Westwood head coach Josh Morris talks to his team between innings in a recent game
The Westwood Rockets baseball team kept a very strong Middle Tennessee Christian squad in check for 6 full innings before falling 6 to 0 on Friday night at Fred Deadman Park. The Rockets held MTCS to 3 runs in the first 6 innings before the Cougars strung together 3 hits, coupled with a Westwood error, to plate 3 runs in the top of the 7th inning. That error was the lone blemish for the Rockets defense on the night as Westwood turned 2 double plays, picked a runner off of 2nd base and caught a runner stealing. Offensively, Westwood was held to 3 hits on the night. Jacob Grams had a pair of singles for Westwood and Austin Burch added a double. Westwood will return to action on Tuesday night when they welcome Cascade to Looney Riddle Field at Fred Deadman Park. The conference tilt is scheduled for a 5 PM first pitch.
All good things must eventually come to an end. The Nashville Predators fell 4-2 to the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night at Rogers Arena, seeing their franchise-record, 14-game point streak come to a close. Nashville’s streak of 13 consecutive road games with at least a point also ended with the loss.
“Tonight, there’s no question we didn’t play very well in the first period, and we were slow to get off the mark,” Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “The second and third period we took over the game, but they got a bounce off of a shin guard for a goal, and we couldn’t get the one to tie it up and that’s what you get for digging yourself a hole in the first period.”
Nashville fell behind by one and then two goals in the opening frame, as forwards Sven Baertschi and Derek Dorsett found twine in the period’s final three minutes to put the Canucks up 2-0 at the end of the first.
The tide started to turn over the first half of the middle stanza with the Predators pounding the Canucks net and hounding Vancouver on the forecheck. Mike Fisher broke through for the Predators at 9:17 of the second, deflecting a Roman Josi feed into the cage. The play began with Miikka Salomaki sending a spinning pass from the halfwall up to Shea Weber for a one-touch pass to Josi with Fisher ultimately claiming his 11th of the season.
After Bo Horvat gave the Canucks a two-goal lead once more, it was Josi dishing again, this time with a slick pass to Vancouver native Colton Sissons for his second goal in three games, one-timing the feed past Ryan Miller to bring the Preds to within a goal once more.
Nashville continued the pressure into the final period, but Miller finished with 35 saves on the night to hand the Preds their first regulation loss since Feb. 9.
The Predators picked up 23 points in the standings over the course of the 14-game stretch and currently sit seven points up in the race for the first Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.
“Really important, it’s a tight playoff race and we need all the points we can get,” Josi said. “It got us some separation from the teams below us, but it’s still a tight race and we’re nowhere near the playoffs yet, so we have to keep it going and get points along the way here.”
The Predators will finish their current five-game road trip on Monday night in Edmonton against the Oilers. Thunder Radio will bring you that broadcast following Coffee County Central High School softball.
The Tennessee Area 13 Special Olympics, Lower Cumberland Region has a pair of events coming up and the public is encouraged to get involved. There will be a chili cookoff on Wednesday, March 23rd at Prater’s BBQ with all proceeds going to Area 13 Special Olympics. Contestants’ entry fee is $10 and folks can sample the chili for $5. For more information, you can visit the Coffee Coaches Show Facebook page.
The Area 13 Summer Games will be contested on Thursday, April 28th at Tullahoma High School. As always, volunteers are needed. If you would like to donate your time to this worthy cause, you can visit the Area 13 Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/Special-Olympics-Tennessee-Area-13-Lower-Cumberland-Region-1471347953088290/ . Registration begins at 8:00 AM, Opening Ceremonies begin at 9:15, with the games starting at 9:30.. Rain Date is Tuesday May 3rd. Special Olympics also has event t-shirts for sale. The participating team names will be on the back of the shirts and the cost is $9.00 each.
The Motlow Bucks have played eight of their first 13 dates on the road during the first half of the baseball season and will continue that trend this weekend when they travel to Columbia to face Tennessee Community College Athletic Association (TCCAA) rival Columbia State.
The Bucks (9-14, 1-2) will take on the Chargers (8-8, 1-2) after winning one of three games in their opening TCCAA series against Jackson State last weekend. After losing the nine-inning opener 16-15 and dropping the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader 9-3, the Bucks stormed back and won the series finale 11-2.
Historically, Columbia is Motlow’s most intense baseball rival. The Chargers were ranked among the top 25 teams in the nation in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) preseason poll.
Motlow followed its conference openers at Jackson with a non-conference trip to Dayton to take on Bryan College JV on Monday, where they dropped a doubleheader 7-6, 5-1. The Bucks finally return home Monday when they host non-conference opponent Wallace State for a 1 p.m. doubleheader. The first home conference series begins Friday, Mar. 18, when Dyersburg State comes to the Driver Baseball Complex for a three-game series.
Visit the official website of Motlow Athletics at <www.motlowsports.com> for rosters, schedules, stats and more. Interact with Motlow Athletics at <Facebook/MotlowSports> and <Twitter@MotlowSports>.
