Sports and Outdoors

Two longtime archrivals met up at Reese Hambrick Field on Tuesday afternoon in a do or die contest as the Giles County Lady Bobcats and the Marshall County Tigerettes squared off in a District 12-AA Tournament loser’s bracket contest with each team knowing a loss will end their season. Giles County came out playing small ball, taking a 3-1 lead after two innings before the Tigerettes bats exploded with a nine-run fourth inning that gave MCHS plenty of breathing room in a 14-8 win.

Marshall County’s’ postseason run ended Tuesday night at Nolensville via a dominating pitching performance by Giles County ace southpaw Jake Cardin, who blanked the Tigers over the first six innings before Tucker Toone came to the hill and pitched a scoreless seventh inning to finish off the 5-0 win in the District 12-AA Tournament loser’s bracket final. “I thought we did pretty good, I was real pleased with them, I guess the ruby slippers came off a little too quick,” MCHS coach Mike “Monk” Reese said. “The big thing is we got to play baseball this year, you think about what happened last year and where we are.”

After winning their first game in the District 12AA tournament versus Murfreesboro Central Magnet 4-1, the Marshall County Tigers faced longtime rival Giles County in round two at Nolensville on Friday afternoon. Giles County and MCHS had split their two-game series during the regular season, but the Bobcats jumped out to five run lead in the first inning then held on as the Tigers roared back to trail by one run with the tying run on third base and the go ahead run at second before a close play at first shut the door and Giles County eked out a 9-8 victory.

The third-seeded Murfreesboro Central Magnet School Tigers hosted their namesakes from Lewisburg for an opening round District 12-AA Tournament contest with the threat of severe weather hovering in the late Thursday afternoon sky. The Central Magnet nine swept the two-game regular season series, but they were in a dogfight on Thursday with the game tied at 1-1 in the sixth inning when the sky turned dark and the wind began to howl, forcing a stop to the game and essentially eliminating the home field advantage.

The sun was shining and the wind was breezy on Thursday afternoon for the opening round game of District 12-AA Tournament at Reese Hambrick Field in Lewisburg as Murfreesboro Central Magnet and Marshall County faced off for the third time this season. The Tigerettes jumped on Central Magnet early with a six-run outburst in the bottom of the first inning, then withstood a spring storm that forced the game to be suspended and to be resumed on Friday at Nolensville, where MCHS finished off a 10-0 five-inning, run-rule win.

After the Tigerettes completed a suspended game from Thursday against Murfreesboro Central Magnet School winning 10-0, they then had to turn around and take on the Nolensville Lady Knights in the District 12-AA tournament play on Friday afternoon. The Lady Knights swept MCHS in regular season play with ace Rylan Smith posting both wins and the fire-balling Smith continued her dominance with a 10-2 victory.

The Forrest Rockets had their backs up against the wall after losing a 4-2 rain-shortened game at home versus Community in the first round of the District 12-AA Tournament on Thursday night, facing elimination on Saturday versus Murfreesboro Central Magnet School. Forrest answered the call behind some solid pitching from Kain Moses, Cannon Cervantes, and Max Kirby that limited the Tigers to two runs (zero earned) on just three hits with Moses picking up the win, Cervantes the hold, and Kirby earned the save.

Friday, May 7 At Cascade Cascade 120 301 000 2-9 16 4 Cornersville 321 100 000 1-8 8 1 Cascade: Vera Bilbro 4-for-5, Lani Jones 3-for-5, Bailey Olive 2-for-6, McCenzie McAnally 2-for-6, Caitlin Fannin 2-for-4, Lauren Perry 2-for-5, Claire Perry 1-for-4...

Friday’s loss to Giles County sent the Marshall County Tigers to the District 12-AA Tournament loser’s bracket where if you win, you play every day and if you lose, you go home, season over. These Tigers have taken it to heart, eliminating their northern neighbor Forrest Rockets 2-1 on Saturday and they came back with another gutsy performance on Monday versus Community. Bryson Hammons had a big game on the mound and at the plate as the Tigers ousted the Vikings 6-0 to set up another game with their rivals from down south, the Giles County Bobcats.

The three-time state champions Forrest Lady Rockets know pressure and they know by instinct what to do in clutch situations as witnessed last night in a winner’s bracket game versus Nolensville at the Field of Dreams in Chapel Hill. Forrest (23-3-1) led for most of the game, only to see the Lady Knights come back to take a 3-2 lead in the seventh inning, but in typical Team 34 fashion, the Lady Rockets prevailed when Laura Mealer creamed a monster two-run walk off home run in the bottom of the seventh inning for a 5-3 win in the rubber match game between the top two seeds in the tournament.

