The Lady Raider softball team won 5 straight games on Friday and Saturday to advance to the finals of the Cookeville Middle School tournament on Saturday. Coffee Middle, riding a 10 game winning streak ran out of gas in the finals as they fell to Mt. Juliet to finish the weekend at 5 and 1. Over the course of the tournament, the Lady Raiders claimed wins over Prescott, Overton, Upperman, and 2 wins over Warren County. Grace Pippenger was the hitting star of the week-end as she was 10 for 13 with a home run and a pair of triples. Sarah West also had a home run on Saturday against Warren County. The Lady Raiders return to conference play on Monday in Winchester as they take on North Franklin. First pitch is set for 5 PM.
The Coffee County Middle School tennis team held their inaugural tennis match on Friday in Lewisburg. The first year program struggled, as is expected for their first match. Luke Irwin provided the highlight of the day as he pushed his singles opponent to an exciting tiebreaker finish before falling to the more experienced Lewisburg team. The CCMS netters will host their 1st ever home match on Monday when they welcome Shelbyville to their home courts behind the Raider Academy. That match is set to begin at 4 PM.
After getting a 4 to 3 win over McMinn County on Friday night in the Cleveland Classic, the CHS soccer team struggled to duplicate that offensive effort on Saturday as they dropped a 2 nil decision to Walker Valley on Saturday morning. In the nightcap against the host Raiders, Cleveland found the back of the net in the last 5 minutes to grab a 3 to 2 win. Paco Barrera and Breyer Taylor each had a pair of goals on the week-end for Coffee County. Chase Harper and Miguel Medoza also added tallies on Friday night while Taylor Walker, Ben Reid and Taylor were credited with assists. The Raiders play host to Blackman on Tuesday night in a non-conference tilt. Kickoff is set for 7 PM.
Four walks and 3 singles allowed Riverdale to plate 4 runs and knock off the CHS baseball team on Saturday evening in Murfreesboro. The Raiders scattered 5 hits around 5 walks offensively as they had runners in scoring position in 4 of the 7 innings.. Alan Rob scored on a Cade Giles ground out in the 4th inning for the Raiders lone run. Davis Green, who entered the game in relief in the 1st inning, pitched 5 2/3 inning of relief allowing no runs while striking out 4. The Raiders return to district play on Tuesday when they travel to Fayetteville to take on Lincoln County. That game will get underway at 6 PM.
An 8 to 4 win over Station Camp during pool play of the Hendersonville Commando Classic turned out to be the highlight of a tough weekend for the Coffee County CHS Lady Raider softball team. Coffee County, who was 1 and 5 on the weekend, was eliminated in the first round of the tournament by eventual champion Maryville as UT commitment Caylan Arnold held the Lady Raiders hitless. Tori Bell was 2 for 2 against Station Camp as she led the Lady Raiders in hitting on the weekend going 4 for 10. Coach Steve Wilder was disappointed with his team’s defensive performance noting the 13 errors committed on the weekend. Wilder did use the weekend to give a lot of kids playing time as 19 different Lady Raiders got at-bats and 4 different pitchers pitched for Coffee County. The Lady Raiders return home for a Monday night game with Lawrence County. That game will begin at 7 PM and Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast beginning with the pregame show at 6:50.
When Evgeny Kuznetsov goes behind the net, his linemates know they have to be ready.
“I don’t think you get used to it,” said T.J. Oshie, who converted a passout from Kuznetsov into what proved to be the game-winning goal in the Washington Capitals’ 4-1 victory against the Nashville Predators at Verizon Center on Friday. “You try to get ready for it. But even when it does come, you kind of think to yourself, ‘How’d he just do that?’ I’ll take them every time.”
Kuznetsov finished with three assists and has 53 for the season, tied for second in the NHL. He leads the Capitals and is tied for third in the NHL with 73 points, and his creativity with the puck seems to be endless.
“He sees things that maybe only a handful of players in the League can see,” Oshie said. “It’s fun. It’s nice getting those empty-netters.”
Daniel Winnik had two of Washington’s three second-period goals in the Capitals’ first multiple-goal game since they defeated the Los Angeles Kings 3-1 on Feb. 16. Andre Burakovsky scored for Washington (51-14-5), and Braden Holtby made 20 saves in his 43rd win of the season.
“It’s easier to play your game when you’re in control after the first or at least in control of what you’re trying to accomplish,” Holtby said.