The Westwood Lady Rockets struggled defensively against the strong short game from Moore County on Wednesday night falling 16 to 1 to the Raiderettes in the Duck River Valley Conference game in Lynchburg. After threatening in the top of the 1st inning and 2nd inning, and getting a strong defensive effort in the bottom of the 1st inning, it looked like the young Westwood team was poised for the upset. However, Moore County was able to get runners on base and force some Lady Rocket errors in the bottom of the 2nd inning to race to the win. Westwood, who has no 8th graders on their roster, got a good pitching performance from 6th grade pitcher Haidyn Campbell only giving up 1 earned run on the night. Offensively, Westwood got their lone run in the top of the 3rd when Alex Nelson scored on an RBI double by Amber Smith. The Lady Rockets are back in action on Thursday night as they play their 4th game in 4 days at Fayetteville. Westwood will take on Fayetteville Middle School at 5 PM at Don Davidson Park in Fayetteville.
Anthony Bitetto and Mike Fisher scored in the third period, and the Nashville Predators battled back to salvage a point following a 3-2 overtime loss to the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome.
The result gives the Predators at least a point in 14 consecutive contests, adding to the franchise-record streak. It’s been exactly one month since the club last lost a game in regulation.
“That was a gutsy effort by our guys,” Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “We battled back on the road, down two goals; it’s not really going your way, but yet you stay with it, stick with it and find a way to score the two goals.
“[We] found a way to turn it around in the third period and to me, that speaks volumes to the guys in the room and their commitment to get a win.”
Johnny Gaudreau scored twice in 10 seconds in the first period, and that score held until 7:44 of the third period when Bitetto went to the net and slammed home a gorgeous pass off the stick of Mike Fisher for his first tally in the NHL. Then, with the extra attacker, it was Fisher who slid home a loose puck at the side of the net with 78 seconds remaining in regulation time to even the score at 2-2 and salvage the point streak.
“We knew we just had to get one and find a way,” Fisher said. “This group has been playing well and it’s finding ways to get points and that’s important.
“We got better in the third, we got some chances and we were buzzing. We never gave up and that’s a good sign.”
The overtime loss isn’t the desired result, but at this juncture, one point is always better than nothing at all.
“That’s a huge character test right there, when you’re down 2-0 early and you find a way to come back,” defenseman Ryan Ellis said. “Points at this time of the season are huge.”
The Predators are back in action on Saturday when they travel to Edmonton to take on the Canucks. Faceoff is at 9 PM and you can hear the action here on Thunder Radio.
The Coffee County Middle School softball team collected some revenge on Tuesday night at home as they dumped Warren County 4 to 2 in a rematch of Monday’s conference loss in McMinnville. After spotting the Lady Pioneers 2 runs in the 1st inning, 6th grader Hannah Richardson shut down Warren County the rest of the way surrendering only 3 hits on the night. Coffee County tied the score in the bottom of the first on a double by Ashley Evans and a triple by Sarah West, The Lady Raiders were able to notch single runs in the 2nd and 3rd as they strung together singles. West led Coffee County in hitting as she was 2 for 2 with 2 runs scored. The win improves Coffee County to 2 and 1 on the season overall and in conference play. The Lady Raiders are back in action on Monday night as they play host to Harris in a 5 PM game at CCMS.
Facing their toughest conference challenge of the season, the Westwood Rocket soccer team responded to the challenge in a big way with a 6 to 0 win over Fayetteville on Tuesday night at Dyer-Bouldin Field. The Rockets jumped on the visiting Tigers from the opening whistle as Felix Salinas netted a goal in the 1st minute and the Rockets added 2 more goals to take a 3 to 0 lead in the first 9 minutes. Salinas ended the night with 4 goals while Andes Cavalie and Austin Wilder each added a goal. The Rockets got a pair of assists from Eric Randolph while Leo Basurto and Cavalie each added assists. Rocket keeper Cailan McLean finished with 4 saves as Fayetteville was not able to effectively penetrate the Westwood defense and midfield all night. The win raises Westwood’s record to 5 and 0 on the year and 3 and 0 in the conference. The Rockets will welcome Riverside Christian to Dyer-Bouldin Field on Friday, weather permitting. The kickoff for that match is set for 5:00 PM.
The Westwood Rocket baseball team got their 2nd win in a row on Tuesday night as they held off Huntland 9 to 7 at Fred Deadman Park. The Rockets scored runs in 5 of the 6 innings of the game as they begin conference play with a perfect 2 and 0 record. Dylan Koon was 1 for 1 with 3 walks for Westwood as he scored 4 times on the night. Jacob Garms was 2 for 2 with a walk and a double while Nick Smith added a triple. Trenton Thompson pitched a scoreless 7th inning to earn the save for Westwood. The Rockets will welcome Middle Tennessee Christian to Looney Riddle Field on Friday night. First pitch is scheduled for 5:30 PM at Fred Deadman Park.
The Westwood softball team was held to 3 hits on Tuesday night as Liberty handed them an 8 to 0 loss in Shelbyville. Haidyn Campbell was 2 for 3 to lead the Lady Rocket hitting attack Alex Nelson had the other hit for the Rockets who fall to 0 and 2 on the season. The Lady Rockets are back in action on Wednesday night when they travel to Lynchburg for a 5:30 PM game with Moore County.
