Category: Sports

Coffee County’s Brianna Jones(right) was honored with the Most Valuable Player award for the Tennessee All-Stars on Wednesday night after getting a win and a save in the Tennessee/Kentucky All-Star Softball Series.

Brianna Jones put an exclamation point on her sparkling high school career on Wednesday. Brianna had another dominant pitching performance leading the Tennessee high school all star softball team to a series win over the Kentucky all stars in the 10th Annual Tennessee/Kentucky All Star Classic in Bowling Green. Jones got the start in the opening game of the best of 3 series and led the Tennessee All Star squad to a 2 to 1 victory over Kentucky. Jones finished the night with 9 strikeouts to get the win. Jones was called on to pitch the 6th and 7th inning of the deciding game as Tennessee dropped the host Kentucky squad. For her performance, Jones was named the Most Valuable Player for the Tennessee all-star team. Brianna begins her college career in the fall at Southern Illinois.

With a couple of mediocre starts in a row for Shelby Miller, he had the opportunity to recapture his rhythm against a team he’s had enormous success against from his time with the Cardinals. He didn’t disappoint at all. Miller was back to his regular self with another efficient outing. He faced the minimum through six innings with only one hit allowed in the fourth, but that was negated by a Yunel Escobar double play.

The Nationals finally got to Miller in the seventh inning with a little bit of luck. Denard Span drew a leadoff walk in which Miller seemed to be squeezed quite a bit on two of the balls. Anthony Rendon followed that up with a weak chopper that got by Kelly Johnson and put runners on first and second. Escobar grounded into a fielder’s choice for the first out, and runners were on first and third for Bryce Harper. Harper got jammed on an inside fastball from Miller, but the ball blooped just over Jace Peterson’s glove for an RBI single to put Washington on the board. Miller retired the next two batters to get out of the jam, but the damage was one run scored without a hard hit ball in the inning. That would be the end of the night for Miller.

Jordan Zimmermann also had it going on the mound. He’d been in bad form over his last three starts, but he seemed to find it against Atlanta on Wednesday night. Zimmermann threw eight scoreless innings allowing six hits and no walks with three strikeouts. The Braves threatened a couple of times and hit some balls hard, but nothing fell, and Zimmermann escaped untouched. Neither Washington starter has allowed a run through the first two games.

Heading to the ninth, the Braves were down a run with Drew Storen coming in to close it down for the second night in a row. Like game one, Atlanta started a rally, but they were able to come through and tie it up this time, even if they should’ve gotten more. Nick Markakis and A.J. Pierzynski led off the inning with singles, and Pierzynski took second base on a dumb throwing error by Bryce Harper to put two runners in scoring position with nobody out. Joey Terdoslavich was then intentionally walked to load the bases for Kelly Johnson. Johnson did his job. He flew out to center field for a sacrifice fly that scored Markakis to tie the game. Unfortunately, Terdoslavich made a terrible decision to try getting to second base on the flyout and was thrown out for the second out. Instead of runners at the corners with one out, it was a runner on third with two outs, and Andrelton Simmons grounded out to end the inning. It was an inning that easily could’ve won the game for the Braves.

After a scoreless ninth from Jason Grilli, the game headed to extra innings. The Braves were 2-3 in extras going into the game, while the Nationals were 4-1.

Cameron Maybin nearly drove in a go-ahead run in the top of the 10th inning with a drive to left field, but once again, the ball wasn’t able to miss a glove for Atlanta, and the game headed to the bottom of the 10th.

The Nationals had a threat in the 10th with two on and one out, but Luis Avilan came in and forced two groundouts to end the inning.

After the Braves failed to score in the 11th, Dana Eveland was brought in, and the Nationals once again started a one-out rally. They were able to capitalize on it this time. Harper started it off with a double into the right-center field gap. Wilson Ramos was intentionally walked, and then Eveland walked Clint Robinson to load the bases. David Aardsma was called upon to try to get a ground ball, but Ian Desmond lined one to left field to bring home Harper for a game-winning sacrifice fly to give the Nationals the 2 – 1 win.

