Category: Sports

Awards and accolades continue to roll in for Coffee County Central Senior Bella Vinson.

The star basketball player’s season concluded a month ago – but she continues to pick up postseason honors.

This week, Vinson was one of only seven players selected to the Main Street Preps All-Midstate First Team.

Also selected were:

Lashae Dwyer of Webb School; Jaloni Cambridge of Ensworth; Acacia Hayes of Riverdale; Tessa Miller of Stone Memorial; Amelia Osgood of Brentwood; Karly Weathers of Loretto

Vinson finished her senior season having led the CHS Lady Raiders to 28 wins. She averaged 21.5 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.1 steals, 2.1 assists, 40% 3-point shooter. She was also better than 90 percent at the free throw line.

Vinson has signed to play collegiate basketball at Lipscomb next year.

The Braves intend to win a fourth consecutive National League East title in 2021. There are numerous reasons to think they will, starting with a stacked lineup that includes NL Most Valuable Player Award winner Freddie Freeman and Ronald Acuña Jr., a rotation that includes young studs Max Fried and Ian Anderson and veterans Charlie Morton and Drew Smyly, and a deep bullpen.

Atlanta’s pursuit of a four-peat begins Thursday against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

First pitch is set for 2:05 Central Time. Pregame begins at 1:50 and you can listen live on Thunder Radio – your exclusive home for the Atlanta Braves in Coffee County -107.9 FM, 1320 AM, 106.7 FM.

No NL East team has won four consecutive division titles since the Phillies won five consecutive titles from 2007-11.

That 2011 season just so happens to be the last time the Phillies made the postseason or even had a winning season. The Phillies hope that bringing back J.T. Realmuto and Didi Gregorius, plus a few tweaks to the rotation (Matt Moore and Chase Anderson) and bullpen (Archie Bradley, José Alvarado, Brandon Kintzler) is enough to give Atlanta a bit a run for its money.

Continue reading this story here.

Titans edge rusher Bud Dupree plans to lead, and learn.

The prized free agent signing hopes to also set a tone in Tennessee, where he was hired to make a difference on defense.

His mindset: Play like your hair is on fire.

“Just chasing the ball, running to the ball, no matter what it is,” Dupree said. “If it’s a pile, get in the pile, get dirty….

Continue reading here. Thunder Radio is your exclusive home for the Tennessee Titans in Coffee County.

Coffee County Central’s Red Raider baseball team managed a measly four hits and that simply was not enough in a 6-3 loss to Lebanon on the road Tuesday afternoon.

Wyatt Nugent doubled and had an RBI for the Raiders and Griffin Meeker singled in a run. But otherwise, the Raider bats were mostly silent. Carter McKenzie and Aiden Robertson each singled. As a team, Coffee County struck out 15 times at the plate.

Coffee County actually led 1-0 early after Lane Spry worked a two-out walk. Spry’s courtesy runner (Hayden Hullett) came around to score after stealing second, advancing to third on a wild pitch and stealing home.

But the lead was short lived. Lebanon scored 2 in the second, 2 in the third and 2 in the sixth.

Red Raider starting pitcher Jacob Holder was tagged with the loss. He gave up four runs over three innings. He allowed just two hits, but five walks hurt his cause. He struck out 5 Lebanon batters.

Wyatt Nugent allowed 2 runs in relief over three innings. He struck out three.

Moore County had two explosive innings – scoring six runs in the third and six in the fifth to drop the Westwood Rockets 15-5 Tuesday and sweep the season series.

Westwood managed only three hits and committed six defensive errors in the loss.

Cayden Trail pitched two and two-thirds innings for the Raiders and Blake Hillis an inning and two-thirds. Trail struck out three batters and Hillis two.

Westwood is off for the remainder of spring break this week.

The streak has reached a half dozen.

Eeli Tolvanen tallied the game-winner in overtime, as the Nashville Predators came back to beat the Dallas Stars, 3-2, on Tuesday night at Bridgestone Arena. The result gives the Preds their sixth-straight victory and 39 points overall to keep them in the fourth spot in the Central Division. You heard the game live on Thunder Radio (your home for the Nashville Predators, thanks to realtor Charlie Gonzales with Weichert Realtors, Joe Orr & Associates).

Dallas carried a one-goal lead into the third period, but a rejuvenated effort from the Predators allowed them to collect at least one point before Tolvanen ended it with a beauty of a backhand in overtime for yet another tally in the win column. 