Filip Forsberg scored and backup goalie Carter Hutton made 26 saves for Nashville (36-23-13), which owns the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. The loss was the second regulation loss for the Predators in their past 18 games (11-2-5).
“They were a little better than us tonight, and we couldn’t really get anything going offensively,” defenseman Shea Weber said.
Forsberg scored at 3:30 of the second period to give the Predators a 1-0 lead. He beat Holtby with a wrist shot from the right circle for his 29th goal of the season.
“Our heart was in the right place,” said Predators coach Peter Laviolette, whose team was playing the second of a back-to-back after defeating the New York Islanders 4-2 in Nashville on Thursday. “Our legs were a little bit behind, but in the third period, we kept pushing, we kept trying, we never quit. It wasn’t our sharpest game, but it’s always a little bit more difficult with the travel.”
The Capitals have allowed the first goal in six of their past seven games.
Winnik tied the game 1-1 at 7:52. Holtby chipped the puck up ice and Kuznetsov, positioned at the Nashville blue line, fed a slap pass to Winnik, who beat Hutton from the left circle.
Holtby’s assist was his first of the season and the eighth of his career.
“It’s something we’ve tried to do in the past, usually at the end of a power play when you’re not worried about changing, when you’re trying to get it in their zone at the end of the power play,” Holtby said of the breakout play. “You know [Kuznetsov’s] going to make those reads, so he read it well.”
Oshie gave the Capitals a 2-1 lead at 12:22. Kuznetsov sent a no-look backhand pass to Oshie from behind the net, and Oshie beat an out-of-position Hutton for his 22nd of the season, an NHL career-high. He scored 21 in 2013-14 while playing for the St. Louis Blues.
Winnik’s second of the game made it 3-1 with 18 seconds remaining. On a 3-on-2 rush, defenseman Dmitry Orlov played the puck up the middle to Winnik, who beat Hutton for his sixth goal of the season.
“I know Daniel, he’s had some good production in the past,” coach Barry Trotz said. “When you get in the playoffs and you get those top lines nullifying each other, the difference sometimes are those unsung heroes that you look at their regular-season total and there’s not a whole lot of maybe big-time production, but in the playoffs there’s been guys that have really upped their game and their production and scored big goals.”
Burakovsky scored his 15th of the season 36 seconds into the third period for a 4-1 lead. Kuznetsov passed from behind the goal line and Burakovsky scored from the slot.
“It was strong start to finish,” Holtby said of the Capitals’ performance. “I thought we did a good job controlling their D and that’s a tough thing to do and we feed off it. It was our game plan going in and we executed it.”
The Predators begin a four-game homestand Monday against the Los Angeles Kings. Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast of that game following our broadcast of Coffee County softball
The Burch and Stanley Attorneys at Law Student of the Week Sammy Eagles with Eric Burch
The Burch & Stanley attorneys at law “Student of the Week” for 18 March 2016 is Sammy Eagles. Sammy is in fifth grade at Westwod Elementary School in Manchester. He is the son of proud parents Beth and Michael. He was selected as our student this week because of the many positive attributes he possesses. Sammy has been working hard all year long. His Math teacher Mrs. Kim Davis said “Sammy has really been trying and he has been learning some very hard concepts in Math, and Sammy has been working very hard in Math class. Sammy really has to listen and use strategies in all classes to help him with learning the fifth grade material. On a recent TN READY test that he took his teacher Mrs. Layne remarked , ” Sammy really worked hard and tried many strategies to solve the math problems, and we were so proud to see him taking his time and working through the problems and using what he has worked so hard to learn all year. We are very proud to see Sammy growing and maturing, and we hope he will continue to work very hard for the remainder of the year. Sammy says his favorite subject in school is science, because he likes to learn new things. He is an athlete and enjoys playing basketball. Sammy states he would like to be a truck driver one day when he gets older because his Dad used to be a truck driver and it gives the driver the chance to travel and see the World. He was presented with a plaque (courtesy of K&S Trophies of Tullahoma) and a set of tickets to an up-coming Nashville Predators game. Congratulations to Sammy Eagles, the Burch & Stanley attorneys at law “Student of the Week”.