The series wraps up with a 3:05 p.m. Thursday matinee. Braves rookie right-hander Matt Wisler (1-0, 1.13) will get teh start while teh Nats will counter with Doug Fister (2-3, 4.80) who looks to build off his first start back from the DL, Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast as we will join the game in progress at 4:00 PM.

Both Nashville and Memphis came out slugging in Wednesday afternoon’s game at AutoZone Park, but the Redbirds eventually evened the series with a 9-4 win.

A run was scored by one or both of the teams through each of the first six innings. Those six frames included a combination of 13 runs and 25 hits, as Memphis eventually outhit Nashville, 14-12.

The combination of Craig Gentry and Joey Wendle at the top of the lineup set the tone all game for the Sounds. The duo went a combined 7-for-10 with four runs scored, three doubles and two RBIs. They got Nashville on the board in the top of the first by both scoring. Ryan Roberts recorded a sacrifice fly to grab the early lead and Jake Smolinski collected a RBI single to make it 2-0.

Smolinski joined Gentry and Wendle with a three-hit game. In his first two games with Nashville, the outfielder is 5-for-8 with three RBIs and a double.

Nashville scored three of its four runs with two outs and was 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Wendle’s two doubles extended his team-leading extra-base hit total to 29, while his four hits were a season high.

Stephen Piscotty led the way for Memphis, going 3-for-5 with his 10th homer of the season, two runs and two RBIs, while Dan Johnson also had a trio of hits. The ‘Birds claimed the lead with a pair of runs in the fifth and added three more in the sixth to post the 9-4 advantage.

The Sounds came into the game with the second-best ERA (3.45) in the PCL, but it took a hit on Wednesday. Starter Zach Neal saw the Redbirds tag him for six runs on a season-high 11 hits over five innings. Angel Castro did pitch a scoreless seventh though, and Brock Huntzinger extended his scoreless streak to 12 games and 17 2/3 innings with a perfect eighth.

The two teams conclude the three-game series on Thursday at AutoZone Park with a 7:05 p.m. first pitch. Lefty Brad Mills (2-7, 3.56) will be opposed by Thomas Lee in the series finale.

Right-hander Stephen Strasburg pitched five scoreless innings in his return as the Nationals defeated the Braves, 3-1, in Tuesday night’s series opener at Nationals Park.  In his first game since May 29, Strasburg waited out a two-hour, 12-minute weather delay, then held Atlanta to four hits and one walk while striking out six to pick up his fourth victory.
“It’s good to get back out there. Obviously, I’ve been working real hard to get things in the right direction. I was able to keep the lead,” Strasburg said. “I want to go out there and execute pitches, pitch my game. I talked to a lot guys in the clubhouse while I was away. It really shed some light into what my strengths and weaknesses are. I really just tried to pitch to my strengths.”
Braves left-hander Alex Wood wasn’t bad either, lasting seven innings and allowing three runs on 10 hits, but losing his fifth game.
Cameron Maybin drove in Atlanta’s only run when he homered off left-hander Matt Thornton in the eighth.

With their fourth consecutive victory, the Nats improved to 38-33, moving 2 1/2 games ahead of the Mets, while the third-place Braves had their three-game win streak snapped and fell three games back.  “It’s disappointing,” Wood said. “You come in here with first place on the line. We battled from start to finish.”  Wood had only himself to blame when he surrendered a Span double and Anthony Rendon’s RBI single before recording his first out. But he didn’t get much help from his defense a short time later. Michael Taylor reached second base and later scored after Maybin bobbled his leadoff single in the third inning. Taylor might not have had a chance to deliver an RBI single in the fourth had second baseman Jace Peterson been quick enough to turn a double play after third baseman Juan Uribe fielded Danny Espinosa’s grounder and threw to second.

Right-hander Shelby Miller will take the mound when Atlanta and Washington resume the three-game series Wednesday at 6:05 p.m. CT. Miller has posted a 0.73 ERA in four career starts against the Nationals, but he has not faced them this season.  Thunder Radio will bring you that broadcast beginning at 6:00 PM.

