Category: Sports

Motlow Lady Bucks basketball coach Bart Walker

Motlow State Community College has named Bart Walker the new head coach of the women’s basketball program effective Apr. 13, according to C. Scott Shasteen, Motlow athletic director. He is the 12th head coach of the program, which began competition in 1974.

Walker comes to Motlow after serving the previous four years as an assistant women’s basketball coach at Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville. He served under Head Coach Jim Davis, who recently announced his retirement from coaching.

“We are thrilled to have a coach with the credentials that Bart Walker possesses joining our coaching staff at Motlow State,” said Shasteen. “He has proven himself to be a winner at every stop in his coaching career. He is a tireless recruiter who understands the challenges of junior college and has consistently produced quality programs and quality student athletes.”

Prior to his stay in Cookeville, Walker was the head basketball coach at Northwest Florida State College in Niceville, Fla. from 2008-2010. He compiled a 38-16 overall record, with his team being ranked as high as No. 4 in the nation.

Walker was women’s head coach at Chattanooga State from 2004-2008, where he led the Lady Tigers to the 2006 Tennessee Community College Athletic Association (TCCAA) Region VII tournament championship and a berth in the National Junior College Athletic Association tournament, where they advanced to the Elite Eight.

He began his head coaching career at Hiwassee College in Madisonville, Tenn. In 2000. The Lady Tigers were 81-35 during his four seasons. Hiwassee was a member of the TCCAA during Walker’s time as head coach, winning the tournament championship and advancing to the national tournament in 2003 and 2004, advancing to the Elite Eight both seasons.

Walker began his coaching career in 1992 as a volunteer assistant at Walters State Community College in Morristown, Tenn., serving on Bill Carlyle’s staff for seven years. He played for Carlyle at Walters State and graduated with an associate’s degree in 1991. He earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1992 and his master’s degree in education in 2000 from Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tenn.

As a player at Lincoln Memorial he was the team captain and a recipient of the Lincoln Memorial Academic Award.

In his 10 years as a head coach, Walker has compiled an impressive 217-71 record with three Elite Eight appearances. He has recruited and developed six All-Americans and has won four Coach of the Year awards. Sixty of his players have gone on to become student-athletes at four-year universities.

Walker inherits a Lady Bucks’ program that completed the 2015-16 season with an 11-16 overall record, including 7-11 in the TCCAA.

Visit the official website of Motlow Athletics at for rosters, schedules, stats and more. Interact with Motlow Athletics at <Facebook/MotlowSports> and <Twitter@MotlowSports>.

Davis Green

Coffee County battled back from a 2 run deficit to earn a sweet 5 to 3 come from behind win over Columbia on Wednesday night on the road. In the process, the Red Raiders earned some sweet revenge for a disappointing Tuesday night loss to the Lions and they earned a split of their 3rd district series this year. The win also helped Coffee County even their record at 5 and 5 in district play and place the Raiders in the heat of a logjam for 2nd place in the district standings. Davis Green continued his strong pitching string as he earned the win on the bump. The junior allowed 3 runs in 6 innings as he struck out 2 and scattered 7 hits. Noah Anderson came on in relief in the 7th to tack down the big win for Coffee County. Deandre Wakefield laced a pair of doubles with 1 RBI to lead Coffee Co in hitting. Jacob Langham added a pair of singles and Anderson added a 2 RBI double in a 3 run 4th inning to highlight the Raider comeback. The Raiders will now turn their attention to non-district play this weekend as they travel to Coalmont on Thursday evening for a 5:30 PM game with Grundy County in the opening game of the Mountain Valley Tournament. Coffee County will play Marion County and Cumberland County on Friday night in Jasper before ending pool play in the tournament on Saturday with an 11 AM game in Grundy County against Lookout Valley.

Hayden Skipper of CCMS Baseball

The Coffee County Middle School baseball team scored 8 unanswered runs against Tullahoma on Wednesday night to earn a split in their season series with the Wildcats by a score of 10 to 5. Trailing 3 to 2 entering the 3rd inning, Hayden Skipper laced a 2 out, 2 strike pitch over the right field fence to score Garret Davis and give Coffee County a lead they would never relinquish. Skipper finished the night going 3 for 3 with a walk and 4 runs scored. Coach Rodney Meeker, who was worried about having enough healthy pitching to keep Tullahoma at bay, got 4 strong innings in the start by Skipper to get the win. Braden Brown pitched the final 3 innings to earn the 9 out save. Brandon Jernigan was 2 for 3 with a triple and 4 RBI for Coffee County and Davis had a double and scored twice in the revenge win for the Raiders. The CCMS varsity baseball team will now await the conference tournament which begins next week in McMinnville. The Raiders will host the JV conference tournament this weekend beginning on Friday. We will keep you updated on the times and pairings.