Coming off a strong, but disheartening performance on Tuesday night, the Red Raider soccer team of Coffee County CHS got their first match win of the year on Thursday night with a 4 to 1 win over Community in Unionville. Breyer Taylor had a pair of goals and an assist to lead the Red Raider attack. Leo Botello headed in a corner kick from Taylor in the 8th minute to open the scoring and when Taylor scored unassisted at the 27th minute, Coffee County claimed a 2 to 0 halftime lead. Taylor got his second goal in the 46th minute off of a free kick from Ben Reid before Paco Barrera closed out the Raider scoring in the 54th minute with an unassisted goal. The Vikings scored their lone goal on a penalty kick in the 72nd minute. The Red Raiders travel to Cleveland on Friday to begin play in the Cleveland Classic. Coffee County will take on McMinn County at 4:30 on Friday followed by a pair of games on Saturday. The Raiders open with Walker Valley at 8 AM Saturday, followed by Cleveland at 4:30 PM.
The CHS Track team opened their season at home on Thursday afternoon as they welcomed Warren County to Carden-Jarrell Field. The Raiders and Lady Raiders continued their tradition of strong showings in the field events and hurdles. Both the boys and girls teams are scheduled to race at the Tennessee Tech Invitational on Saturday in Cookeville, weather permitting. Event medalists for the Lady Raiders were:
Karson Young lands on triple jump at Thursday’s Meet
Discus
1st Svetlanna Miadzvedzeva (78 feet 11 inches)
2nd Faith Floyd
3rd Keishel Norton Shot Put
1st Carly Barns (28 feet)
2nd Keishel Norton
3rd Faith Floyd Long Jump
1st Karson Young (14 feet 10 inches)
2nd Sarah Pearson
3rd (tie) Diana Davis / Izzy Huddleston Triple Jump
1st Karson Young (32 feet 11 inches) High Jump
1st Sarah Pearson (5 feet)
2nd Karson Young
3rd Diana Davis 3200 Meter Relay
2nd Chloe Haggard, Ali Robinson, Jasmine Farrar, Byanka Woods 100 Meter hurdles
1st Karson Young (16.65)
2nd Sarah Pearson
3rd Diana Davis 4×200 Meter relay
2nd Izzy Huddleston, Javaun Verge, Keishel Norton, Renee Martin 1600 meter run
1st Mackenzie Webb (6:57)
2nd Emily St. John 4×100 meter relay
1st Izzy Huddleston, Javaun Verge, Jasmine Farrar, Kayleigh Harris (58.03) 400 meter run
3rd Kelsea Selvage 300 meter hurdles
1st Lili Harris (1:01)
2nd Chloe Haggard
3rd Ali Robinson 800 meter run
1st Mackenzie Webb (3:04) 1600 meter relay
2nd Diana Davis, Emily St. John, Javaun Verge, Raegan Rice
Event medalists for the Red Raiders were:
Justice Benitez anchors the winning 4×200 Meter relay for Coffee County.
Discus
1st Reece Pratt (86 feet 4 inches) Shot Put
1st Reece Pratt (39 feet 1 inch)
2nd Jalen Cummings Long Jump
1st Johnny Dulin (16 feet 4 inches)
2nd Joe Melton
3rd Zach Morgan 3200 Meter Relay
2nd Andrew Godwin, Trevor Reese, Andy Rosson, James Lynn
3rd Reuben Chaput, Chandler Poe, Neil Slone, Aaron Buck 4×200 meter relay
1st Zach Morgan, Michael Lockhart, Jalen Cummings, Justice Benitez (1:43) 1600 meter run
3rd Andy Rosson 4×100 meter relay
2nd place Justice Benitez, Zach Vaughn, Zach Morgan, Michael Lockhart 400 meter run
3rd Trevor Reese 800 meter run
2nd Owen Teague 200 meter dash
1st Justice Benitez (24.5)
2nd Jalen Cummings 3200 meter run
2nd James Lynn
The Coffee County Central High School Lady Raider softball team opened up play in the Hendersonville Commando Classic on Thursday with a pair of losses. In the opener, Coffee County fell to White House 5 to 3. In the nightcap, they lost a 4 to 0 decision to Daniel Boone. On Friday, the Lady Raiders will take on Dobyns-Bennett at 7 PM followed by Happy Valley at 8:30 PM. The tournament continues on Saturday with a pool play game at 10 AM against Station Camp, followed by the single elimination bracket play which gets underway at noon. Details on Thursday’s opening games will be posted later on Friday.