Behind timely hitting from Ryan Roberts and Jake Smolinski, the Nashville Sounds defeated the Memphis Redbirds 6-4 at AutoZone Park on Tuesday night.

The game remained scoreless until the top of the fourth inning. Joey Wendle singled and went to third on Roberts’ double. The Sounds second baseman then scored on a wild pitch and Barry Zito went back to the mound with a lead.

The Sounds added insurance in the fifth. In his first game since being claimed off waivers from Texas, Smolinski singled and scored on a throwing error by Memphis’ pitcher Tim Cooney. Two more runs would score for Nashville in the frame and the Sounds led 4-0.

Zito surrendered just one run through six, but ran into a spot of trouble to start the seventh. The veteran southpaw walked the first two batters he faced and then gave up an RBI single to Dean Anna. Dan Otero came in and helped Nashville out, allowing just one more run to score as Nashville went to the eighth inning clinging to a 4-3 lead.

Nashville got much needed insurance the following half inning. After Wendle grounded out, Roberts recorded his fourth hit of the game, the third time this season the Sounds infielder has gone 4-for-4, most on the team. Roberts would go to third on a Dayan Viciedo double. After Jason Pridie was intentionally walked and Nate Freiman popped out, Smolinski stepped in. The newest Sound delivered – his two-out single plated two runs to give the Sounds a 6-3 lead.

There were a few nervous minutes for Sounds fans as Memphis loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth, but closer Ryan Cook forced Cody Stanley to ground into a 4-6-3 double play and he then struck out Tommy Pham to finish the job, earning his sixth save.

The two teams will be back at the park first thing Wednesday morning, with first pitch scheduled for 11:35 a.m. It’s expected to be a battle of Zach’s from AutoZone Park, with the Sounds’ Neal dueling with the Redbirds’ Petrick. The Tennessee Lottery I-40 Cup Series is now tied at two games apiece.

During the past eight years the Motlow College men’s basketball program has enjoyed a tremendous run of success by the team, its head coaches, and individual players. Five of those eight years the team won 20 or more games, and there have been four all-Americans at Motlow since 2009.

Winning the state championship in 2013, having multiple head coaches leave to become assistants at Division I universities, and featuring highly-recruited players like Tyree Evans and Dequon Miller has helped the national spotlight to occasionally shine towards Copperweld Arena.

Motlow College’s Jaylen Barford (Photo provided)

If the current recruitment of rising four-star sophomore Jaylen Barford continues at its current pace, his announcement of where he plans to continue his career in 2016 is poised to be the highest-profile event for a Motlow student-athlete since former Bucks baseball player Bryan Morris was drafted in the first round by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2006.

Barford, a 6-4 combo guard from Jackson, Tenn., is coming off a tremendous freshman season at Motlow that saw him average 20.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 2.4 steals per game. He shot 53 percent from the field and 70 percent from the foul line while blocking 14 shots. He was named an honorable mention All-American by the National Junior College Athletic Association and was a first-team all-Region VII selection.

He had six double-doubles during the season, and his near-miracle steal and subsequent made free throws to beat nationally-ranked Southwest Tennessee by one point on Valentine’s Day will go down as one of the greatest single regular season moments in Motlow basketball history.

With the Bucks being nationally ranked themselves for much of the year, and then-sophomore Miller drawing national recruiting interest, Barford had the opportunity to play in front of a significant number of Division I coaches and scouts during the season. Obviously they were impressed.

As of mid-June according to JucoRecruiting.com, Barford has received offers from Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Cincinnati, East Tennessee State, Missouri, Texas Tech, and Wichita State. In addition, Iowa State, Xavier, Florida and LSU have expressed interest.

He was already drawing recruiting attention when he led Jackson South Side High School to the 2014 Class AA state championship by scoring 25 points in the title game and averaging 22.5 points and seven rebounds per game during his high school senior season.

Barford is scheduled to participate in multiple junior college player showcases during the summer, including Mullen Sports JC Top 100 in St. Louis and JUCO Showcase Elite 80 in Atlanta.

He has not indicated when he will announce his next destination, although he has two options. The early signing period for college basketball is the week of Nov. 11, 2015. The regular signing period is April 13-May 18, 2016.

