Category: Sports

Tori Bell belts the game winning home run on Monday night at Riverdale 

In a Region 4AAA softball game that saw 2 pitchers duel in a classic nail biter for 7 innings, it was 2 big plays that lifted Coffee County to a 1 to 0 win over Riverdale on Monday night in Murfreesboro.  In the do or die region game, Tori Bell crushed a 3-2 pitch in the 4^th inning over the centerfield wall and Brittany Williams threw out Riverdale’s Cayman Starwalt trying to score from 2^nd base on a single in the bottom of 5^th inning to lift the Lady Raiders to victory.  Brianna Jones struck out 9 Warrior hitters and pitched out of jams in the 4^th, 5^th and 6^th innings when her defense committed an error in each of those innings.

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Coach Terry Floyd congratulates Tori Bell as she rounds 3rd base after hitting the game winning home run on Monday night as the Riverdale players look on in the foreground & background. Photo by John St.Clair (JohnStClairPhoto.com)

The Lady Raiders were held to 2 hits as Brittany Williams had a single to lead off the 4^th inning before being thrown out trying to steal second base ahead of Bell’s 2 out home run.  With her game winning home run, Bell was named the Gateway Tire and Service Center player of the game.  With the win, Coffee County improved to 30-6-1 on the season and will host Siegel in the Region 4AAA finals on Wednesday night at 7 PM at Lady Raider Field.  Siegel held off a late Tullahoma rally to advance to the finals.  The win also guarantees Coffee County a berth in the sectional round on Friday.  A win on Wednesday would mean that Coffee County would host the sectional game.  Thunder Radio will broadcast Wednesday AND Friday’s games.  Wednesday night’s broadcast will begin at 6:50 PM with Lucky Knott on the call.

CCMS golfer Samuel Prater

The Westwood and Coffee County Middle School golf teams opened the final week of the season hosting North and South Franklin at Willowbrook on Monday.  The match, from early April, was the final home match of the year.  In boy’s action, Coffee Middle beat North and South Franklin 173 to 197.  Samuel Prater returned from injury to card a 1 over par 37.  Austin Farris shot 42 while Matthew Hale carded a 45.  For Westwood, Christopher Robinson got around in 50 strokes.  In girl’s action, North/South defeated Coffee County 113 to 142.  Reagan Chambers shot a 70 for the Lady Raiders while Olivia Lewis carded a 72.   The golf teams travel to Shelbyville on Tuesday for a match with Liberty and Harris at Riverbend Country Club.  The golfers are scheduled to go off at 3:30 PM.

CHS tennis players Savannah Hodge(left) and Alex Crossland(right) in recent doubles action.

Alex Crossland and Savannah Hodge began the season as the #2 doubles team for Coffee County tennis, but finished the season as the #3 doubles team in Region 4AAA on Monday.  Taking part in their first region doubles tournament, Crossland and Hodge fought hard but were no match for the experienced and talented #1 team from Siegel.  Tied at 2 to 2 in the first set, Siegel’s #1 team of Joy Chanthanalay and Lexie Greene closed the first set strong winning 6 to 3.  After splitting the first 2 games of the second set, the Stars swept the last 5 games of the set to complete the straight sets sweep at 3-6, 1-6.  The loss ends a resurgent season for the Lady Raider tennis program coached by Mike Ray and Audra Brown.  The Lady Raiders only graduate one of their top 5 singles players while the boys team should feature more experience than any Raider team in recent memory.

Monday’s Prep Schedule
1:00 PM – CHS Tennis at Girls Doubles Region Tournament at Old Fort Park in Murfreesboro
4:00 PM – CCMS & WMS Golf HOST North Franklin/South Franklin at Willowbrook
6:00 PM – CHS Softball at Riverdale – Region Semifinals – Thunder Radio Broadcast

Monday’s MYBL Schedule
5:00PM – 8U – Hillsboro Masonic Lodge vs. Interstate Auto – T-Ball Field
5:00PM – 10U – Jiffy Burger vs. 1st National Bank – American League Field
5:00PM – 10U – Rose Hill vs. Coffee Financial – National League Field
7:00PM – 8U – Lewis Motor Company vs. Star Physical Therapy – T-Ball Field
7:00PM – 10U – American City Bank vs. Mark Lemons – Construction American League Field
7:00PM – 10U – All Creatures vs Hullett’s Service Center – National League Field

