CCMS 3rd baseman Amanda Mukai
A 2 out, 2 RBI single by Amanda Mukai capped a 5th inning comeback for the Coffee County Middle School softball team on Friday night in the loser’s bracket semifinals of CTC Conference Softball Tournament being held in Tullahoma. The 4 to 3 win over North Franklin kept Coffee County alive in the double elimination tournament. The Lady Raiders were pushed to the loser’s bracket by a Tullahoma comeback earlier on Friday night.
In the nightcap, a single run in the 2nd by Coffee County was eclipsed by 3 unearned runs by North Franklin in the 4th inning. Coffee County strung together 2 singles in the second as Sierra Mahar and Jayden Scheller got the hits for Coffee County with Scheller’s run scoring just ahead of Mahar being put out trying to advance to 2nd. In the 5th, Mahar led off with her 2nd hit of the night. After a 1 out walk of Ashley Evans, Gracie Pippenger drilled an RBI single to score Mahar and make it a 1 run game. WIth Evans at 3rd and Pippenger at 2nd, Mukai stepped up with 2 outs and drilled a rocket past the diving shortstop to plate the tying and winning runs and advance Coffee County to the loser’s bracket final on Saturday.
The Lady Raiders were dropped into the loser’s bracket by an unearned run in the top of the 6th inning as Tullahoma scratched out a 3 to 2 extra inning win over Coffee County in the Lady Raiders first game on Friday. The Lady Raiders got both of their runs in the first inning as Ashley Evans scored on a passed ball and Gracie Pippenger was driven in on a ground out by Haley Richardson. Coffee Middle was held to 5 hits as Hayden Scheller had 2 hits and Erin Ferrell ripped a double.
The Lady Raiders will take on the loser of Saturday morning’s Warren County and Tullahoma winner’s bracket final at 11:00 AM. With a win there, Coffee County would need to win at 1:00 PM to force the “if necessary” game at 3:00. The CTC Conference Tournament is being held at East Middle School in Tullahoma.