Makayla Morgan

The Coffee County tennis teams earned a split with Tullahoma on Wednesday night in a pair of battles held on the Cats home court. The Lady Raiders won 6 of their 7 matches as they dispatched the kittens 6 to 1. Maddie Taylor, Ali Shelton, Kayla Wright and Makayla Morgan all captured singles wins while Taylor teamed with Shelton and Wright and Morgan paired up in doubles play for wins. The win raises the Lady Raiders district record to 4 and 2 on the season. The Red Raiders battled to the wire in each of their 5 singles matches, including Shilp Patel taking his match to the tiebreaker, before being swept by the Wildcats. The Raider netters return home on Friday afternoon for a 4 PM match-up with Warren County.

Westwood pitcher Haidyn Campbell

The Westwood Lady Rockets dropped their opening round game in the Duck River Valley Conference Tournament on Wednesday night to Liberty 5 to 1. The Lady Rockets banged out 6 hits on the night, but could not string together a rally to support the strong pitching performance of Haidyn Campbell. Amber Smith has a single and 3 stolen bases to tally Westwood’s only run. Alex Nelson had a double for Westwood. Campbell, a 6th grader had 9 strikeouts on the game as she surrendered only 3 earned runs.

Jaret Kemper of Westwood tennis

Jaret Kemper earned a win in singles play and the girls team of Luz Maria Basurto and Antonia Ayala captured their doubles match as both Westwood tennis teams fell in matches at Lewisburg on Wednesday. Westwood returns to the court on Tuesday when they travel across town to take on the Coffee County Middle School tennis teams. That match is set to get underway at 4 PM at the Coffee County Raider Academy.

Right-hander Tanner Roark was scheduled to pitch on Thursday afternoon against the Braves, but there was a change of plans. With Stephen Strasburg out with the flu, the Nationals needed Roark to make the start a day earlier.

The change of plans didn’t hurt Roark on Wednesday night, as he pitched seven shutout innings in the Nationals’ 3-0 win over the winless Braves at Nationals Park.
“We gave him 24 hours to prepare, and he came through big time,” Nationals manager Dusty Baker said. “He gave us seven innings, got our bullpen kind of back in order, and we’re ready to roll.”
Roark didn’t have a problem pitching a day early. In fact, he was pitching on normal rest anyway because of the day off last Friday and rainout the following day.
“I still felt strong and ready to go. I was able to get a good night’s sleep,” Roark said. “I was locating the fastball and just executing pitches for the most part. I have to credit Willie [catcher Wilson Ramos]. He called a great game.”
Matt Wisler retired 18 of the 23 Nationals batters he faced, but he also surrendered a solo homer to Stephen Drew and a two-run shot to Jayson Werth in the fourth inning. The Braves recorded just five hits and stranded seven runners en route to opening this season with an eighth straight loss.
“I thought we had good at-bats off Roark,” said Braves catcher A.J. Pierzynski, who had a pair of singles. “We had a bunch of guys on base and had a few chances there. We just needed to come up with the big hit. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out well for us. They hit a few balls out of the park, and it just wasn’t meant to be.”
Washington scored all three runs on home runs in the fourth inning. On a 2-2 pitch, Drew went deep over the right-center-field wall to give the Nationals a 1-0 lead. Three batters later, Werth swung at the first pitch from Wisler and hit a two-run homer over the left-center-field fence. It was the first homer of the season for both Drew and Werth.
Wisler retired nine of the 10 batters he faced before Drew’s home run, and he retired eight of the nine batters he faced after Werth’s home run. The young right-hander has made great strides since the end of last season, but with just 21 starts under his belt, he is still not a finished product. Six of the seven runs he has surrendered through his first two starts have been tallied within just two of his 13 innings.
“It was just two mistake pitches, both up in the zone,” Wisler said. “I tried to go in on Stephen Drew and it just leaked back over the middle and he put a pretty good swing on it. Then to Werth, I tried to go down and away and just tried to do too much with it and left it up and he took care of it.”
After Mallex Smith notched his first career stolen base and advanced on a wild pitch that gave the Braves runners at second and third with two outs in the fifth, Freddie Freeman looked at a called third strike. Freeman went down looking again in the eighth inning to leave him with two hits, seven walks and nine strikeouts through his first 33 plate appearances.
“We’ve got to get him in the cage and get him right somehow,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “That’s a big part of our lineup. For me, it’s just a matter of time. You’ve seen him when he gets hot, he can carry the whole club.”
The Braves have now lost 12 straight games at Nationals Park. When they last won a road game against the Nationals on Sept. 10, 2014, Aaron Harang was the starting pitcher and Melvin Upton Jr. homered.
Julio Teheran will take the mound as the Braves close this four-game series on Thursday at 3:05 p.m. CT. Teheran limited the Nationals to two solo homers over six innings on Opening Day, but he lasted just four innings in Saturday’s start against the Cardinals.

