Category: Sports

Walk-off wins in baseball are a thing of beauty if you are the winning team.  The Coffee County CHS JV baseball team got not 1, but 2 walk-off wins over visiting Wilson Central to sweep Saturday’s doubleheader at Powers Field.  In game 1 of the doubleheader, Noah Anderson laced a double to complete a 6 run Raider comeback and power Coffee County to a 10 to 9 win.   Not to be outdone, the Raiders got an RBI single in game #2 from Cade Giles that scored Bradley King and lift the Raiders to a 6 to 5 win.  The JV team will take on Columbia on Wednesday at 4:00 PM at Powers Field.  The varsity Raiders travel to Columbia on Tuesday for a 4:00 PM game before hosting the Lions on Wednesday at 6:00 PM.  Wednesday’s game can be heard on Thunder Radio with Lucky Knott on the call.

Softball is a tournament sport and Coffee County Middle School softball coach Lana Creek knows that competing in tough in-season tournaments will help her team in the CTC Conference tournament coming up later this month.  With that in mind, the Lady Raiders took their 4 and 1 record to Murfreesboro on Saturday to compete in the Spring Thaw tournament hosted by Oakland and Siegel.  The Lady Raiders dropped three contests on the day as they were playing their first games since March 19^th.  The Raiders opened the day with a 9 to 8 loss to Rockvale in the closest game of the day.  The Lady Raiders finished the afternoon with a 9 to 2 loss to Lincoln County and a 6 to 0 loss to Lewisburg.  The Lady Raiders, whose conference record stands at 4 and 1, will try to get back on the winning track on Monday as they play host to South Franklin.  That game will get underway at 5:00 PM at the Coffee County Middle School.

Senior pitcher Daniel Gassman stymied the Warren County lineup leading the Coffee County Red Raiders to a 5 to 2 win over the Pioneers on Friday afternoon in McMinnville.  Gassman held the Pioneers to 2 hits on the game as he struck out 6.  For Coffee County, six singles in the 2^nd inning led to 4 runs and that was all that Gassman needed as he retired the last 13 batters he faced including striking out the side in the 5^th inning.  Leading the offensive attack for Coffee County was Noah Anderson who had an RBI single in the 2^nd inning and a double in the 4^th.  Trace Friedlein and Zach Wise each had 2 singles and Stanton Keele had a 2 RBI single.  The win was the 2^nd win of the week for Coffee County as the pitching staff and defense begins to work into winning form.  The Raiders will take on Columbia next week for their district series.  Coffee County travels to Columbia on Tuesday afternoon for a 4:00 PM start, then return home on Wednesday for a 6:00 PM game with the Lions.  The JV Raiders will play host to Wilson Central on Saturday at 12:00 PM for a Saturday afternoon doubleheader.

Coffee County’s Lady Raiders moved to 11-1 on the season with a 6-0 win over Tullahoma on Thursday.
Brianna Jones struck out 13 hitters to help Coffee County improve to 6-0 in District 8-AAA play. At the plate Jones had a double and 2 runs knocked in. Senior Centerfielder Brittany Williams has a nice night as she had 2 hits, scored twice and had an RBI. Williams was named the Gateway Tire and Service Center player of the game.
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The Lady Raiders are back in action on Monday when they make the long trip to Lawrence County for a 7pm first-pitch.

 

The Coffee County Middle School Raiders battled a talented Tullahoma team on the road on Thursday night before falling by a final score of 7 to 2.  Trailing 3 to 0 at the half, Josh Perry banged home a corner kick from Briggs Haithcock in the 39^th minute before Tullahoma answered back with a goal of their own.  Anakin Dilliha added the second Raider goal in the 42^nd minute.  The loss evened the Raider record at 2 and 2 on the season and 1 and 2 in conference play.  Coffee County Middle returns home on Monday for a 5:00 PM game with Warren County.  That game will be played at the soccer field behind the new Coffee County Middle School.

The Westwood Rockets boys’ soccer team hosted Lincoln County on Thursday in non-conference play. The Rockets got a hat trick (3 goals) from Leo Botello in the 4-1 win. Juan Penaloza had 2 assists, and Leo Suarez had the other goal. The win improves the Rockets record to 4 and 1 on the season.  The Rockets will play Friday evening in  the Red Raider Invitational hosted by the CHS Soccer team.  The Rockets take on Madison Academy out of Huntsville Alabama at 7:30 PM at the Raider Soccer Field behind the Coffee County Raider Academy.

The Coffee County Central High School soccer team gave up 2 goals early and 2 goals late as they fell to Columbia 6 to 0 on Thursday night in district play.  The home standing Lions punched in goals in the 2^nd and 4^th minutes to take a 2 nil lead into the half.  In the second half, the Lions added a pair of goals in the 51^st and 56^th minute before finishing off the Raiders with goals at the 72^nd and 77^th minutes.  The Raiders fell to 1 and 1 in district play and will be at home for their first home match of the year on Tuesday as they entertain Tullahoma in the Coffee Cup game.

