

Nashville led early when Tyler Ladendorf started the game with a single and came around to score on Chad Pinder’s RBI double.

The lead lasted until the third inning when a two-out error came back to hurt the Sounds. With runners at first and second, Micah Johnson hit a groundball to Pinder. The shortstop flipped to Joey Wendle at second for the force out, but Wendle dropped the ball and all runners were safe.

Two pitches later, Jose Tabata lined a bases-clearing double to give Oklahoma City a 3-1 lead.

The Sounds got a run back in the fifth when Pinder lined a base hit to left to score Bruce Maxwell who led off the inning with a walk.

That led to the back-to-back blasts from Nunez and Olson in the sixth. Pinder, Nunez and Olson accounted for six of the Sounds’ nine hits on the night.

Starter Zach Neal worked around three Nashville errors and picked up the win. All three runs he allowed were unearned. The bullpen trio of Daniel Coulombe, Tucker Healy and Angel Castro combined to retire 12 of the final 13 batters Oklahoma City sent to the plate.

Game two of the four-game series is set for Saturday night in Oklahoma City. Left-hander Sean Manaea (1-0, 1.69) starts for the Sounds against left-hander Julio Urias (1-0, 0.00) for the Dodgers. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

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