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>.

Motlow Lady Bucks head basketball coach Dominic Tharpe and members of the Bucks and Lady Bucks teams will host a pair of separate basketball skills clinics in late June and early July inside Nisbett Center on Motlow’s Moore County campus.

Each of the two clinics will follow the same format and both are open to boys and girls. The cost of each clinic is $25 per child or $40 for siblings.

Clinic 1 is scheduled for June 29-30. Grades K-6 will register at 8:30 a.m. on June 29 and participate from 9 a.m.-noon both June 29 and 30. Grades 7-12 will register at 12:30 p.m. on June 29 and participate from 1-4 p.m. both days.

Clinic 2 is scheduled for July 1-2. Grades K-6 will register at 8:30 a.m. on July 1 and participate from 9 a.m.-noon both July 1 and 2. Grades 7-12 will register at 12:30 p.m. on July 1 and participate from 1-4 p.m. both days.

Participants have two options to register for either or both clinics. A registration form, which can be printed and mailed to Coach Tharpe along with payment, is available at MotlowSports.com. Also, participants can send names and ages to dtharpe@mscc.edu and bring payment to clinic registration.

For additional information about the basketball skills clinics contact Coach Tharpe by email or by phone at 931-393-1619.

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 Manchester Youth Baseball League held their post season awards presentation on Monday night before a standing room only crowd at Fred Deadman Park.  The top teams in each age division were recognized and the members of the All League Teams were named for the 8U, 10U and 12U divisions.  By league decision, the All League  teams will NOT compete in the TYBA state tournament coming up in July in Murfreesboro.

In the 6U division, the regular season champion was Hullett’s Service, the 2^nd place team was 1^st Vision Bank and the 3^rd place team was Dr. Jay’s.  In the postseason tournament, Dr. Jay’s won the tournament while Hullett’s Service finished 2^nd.

In the 8U division, the regular season champion was Interstate Auto, the 2^nd place team was Hullett’s and the 3^rd place team was Hillsboro Masonic Lodge.  In the postseason tournament, Interstate Auto won the tournament title with Hillsboro Masonic coming in 2^nd place.   Members of the 8U All League team are: Dylan Trail, Jayden Trail, Cayden Trail, Blake Hillis, Jaiden Warren, Caiden Warren, Matthew Sherrill, Matt Moore, Brady Wright, Shelton Barnard, J.D. Hale, Jayden Carter, Zyler Spinner, Evan Kirby, Owen Whitsett and David Featherston.

2015 MYBL 8U All League Team

In the 10U division, the regular season champion was John Roberts Toyota, the 2^nd place team was Mark Lemons Construction and the 3^rd place team was American City Bank.  In the postseason tournament, John Roberts Toyota was the champion while Mark Lemons Construction was the runner-up.  Members of the 10U All-League team are: Jacob Holder, Jaxon Wells, John McKelvey, Cooper Gastinuea, Cole Bryce, Remington Banks, J.T. Anderson, Aiden Robertson, Knox Wimberly, Raiden Sain, Trey Turner, Braden Ross, Conner Smith, Luke Keele, Hayden Garr, Adam Gann, Grayson McNeese and Jordan Reed.

2015 MYBL 10U All League Team

In the 12U division, the regular season champion was Al White Ford/Lincoln, the 2^nd place team was Powers Storage and the 3^rd place team was People’s Bank.  In the postseason tournament, Al White Ford/Lincoln finished as champion while the runner-up was People’s Bank.  The 12U All-League team is: Garrett Davis, Hayden Hullett, Dylan Koon, Skylar Bratcher, Alton Howard, Bailey Hill, Andrew Hite, Lane Spry, Devin Taylor, Kyle Farless, Jaiden Marcom, Nick Smith, Blake Perry, Austin Mast, Jalen Morris and Michael Sherrill.