Matt McBride blasted a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift the Nashville Sounds to a 3-1 win over the Colorado Springs Sky Sox in front of 4,911 fans Wednesday afternoon at First Tennessee Park.

Nashville held a 1-0 lead for the better part of the afternoon. In the second, Rangel Ravelo doubled to the gap in left-center to score Matt Olson from first base. From there, the starting pitchers went on cruise control.

Jesse Hahn turned in his second dominant outing in a row. The right-hander tossed six shutout innings and limited the Sky Sox to just four hits. He walked one and recorded six strikeouts in the no decision. Hahn has not allowed a run in 12 innings this year.

Junior Guerra was nearly as impressive on the other side. The fellow right-hander held Nashville to just one run on one hit in seven innings. He issued one free pass and struck out seven.

The Sky Sox tied the game in the seventh when Hernan Perez launched a solo shot off Sounds’ reliever J.B. Wendelken.

The tie game didn’t last long as McBride’s long ball came nearly 15 minutes after Perez hit his.

Patrick Schuster got the ninth for Nashville. He walked Andy Wilkins to start the inning, but quickly worked out of the jam. The southpaw retired Perez on a fly out and got Garin Cecchini to bounce into a game-ending 4-6-3 double play.

Andrew Triggs picked up his second win of the season after working a scoreless eighth. Austin Ross, who served up the homer to McBride, was charged with the loss. Schuster earned his first save of the season.

The Sounds and Sky Sox play the series finale Thursday night at First Tennessee Park. Left-hander Dillon Overton (0-1, 2.25) starts for Nashville against left-hander Brent Suter (0-1, 6.75) for Colorado Springs. 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. Season ticket memberships are available now by calling (615) 690-4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com.

Diana Davis in action in the pole vault on Tuesday at the District 8AAA Meet

The Coffee County Lady Raider track team used 4 first place finishes in the 6 field events on Tuesday at the District 8AAA Track Meet at Tullahoma to capture the district title. The Lady Raiders also swept the hurdle races in the dominate performance.  The Lady Raiders rolled up a staggering 207 points to far outdistance 2nd place Franklin County who finished with 136. Event winners for the Lady Raiders were: Carlie Barnes – Shot Put, Karson Young – Triple Jump, Diana Davis – Pole Vault, Sarah Pearson – High Jump, Sarah Pearson – 300M hurdles, Karson Young 100M hurdles, Emily St. John – 800M and the 4x800M relay team of Renee Martin, Emily St.John, Makenzie Webb and Byanka Woods.
The Red Raiders finished in 3rd place as Reece Pratt paced the Red Raiders with a 1st place finish in the shot put and a 3rd place finish in the discus. Three Lady Raiders will return to Tullahoma on Monday to compete in the Sectional Pentathlon. The first event begins at 11 AM.
For COMPLETE Meet Results visit : http://tn.milesplit.com/meets/230813/results#.Vw3hUvkrLIU

Wyatt Day

Five errors by the CHS baseball team allowed Columbia to escape Powers Field on Tuesday night with a 9 to 3 win over the Red Raiders. The visiting Lions touched up Red Raider starter Kohl Young for 5 unearned runs in the 4th and 5th innings to spoil an otherwise solid pitching performance. The Raiders did rally for 3 runs in the final 2 innings but could not fight their way back to a district win. Wyatt Day and Cade Giles each had 2 hits, an RBI and a run scored. Giles hit a triple and Day had a double as he was named the Thunder Radio player of the game. Coffee County travels to Columbia on Wednesday for a 6 PM rematch with the Lions.

You can download the broadcast at: http://www.thunder1320.com/downloads/