Sports and Outdoors

Rear View Mirror Monday, April 16 Baseball Forrest 5, Nolensville 1 E.O. Coffman 5, LMS 1 Tuesday, April, 17 Baseball Cornersville 4, Fayetteville 0 Marshall County 8, Murfreesboro Central Magnet 1 Nolensville 8, Forrest 3 Softball Forrest 7, Giles County 0...

The two-time Class A state champion Forrest Lady Rockets took a big step towards another deep postseason run when they travelled to Giles County Monday night and beat the Lady Bobcats 7-0 to claim the newly formed District 12-AA title. With the win, Forrest (19-1, 8-0) took a three-game lead over second place Marshall County (12-7, 5-3) with two league games remaining. Community (7-7, 4-5) is third, Murfreesboro Central Magnet (11-8, 4-5) fourth, Giles County (5-9-1, 2-6) fifth, and Nolensville (2-12, 1-6) is in last place. The District 12-AA Tournament will be at the site of the highest seed throughout.

The Cornersville Bulldogs beat Fayetteville 4-0 Tuesday night at home for their seventh win in a row and it was a big one, keeping them alive in a fight for first place in the District 8A standings. “We put ourselves in a hole early against Cascade by dropping a couple of games we could have played better in, but this is one we had to have and we got it,” Cornersville coach Ben Putnam said. “Even with some of the guys not having their best days as a team they were able to come together to get a win.”

The Forrest wrestling team sent eight team members to the TSSAA Class A/AA state tournament this season and five of those were rewarded for their excellence by being named to the Tennessee Sports Writers Association’s All-State Team. Two-time state champion junior Jeffery Gross (126-pounds) led the way and is joined on the team by seniors Austin Geeting (160) and Drew Carlisle (182) along with junior Wesley McCoy (195) and sophomore Nick McClendon (170).

The Forrest Lady Rockets entertained Nolensville Thursday night at the Field of Dreams in Chapel Hill and the Lady Knights got a heavy dose of some solid pitching by Lauren Gillespie and Ashley Milligan, who combined for a one-hit 6-0 shutout win in the circle. “We have got to get both of them enough time and it has been working well and they did OK,” Forrest coach Becky Cheatham said. “I’m also pleased we got some other players in the game that hadn’t got to play and they did well.” Gillespie picked up the win, giving up one hit in three innings of work before Milligan came on in the fourth inning and tossed no-hit ball the rest of the way to earn the save.

After losing 6-5 at Murfreesboro Central Magnet (MCM) on Monday night, the Forrest Rockets desperately needed a win at home on Tuesday to maintain a good position in the District 12-AA standings. They got it, but it wasn’t easy as the Rockets fought back to win 6-5 in 10 innings thanks to a game-winning base hit by Ryan Moses. “It took us a little bit of time there in some extra innings, but I can’t say enough about how this team fought and stayed in this game against a good opponent and never gave up,” Forrest coach Bart Joyce said. “We stayed in striking distance and whenever we got the opportunities we got runs in to tie it and eventually got that winning run in.”

It was a historical night at the Field of Dreams in Chapel Hill Thursday as two-time Class A state champion Forrest (2008, 2015) entertained 2005 Class 2A state champ Marshall County in the first-ever district game between the intra-county rival squads. The contest lived up to the hype as the Lady Rockets won the highly contested game 7-6 in the bottom of the seventh inning on a double by Kennedy Gillespie that was compounded by a Lewisburg error which allowed Laura Mealer to score the winning run from first base.

The Forrest Lady Rockets kept on rolling Monday night at the Field of Dreams in Chapel Hill as they posted their 12th win in a row via an 8-0 victory over Giles County to improve to 15-1 on the season and 3-0 in District 12-AA play. It’s been a season of firsts for sure with the new district alignment and Monday was another in the first meeting between the two schools since 2006.

Thursday, April 5 at Cornersville Wayne County 101 022 0-6 10 2 Cornersville 100 403 X-8 10 3 Wayne County: Aaron Stooksberry 2-for-4, Jojo Swinea 2-for-4, Luke Nichols 2-for-3, Brilee Harris 1-for-3, Hunter Staggs 1-for-4, Adam Goss 1-for-3. RS: Stooksberry 2, Harris, Goss, Swinea, Nichols...