 

In high school baseball on Wednesday night Tullahoma hosted Coffee County. Coming off a win over the Wildcats the night before the Raiders were hoping for a series sweep. Things did not go as planned as Tullahoma score 1 run in the 1st inning and added 4 in the 2nd plus 1 more in the 5th for a 6-0 win over Coffee County. The Raiders could only manage 4 hits on the night.
Noah Anderson was named the Gateway Tire and Service Center player of the game.
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Coffee County is back in action on Friday as the travel to Warren County for a 6:30pm first-pitch.

There were mixed results in middle school baseball action on Wednesday night as both Coffee County Middle and Westwood Middle hosted home games.  Westwood continues to be plagued with inexperience and injuries as they dropped a 24 to 0 decision to Cornersville.  Marcus Pendleton, Byron Sullivan, Dalton Maccanone and Nick Smith all rapped out singles for the Rockets.  Westwood travels to Shelbyville on Monday to take on Liberty.  First pitch is set for 5:00 PM.

 

The Red Raiders of Coffee County Middle used a 5 run 4^th inning on their way to a 10 to 1 win over Siegel Middle of Murfreesboro.  The “4 Horsemen” pitcher lineup of Cody Esslinger, Scottie Duke, Harley Hinshaw and Hayden Skipper combined for the 7 inning win as they had 9 strikeouts for the Raiders.  Trace Bryant was 3 for 3 with 2 doubles and 3 runs scored to lead the Raider offensive attack while  Hinshaw was 2 for 3 with 2 RBI.  The Raiders will be back home on Friday afternoon as they play host to White County in a Good Friday contest.  First pitch is scheduled for 12 noon.

Jackson native Jaylen Barford became the fifth Motlow College men’s basketball player in the past seven years to be honored by the National Junior College Athletic Association as an All-American when the organization’s annual list was announced recently.
Barford, a 6-3 guard who played his high school basketball at Jackson South Side, joins an elite group of only 11 Motlow Bucks to be named All-American since the school began playing basketball in 1969. The most recent honoree prior to Barford was Dequon Miller last season. Miller actually had more impressive statistics this past year than he had last season, but was somehow passed over by the NJCAA.
Barford’s numbers were certainly worthy of a spot on the honorable mention team. He averaged 20.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 2.4 steals per game. Barford connected on 52.5% of his field goal attempts and 70% of his free throw opportunities.
The high-flying freshman provided Copperweld Arena crowds with some of the most dramatic moments during Motlow’s 23-6 season, including a last-second steal and two made free throws to beat Southwest Tennessee 76-75 on Feb. 14.
Previous Motlow College players and the year they were named All-Americans are: Jack Battle, 1973; Bob Martin, 1975; Billy Holt, 1978; Mike Dailey, 1982; Tim Fant, 1990; John Gales, 1995; Tim Williams, 2009; Freddie Goldstein, 2010 and 2011; and Miller in 2014.
Barford, who is being heavily recruited by dozens of Division I universities leads a talented group of freshmen, who, if they all return to Motlow for their sophomore seasons should give the Bucks one of the state’s best rosters. The group includes Terry Holt, Jordan Darden and Reid Pierce. Each started multiple games last year.

Every Coffee County Red Raider wants to beat Tullahoma, especially in their senior year. On Tuesday night, Trace Friedlein did exactly that as he pitched a complete game 6 hitter to lead the CHS baseball team to a 3 to 2 win over the Wildcats at Powers Field. Friedlein, who did not walk a batter in the game, struck out 10 Wildcats including 4 of the last 5 he faced. The Red Raider defense did not commit an error on the night as Coffee County played their most complete game of the season to notch their first district win of the year. The only blemish on Friedlein’s performance was a hit batter in the top of the first inning that came around to score to give Tullahoma a 1 to 0 lead. The Raiders, who had base runners in 5 of their 6 innings, loaded the bases with nobody out in the 3rd inning before R.J. Moore struck out the next 3 to end the threat and send the Raiders into the 4th inning scoreless. Coffee County loaded the bases in the 4th inning but this time they pushed across 3 runs to take a lead they would never relinquish. Zach Holmes, Stanton Keele and Friedlein all rapped out singles in the frame as Deandre Wakefield, Peyton Booth and J.P. Duncan had walks. Friedlein battled out of trouble in the 6th and sat down the Wildcats in order in the 7th to capture the win and the Gateway Tire and Service Center Player of the game honors. Keele was 3 for 3 on the night with a double and an RBI, Friedlein was 2 for 3 while Booth and Holmes were each 1 for 2 for Coffee County.
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The Raiders travel to Tullahoma on Wednesday for the second game of the series and Thunder Radio will have that broadcast with Lucky Knott on the call. First pitch is set for 6 PM at Grider Stadium and the pregame show will start at 5:50.