2015 MYBL 12U All League Team

A 3 and 0 record, coupled with a 10 to 2 win over Tullahoma on Saturday gave the Coffee County CHS Red Raider baseball team the championship of the Crethan Hansert Memorial for the first time since 2012. Coupled with their victories over Marshall County and the Diamond Dogs on Thursday, the Red Raiders finished the tournament with a 3 and 0 record tied with Franklin County who was also 3 and 0 in the round-robin format. In breaking the tie, the number of runs allowed was the first tiebreaker. Coffee County allowed 5 runs in the tournament while Franklin County allowed 7 runs giving Coffee County the title.

Coffee County’s Deandre Wakefield dives back into 1st base ahead of the tag in baseball action on Saturday

The Red Raiders got strong pitching performances all weekend long, including Saturday’s 10 to 2 win over Tullahoma. Wyatt Day got the start and went 3 innings before being relieved by Zach Duncan in the 4th inning. Grant Sadler came on to pitch the 5th inning as the 3 combined to toss a 3 hitter with 6 strikeouts.

The Raiders banged out 11 hits against Wildcat pitching, including 6 hits in a 4 run 2nd inning. A pair of walks and an outfield error helped Coffee County plate 5 runs with 2 outs on 3 hits in the 4th inning. Deandre Wakefield had a single, a double and scored 3 runs to lead the Raiders. Alan Rob had a single and double with 2 RBI while Gavin Husted also had a single and double and 1 RBI. Nathaniel Tate also finished with a pair of singles. The Raiders will take off a couple of weeks for the dead period before resuming practices in July.

2015 MYBL Tournament bracket with final results

The Manchester Youth Baseball League battled the weather to crown champions in 4 age divisions on Friday night.  Games in the 2 oldest age divisions were shortened due to a heavy downpour.  The planned awards ceremony was postponed to Monday night due to the rain….but the games went on.

Cole Shedd of Dr. Jay’s (in black) asks for time out as Trenton Taylor of Hullett’s (in orange) applies a tag in 6U action on Friday night.

The night began with an exciting T-Ball contest that saw Dr. Jay’s upset the top ranked Hullett’s Service team 27 to 19.  Dr. Jay’s were led in hitting by Seth Beaty who had 2 home runs and 2 triples.  Jett Trussler and Kaysen Lowery also had home runs for the 3^rd seeded Bone Crushers.  Hullett’s, who entered the game undefeated, got 2 singles, a triple and a home run from Eli Hancock.

Owen Whitsett of Interstate Auto(in green) eases into 3rd base with a triple as A.J. Schuster of Hillsboro Masonic(in blue) awaits the throw in 8U action on Friday in the MYBL Tournament

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In the Coach Pitch division, top-seeded Interstate Auto doubled up Hillsboro Masonic 14 to 7.  Jayden Carter swung the hot bat for Interstate as he had a home run, double, a triple and 3 RBI.  Matthew Sherrill had a pair of triples for Hillsboro Masonic.

Jordan Reed of John Roberts Toyota(in red) slides run with the eventual winning run as he scores on a passed ball while Conner Smith of Mark Lemons Construction(in yellow) awaits the throw in 10U action on Friday in the MYBL Tournament.

The rain forced an early conclusion in the 10U, Minor League, division game. Jordan Reed of John Roberts Toyota scored the winning run in the bottom of the 4^th inning to capture the 6 to 5 win over Mark Lemons Construction.  Mark Lemons scored 2 runs in the top of the 5^th inning, but a downpour prevented John Roberts for getting their full at-bat in the bottom of the 5th so the game result reverted back to the 4^th inning score.  Phillip Anderson had 2 hits for John Roberts while Jacob Holder had a walk and a hit while scoring 2 times for Mark Lemons.

Hayden Hullett of Al White Ford/Lincoln delivers a pitch on Friday night in 12U action on Friday in the MYBL Tournament

In the Major League division, Al White used a 7 run 2^nd inning to a 15 to 1 win over Peoples Bank.  Jayden Marcrom had an RBI double to score Michael Sherrill for Peoples.  Hayden Hullett had a home run and a single for the winners while Lane Spry had a pair of RBI doubles.

The end of season awards ceremony was postponed until Monday night at 6:00 PM.  Division winners and members of the All-League teams will be announced in the ceremony set to take place on the T-Ball Field.