The Cornersville Bulldogs started off the 2018 season blazing hot with a 5-1 record and the only loss being a close 7-3 loss to Zion Christian as they outscored opponents by a 33-13 total during that stretch. But following a 5-1 win over District 8-A rival Moore County runs have been at a premium. Heading into Tuesday night’s matchup against Cascade, who moved down from 2A for the 2018 season, the Bulldogs made the trip to Wartrace on a three-game losing streak in which Cornersville (5-5, 2-2) had been outscored 15-5 including a 5-2 loss to Cascade (7-8, 4-0) the previous evening.

For the second consecutive day, the Forrest Rockets only had to play six innings of baseball as they finished off a District 12-AA regular season series sweep over Community via a 12-2 run-rule win at Chapel Hill Tuesday afternoon. Forrest sacked the Vikings 13-3 in six innings at Unionville on Monday. “That was two big district wins against a good ballclub,” Forrest coach Bart Joyce said. The Rockets put together an all-around two solid days of pitching as Dustin Brashear earned a complete game victory on the mound on Monday and Grayson Whaley tossed 5.2 innings of solid ball on Tuesday.

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Somewhere between all those heart-stoppers and tearjerkers, all the upset-riddled brackets and things we'd never seen before, the best team in college basketball was hiding in plain sight. How could anyone have missed Villanova? Sparked by a 31-point night off the bench from Donte DiVincenzo, the Wildcats defeated Michigan 79-62 on Monday night to cap one of the most dominating NCAA Tournament runs ever seen.

The Marshall County Tigerettes posted a 2-3 record at the Gulf Shores Tournament before returning home to Lewisburg for their first District 12-AA contest of the year versus Giles County Monday night at Reese Hambrick Field in Lewisburg and MCHS came away with a big 7-0 win over the Lady Bobcats. “I told my team it takes a village, it takes everyone,” MCHS coach Wes Woods said. “It takes great plays on defense, it takes a great job catching, and a great job pitching.”

Bad weather on Thursday night caused the Bulldogs’ first two games at the Viking Classic in Unionville to be canceled and after some much needed work on the field, play resumed on Friday morning with a 5-3 Cornersville loss to host Community. Following a brief break, the Bulldogs re-took the field with a matchup against 2A Macon County (8-4) and despite having just one less hit than the Tigers, Cornersville was unable to put any runs across the plate in a 5-0 loss. "We just needed to make a few more plays," Bulldog pitcher Carson Stacey said. "A few more hits would have helped us out. But bad days happen and we just have to bounce back."

The Single A Classic came to Chapel Hill on Friday and the tournament started out with two former 1A powers that have since moved up to 2A for the 2018 season. The Rockets faced Scotts Hill (8-3), who have made an appearance in the 1A state tournament three out of the past five years with a championship in 2016. The Lions led for the entire game after scoring in four out of the seven innings and although the Rockets threatened late in the fifth inning, Scotts Hill went on to win the game 6-1.

Like a mirror image of the previous day, the Rockets followed a loss against a former 1A power with a matchup against a single A team from the Cumberland Plateau in Gordonsville (6-5), down from Smith County. And like the day before, the Rockets bounced back from the earlier loss with a convincing win. Forrest finished the game with 13 hits for six runs.

If the Rockets were worried about finishing the Scotts Hill game with just five hits, they would not have to worry too much longer with the nightcap of the Single A Classic against Watertown starting a few hours later. After scoring just five runs in the first three innings, the Rockets exploded for 13 runs in the fourth to finish with 14 hits in the five-inning, 18-0 run-rule win. "I think we just got back to playing our baseball," Forrest coach Bart Joyce said. "We made plays in the field and had aggressive at bats, put the ball in play and made things happen.”