Sarah Pearson clears the bar in the high jump in recent track action

The streak remains alive……the Coffee County CHS track team will advance another athlete to the TSSAA Spring Fling championships for the 23rd straight year. Freshman Sarah Pearson was notified on Friday that her 3rd place finish in the sectional penthalon put her in position to advance to the state meet after the 2nd place pentathlete for East Hamilton was injured and unable to compete. The state pentathlon will begin at 10 AM on Monday, May 18th at the MTSU track and field complex.
The CHS thinclads have 3 more athletes who have qualified for Tuesday’s sectional track meet as CHS’s Kani Johnson qualified in the 300M hurdles on Thursday at the sub-sectional. Johnson won the first heat with a time of 40.57 seconds and that time stood up through 3 heats to give Johnson the qualifying win. Johnson also finished 3rd in the 110M hurdles. Also on Thursday, the 4×400 relay team of Rein Bozich, Dalton Dehaven, Johnny Dulin and Joe Melton finished 8th, Ben Myers was 14th in the 800M run and Andy Rosson was 14th in the 1600M run. Johnson will join Lady Raiders Cameron Davis, Taylor DeBerry and Sarah Pearson in Tuesday’s sectional track meet at Rhea County. Davis qualified in the discus throw, DeBerry qualified in the 100M hurdles and Pearson qualified in the 300M hurdles. Field events will begin at 1 PM Eastern time. The athletes must finish in the top 4 places in their respective events to advance to the Spring Fling championships.

CHS hurdler Kani Johnson(file photo)

Westwood’s Carlee Sullivan

After a tough regular season, the Lady Rockets finished the season strong on Saturday in the Duck River Valley Conference Tournament. After entering the tournament seeded in 7th place, the Lady Rockets had a 7th inning rally in the loser’s bracket fall short that would have placed them in the final 4.
The Lady Rockets got a dramatic 3 to 2 win over Liberty on Saturday morning in the first game in the elimination bracket. Trailing 2 to 0 entering the top of the 7th, walks by Avery Whisett and Keyleigh Alford were followed by a single by Faith Willoughby and a double by Carlee Sullivan respectively plated 3 runs for Westwood. Sullivan pitched out of a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the 7th to give Westwood the win.

Westwood’s Alexcia Barnes

In the 2nd game of the day, Westwood got 4 runs in the top of the 5th inning to tie Huntland. Singles by Sarah West, Haley Miller, Alexcia Barnes and Faith Willoughby and a walk to Danielle Baker highlighted the rally. The Hornets responded with a run in the 5th inning and withstood a 7th inning rally from Westwood to end the Rockets season. Baker was a perfect 4 for 4 at the plate and Miller finished the game going 3 for 4 with a pair of doubles to lead the Lady Rockets attack.

CHS forward Breyer Taylor strikes a free kick against Columbia on Friday night

Facing a Columbia Lions soccer team that only surrendered one goal in district competition this season, the Red Raiders managed just 5 shots on Friday night as they fell 3 to 0 in the District 8AAA finals.  Coffee County was able to stick to their game plan in the first half as they exhibited a sharp passing game.  However, the Lion defense was able to block several Raider shots allowing only 2 shots to get to the Columbia keeper.  Raider keeper Lafredo Ramirez was splendid in goal as he had 5 first half saves, including 2 in the first 5 minutes.  Columbia’s Andy Dean drove a right footer past Ramirez in the 35^th minute.  Ernesto Gomez had a short in front of the goal just before the halftime whistle that the Lion keeper stopped to send the game to the half at 1-0.  Columbia notched 2 goals in the first 4 minutes of the second half to put the game on ice as Dean got his 2nd goal on a header at 43 and Nolan Bone hit a volley at 46.  With the loss, Coffee County will travel to Oakland on Monday night to take on the District 7AAA champion Patriots.  That match will kick off at 7:00 PM.

The Westwood Rockets baseball and softball teams suffered shutout losses on Friday night in the opening rounds of the Duck River Valley Conference Tournaments. In baseball, the young Rockets could not get an offensive traction as they dropped a 19 to 0 decision to Huntland. The loss, in the play-in game held in Huntland, ended a rebuilding year for the Rockets. Westwood, who early in the season started only 6th and 7th graders, showed growth and improvement, but the graduation of all of their experience from last season made the task of being competitive nearly impossible.
In softball, the Lady Rockets opened the conference tournament against the 2nd seeded Lady Champions of Cascade. The Champions banged out 15 hits as they dropped the Lady Rockets into the loser’s bracket with a 16 to 0 defeat. The Lady Rockets were held to 1 hit off the bat of Danielle Baker. With the loss, Westwood will take on Liberty at 9 AM on Saturday. The DRVC softball tournament is being held in Fayetteville.