Coffee County Central got home runs from Justus Turner and Kaitlyn Davis and a no-hit performance in the circle form Keri Munn in a 14-0 blowout of Franklin County’s Rebelettes on the road Monday night – a game you heard live on Thunder Radio.

Munn was nearly perfect in the circle for Coffee County. She didn’t allow a single hit and struck out 14 Rebelette batters. A lone walk stood in the way of the perfect game.

Meanwhile, Coffee County was smashing at the plate. Madison Pruitt, Davis and Chesnie Cox all had doubles on the night to add to the extra base hit parade.

Driving in runs were Munn, Turner (2), Eliza Carden (2), Haidyn Campbell and Olivia Evans.

Coffee County led 1-0 going into the third before exploding at the plate – sending 5 runs across in the third, 3 in the fourth and 5 in the fifth. CHS outhit Franklin County 13-0. The Rebelletes committed 5 defensive errors.

Coffee County improves to 11-0 on the season with the win and will play Lincoln County Tuesday  in Fayetteville.

A big third inning for Moore County hurt the Westwood Rocket baseball team in a 12-7 loss Monday night.

Blake Hillis had four hits and Vaughn Parker added three to lead the way at the plate for the Rockets. Parker had 2 RBIs.

Trevor Jesse worked two and two-thirds on the mound for the Rockets and struck out a pair of batters in the loss.

Westwood outhit Moore County 8-5. But six Rocket errors proved costly.

Coffee County Central senior basketball player Bella Vinson showed out at the Basketball Coaches Association of Tennessee All-Star games over the weekend.

The senior led all scorers in the semi-final game with 16 to get her team to the championship. She finished with 13 points In the championship game – an overtime loss.

Vinson was among a select few from across the state selected to play in the games at Blackman High School. The senior finished her Coffee County Central career as the all-time leading scorer.

College softball coaches have long been eager to have Keri Munn and her right arm come and pitch for their teams.

Despite multiple offers and some of the biggest schools coming to call, it was a familiar face for Coffee County fans just 30-minutes up the interstate who was able to close the deal with the Coffee County Central senior.

Munn announced that she has verbally committed to play collegiate softball at Middle Tennessee State University, where former CHS Lady Raider softball coach Jeff Breeden is the head coach.

“With COVID being around, recruiting has been a very tough process,” explained Munn. “Coach Breeden and coach [Toni] Foti got in contact with me about a month ago and we set up a Zoom call and talked about the school and what they had and they offered me [a scholarship] on that call.”

It didn’t take Munn long to commit – saying MTSU felt like home to her.

“They are winning (conference) championships and going to play other SEC schools and that is a plus,” explained Munn. “And the campus is 30 minutes from my house, so that’s always a plus when you live so close you can always go home and see your family. They just (renovated) their facility (and) their stadium. It just felt like home.”

Munn has been heavily recruited since a young age. In fact, before reaching high school she had already verbally committed to the University of Auburn. A coaching change there re-opened her recruitment and led her to MTSU. Partly aiding in that process was the NCAA granting players an extra year of eligibility due to COVID-19.

“Most of the other SEC schools I was looking at – their seniors kinda’ stayed (an extra year),” said Munn. “So, I was thinking where will I have the most playing opportunity and MTSU seemed like the right fit.”

Now that the recruiting process is over (she hopes to officially sign next month), Munn has plenty of people to thank.

“Would like to thank my family – my mom for always taking me to tournaments and practices and also my dad for always practicing with me and pushing me to do my hardest. I would also like to thank all my coaches, especially coach Mac (CHS head coach Brandon McWhorter) for helping me through this process and my teammates for pushing me to play my hardest. I would also like to thank coach Breeden and coach Foti for giving me the chance to play for them.”

Finishing up high school

With her college plans set, Munn is focused on getting the CHS Lady Raider softball team to the state tournament in Murfreesboro. CHS is off to a hot start. The Lady Raiders are 10-0 on the young spring season.

Munn is a big part of that. She is 7-0 in the circle, allowing only three earned runs on 11 hits over 33 innings pitched. She has struck out 57 batters and has an ERA at 0.64

“This team has been the strongest team out of my four years here,” Munn explained. “We can hit, we can play defense. Mainly, our chemistry is very good. We are best friends on and off the field and we just get each other.”

Munn went on to cite solid relationships with the coaching staff.

“I’m very excited for this year.”

The Lady Raiders have two district games this week – at Franklin County Monday and at Lincoln County on Tuesday.