For the second time in as many days, the Forrest Rockets faced a former 1A powerhouse as Goodpasture, now playing in Division II-A, traveled to Chapel Hill for the Single A Classic. The Cougars, the 2017 Class A state runner-up, strung together six hits and took advantage of three Rockets errors to take the 6-0 win over Forrest. Goodpasture senior pitcher Luke Dotson gave up just two hits in six innings of work before giving way to his little brother, Cole Dotson to finish things off. The Rockets totaled just four hits, one apiece from Dustin Brashear, Ryan Moses, J.T. Ferguson, and Grayson Whaley.

LYNCHBURG, TN (April 2, 2018) – Kendall Durard allowed only three earned runs in 26 innings pitched and the Motlow Lady Bucks won their fourth consecutive TCCAA conference series by beating visiting Columbia State three games to one last weekend, playing two games at Moore County High School and two at Lady Bucks Field...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Arike Ogunbowale hit the shot of her life — again. Ogunbowale floated in a 3-pointer from the corner with 0.1 seconds left, lifting Notre Dame to its second women's basketball title with a thrilling 61-58 comeback victory over Mississippi State in the NCAA championship game on Sunday night...

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A wild, entertaining season and one of the maddest Marches in college basketball history has reached its pinnacle. Villanova and Michigan, prolific offense vs. stifling defense, a national title on the line, Monday night in San Antonio...

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — How well do your know the Masters? Try this quiz: 1. Which former British Open champion never broke par at the Masters? a.) John Daly b.) Bobby Jones c.) Bill Rogers _ 2. Who won the first Masters? a.) Gene Sarazen b.) Byron Nelson...

April 3 1923 — Expelled "Black Sox" players Happy Felsch and Swede Risberg sued their former club for back salary and $400,000 in damages. They were among eight members of the Chicago White Sox team charged with fixing the 1919 World Series. 1966 — The New York Mets won the right to sign Southern California pitcher Tom Seaver when Commissioner William Eckert pulled the team's name out of a hat. ...

The secret was out pretty quickly. A week before the 2015 playoffs, the United States Hockey League's Sioux City Musketeers invited prospect Eeli Tolvanen to skate with them to see about signing him for the following season. He stood out among older players on a first-place team...

The evening after the Tigers pulled off a tight 3-0 victory over Forrest, the two intra-county rivals turned district foes squared off again in Lewisburg on Tuesday night. And while the fans of both squads that packed into a standing room only Joe George Field expected the Rockets (5-3, 0-2) to come out full steam ahead, it was the Tigers (5-2, 2-0) who jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first inning and a 8-0 lead following a four-run fourth inning before completing a sweep over the Chapel Hill club.

Forrest Middle School (FMS) hosted Cornersville Middle School CMS) on Tuesday at Chapel Hill and the Rockets came up with a sweep over the Bulldogs with a 5-0 win in game one and a 12-3 triumph in game two. Kain Moses tossed a one-hitter in the first game, striking out 10 and walking three CMS batters. Forrest managed just three hits in the game with Andrew Timmons, John Randle Dippold, and Braydon Bowyer all coming up with one base knock apiece. In the top of the first inning, Daniel Sellers banged a two-out single for Cornersville’s only hit of the contest.

Last week, the Lewisburg Middle School Tigers uncharacteristically lost two out of three games by being outscored 17-9. Following a huge 9-8 extra inning win over intra-county rival Forrest, the Tigers appear to be back on track with a 10-0 win over Witthorne on Monday and a convincing 9-3 victory the next evening over the same opponent. "Pitching was solid, like it has been all year, third-year LMS coach Beau Hardison pointed out. “Also, they have a lot of confidence right now. I think the Forrest game really got us going."

The final game for the Lady Rockets at the Southern Warrior Classic was rather anticlimactic as both the players and fans were ready to get out of the miserable conditions and get home to start the weekend and for some the students, spring break. The game remained close at 3-1 heading into the fifth inning before the Lady Rockets exploded for five runs, but also gave up three runs until the game was called with Forrest taking an 8-4 win over Highland, Ohio.

The Lady Rockets faced its stiffest competition during the entire Southern Warrior Classic Tournament on Saturday afternoon with a matchup against Steeleville, Illinois in less than ideal weather conditions. Forrest jumped out to a 5-0 advantage after the top of the fourth inning before Steeleville knocked two home runs, including a grand slam in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game and eventually take the lead. But like the Lady Rockets usually do in tough contests, Chapel Hill managed to put together two great final innings to wrestle away the lead and walk away with a hard fought 9-8 win.

Nathan Derryberry was on his game Monday night at Chapel Hill, leading the Marshall County Tigers to a 3-0 win over intra-county rival Forrest in the first-ever district game between the two county schools. “To my knowledge we have never played Forrest in a district ballgame as long as I have been around,” MCHS coach Mike “Monk” Reese said. “I’ve been around a long time, all my life, we have played them some and they have beat us a few times and we have beat them more than they have beat us, but they always have had great baseball programs and I knew that going into the game.”

Forrest hosted Murfreesboro Central Magnet School (MCM) at the Field of Dreams in Chapel Hill Thursday night in the District 12-AA opener for both squads and the Lady Rockets pulled out the heavy lumber in a 12-2 five-inning, run-rule win. Forrest banged out 13 hits in the contest with Carson Warner leading the way with a 3-for-4 effort at the plate, including two doubles and three RBIs.

Anytime the Forrest and Lewisburg teams get together for any sports matchup the game is usually highly anticipated and highly contested. Thursday night was no exception as the Tigers roared back from 5-0 down early in the game to tie the score at 5-5, but watched as the Rockets reclaimed the lead at 8-6. Ultimately LMS wrestled the lead away for good in extra-innings for a 9-8 win. "I thought offensively we hit the ball well, we ran the bases well, but we fell short in one inning," FMS coach Josh Harmon, said. "The fourth inning we fell short, had a few errors, gave up five runs and that turned the ballgame around."

The Lady Rockets are no stranger to playing teams outside the state, as Forrest usually plays in at least two tournaments during the regular season that feature squads from across the country. Saturday morning at the Southern Warrior Classic in Murfreesboro would be no different as the Lady Rockets took on Sylvania, Alabama from just outside of Fort Payne.

The Forrest Lady Rockets like to play the most talented teams they can and it doesn’t get any better than the Riverdale Southern Warrior Classic in Murfreesboro where teams having been coming from all over the country to compete since 2015. The Lady Rockets posted a 4-1 record at last year’s event and started the 2018 gala with two wins on Friday.

Following an easy 8-1 win over BGA on Thursday night to open up the annual Southern Warrior Classic in Murfreesboro, the MCHS Tigerettes (5-1) returned to the field against 3A Lincoln County on Friday night before heading down to the beach for the Gulf Shores Tournament over spring break. The game remained knotted at 0-0 until Marshall County tacked on two runs in the fourth and fifth innings and finished the game off strong with four more runs in the final frame to take home an 8-1 win over the Falcons (6-5).

Coming from a town of just over 1,200 residents with a high school enrollment of just over 300 students and playing for the 61st smallest classified baseball team out of 335 programs, having a player sign to play college baseball should be an enormous feat. But for the second time in just over five years the proud Cornersville Bulldog baseball program has seen its second pitcher not just join a major Division I baseball squad, but emerge as a heavy contributor.

Forrest suffered their first loss of the season Wednesday night at Chapel Hill as the Columbia Central Lions got revenge on the Rockets with a 3-1 win. Forrest had beaten Columbia Central 4-2 a week earlier in Maury County. “Columbia Central is a great ballclub and it’s hard to beat them twice,” Forrest coach Bart Joyce said. “But its good baseball, it’s a game we can get better and see great competition.” Luke Flatt came up huge for the Lions, banging two hits and driving in one run at the plate, while picking up the win on the mound.

After some tough games against very stout teams at the Firehouse Subs Classic at Summertown over the weekend, the FMS Lady Rockets returned to the Field of Dreams in Chapel Hill on Wednesday night hardened, turning in a solid performance by shutting out Eagleville 9-0. Seventh-grader Julie Williams tossed the complete game shutout in the circle for Forrest, scattering just three hits, while striking out eight and walking zero Eagleville batters.

Scoreboard and Schedules

The Forrest Lady Rockets entertained Independence Friday night at the Field of Dreams in Chapel Hill and made easy work of the Lady Eagles via a 10-0 five-inning, run-rule win. “It was exciting and I enjoyed every minute of it once it got started and I thought they all did well and we are improving every game,” Forrest coach Becky Cheatham said. “The enthusiasm was there from the beginning and those are fun games for me and I think they feed off of that.”

The Forrest Lady Rockets had a tough matchup right off the rip on Saturday morning at the Firehouse Subs Softball Classic against the reigning 7-A Alabama state champion Buckhorn at Bobby Brewer Park in Lawrenceburg. Despite playing in the largest classification in Alabama and claiming a ninth-to-twelfth grade enrollment equal to the population of entire town of Chapel Hill, the Bucks were barely able to squeeze a win past the two-time Tennessee Class A state champion Lady Rockets by a 3-2 final in four innings.

Following a tough 2-1 loss against reigning 7A Alabama state champion Buckhorn on Friday evening, the MCHS Tigerettes headed back down to Lawrenceburg to take on West Morgan on the final day of the Firehouse Subs Classic. And after scoring just one run the night before, the Tigerettes opened the floodgates with a 16-2 win over the Lady Rebels to push their record to 3-1 early in the season. "We did a good job of being disciplined at the plate by making sure we got a ball that we could hit," MCHS coach Wes Woods said. "Understanding the situations like where the runners are and where we want to try and hit the ball.”

Following an early morning one-run loss to 7A Buckhorn, (AL) the Forrest Lady Rockets were looking to improve on a few key areas from the previous contest as they drew another team from the Yellowhammer State in West Morgan High School from Trinity. One of the areas was in the batter’s box as Forrest totaled just three hits against Buckhorn and the other was fielding mishaps as three errors allowed three early runs against the Lady Bucks.

Following a tough 5-3 loss against Tullahoma (1-1-0) in the season opener, the Marshall County boys soccer team once again welcomed a team from Coffee County in 3A Coffee County Central (2-0) on Thursday at Lewisburg. The Tigers fell behind two goals early in the contest, but closed the gap to within one twice before eventually falling by a 4-2 score. "Well, it's still early, this is our fifth game, two regular season and three preseason games but we struggled tonight to control the ball, to get control of our ball on the first touch and that's critical to being able to move the ball offensively and that was really a struggle all night," MCHS coach Mark Redferrin said. "We didn't have the intensity level that we needed in the first half.” “We certainly picked that up in the second half, but we've just got a lot of things to clean up and get a little better at."

LYNCHBURG, TN (March 20, 2018) – The Motlow Lady Bucks banged seven home runs, including three by sophomore Miranda Cooksey, and won their second consecutive TCCAA conference series by taking three out of four games from Roane State last weekend in Harriman, Tenn. The Lady Bucks (10-12, 7-5) were scheduled to host the Martin Methodist College JV team on Tuesday, but the doubleheader was rained out and no makeup date has been announced. Motlow will step back into conference play this weekend, hosting Dyersburg State in a four game series. Friday’s doubleheader begins at 2 p.m. while Saturday’s action is set for a noon start. The weekend didn’t begin well for the Lady Bucks on Friday in Harriman as Motlow dropped the opener 10-1. However, they came back strong, winning the night cap 13-15, then sweeping Saturday’s games 14-9 and 6-5.

The two-time state champion Forrest Lady Rockets have started their quest for another big season and a return trip to the state tournament with a 2-0 record to begin the season. The Lady Rockets took down Spring Hill 10-3 in the season opener on Tuesday and backed the win up last night at the Field of Dreams in Chapel Hill with a 9-0 triumph over Shelbyville Central...

The Marshall County baseball team opened up the season Monday night in Nashville with a 16-7 win over Hume-Fogg with Nathan Derryberry picking up the win on the mound. The Tigers returned to Lewisburg for their home opener on Tuesday at Joe George Field and for the second consecutive night, the Marshall County (2-0) came out swinging hot bats and pitcher Hunter Haurez threw a masterful performance, finishing with a no-hit shutout in a 10-0 win over the Raiders.