For the second time in three seasons, intra-county rivals Forrest and Marshall County squared off in a District 12-AA Tournament elimination game. In 2018, a 2-1 win over the Tigers in the district tournament loser’s bracket propelled Forrest to the state tournament semifinals where they lost 7-5 to eventual state champion Greenville. On Saturday at Nolensville, MCHS senior Caleb McElhaney came up with a gem on the mound as he turned the tables on the Rockets, tossing a no-hitter to eliminate the Rockets.

The Forrest Lady Rockets pulled all the tools out of the toolbox Friday night at the Field of Dreams in Chapel Hill as they expertly dismantled Giles County 10-0 in five innings to advance to the District 12-AA District Tournament winner’s bracket showdown versus Nolensville at home Monday night. Ashley Milligan was a jack of all trades as picked up a three-hit shutout win in the circle, laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt in a five-run fourth inning, and belted a walk off solo home run to end the game. “I was just hoping I would get one through the infield, but in the back of my mind I was thinking a walk off would be pretty cool,” Milligan said. “It feels good to beat Giles County, they are a scrappy team.”

The Forrest Rockets wasted their home field advantage in the first round of the District 12-AA Tournament Thursday night at Chapel Hill, losing a rain shortened game 4-2 to the Community Vikings. “All teams that were playing yesterday were trying to get their games in as early as possible to miss the potential downpour that was expected at 6 p.m.,” Forrest coach Andy Burkett said. “I thought we did everything we could to get the game in, and it’s unfortunate what happened, but we have to control what we can control from here on out and will look to rebound from it. The Rockets fell behind 3-0 after two innings and tried to claw their way back, but as they came up to bat in the bottom of the sixth inning, the skies opened up and a gulley washer sealed their fate.

The defending and three-time state champion Forrest Lady Rockets had their final tune-up before the start of the postseason Wednesday night at the Field of Dreams in Chapel Hill versus an upstart Eagleville squad coached by former Lady Rocket great Brianda (Elmore) Sanders. Sanders was an integral member of the 2006 Forrest team that won the school’s first state title and the Lady Eagles came in to Wednesday night’s contest with a 14-4 overall record and top-seeded in the District 8-A Tournament.

Rear View Mirror Friday, April 30 Baseball Forrest 12, Cornersville 0 Marshall County 5, Lincoln County 4 Softball Nolensville 4, Marshall County 1 Soccer Forrest 3, Fayetteville 2 Saturday, May 1 Baseball Forrest 17, Cascade 2 Softball Forrest 11, Green Hill 1...

Duck River Raceway Park Feature Results Saturday, May 1 Late Model 1. Randy Gifford 2. Jordan Judge 3. Scott Cook 4. Gwynn Newby 5. Marvin Cagle 6. Trea Miller 7. Logan Mize 8. Jimmy Nowlin Dwarf 1. Dylan Hall 2. Richard Bond 3. Kelly Nunley 4. Timmy Bond...

The Cornersville Lady Bulldogs finished off the regular season in style Monday night as they beat the Culleoka Lady Warriors 9-3 at Frog Bottom in a non-district contest. The Lady Bulldogs’ (14-11) blistered Culleoka pitching for 14 hits and nine runs and got solid pitching from Jayli Childress, who gave up three runs on five hits while striking out five in a complete game victory. Anna Wood went 4-for-4, including a home run and three RBI’s, Aleia Childress went 3-for-3 with two RBIs, and Abbie Woodard blasted an inside the park, three-run homer to pace the Lady Bulldogs.

Community 231 105 4-16 22 0 Cornersville 100 002 0-3 2 4 Community: Dillon Norris 5-for-6, Jacob Cooper 3-for-6, Will Reed 3-for-5, Evan Petrie 3-for-5, Zander Thurber 2-for-5, Sam Holley 2-for-4, Jacob Hawkins 2-for-4, Jackson Bailey 1-for-4, Mason Russell 1-for-4...

On a beautiful Friday Spring evening with the spotlight on MCHS’ nine seniors, the 3A Lincoln County Falcons travelled to Joe George Field in Lewisburg to take on the Marshall County Tigers in a non-district matchup. The Tigers scored four runs in the bottom of the third inning to overcome an early 3-0 deficit and then had to hold on as Lincoln County tied the score before MCHS pulled out a victory on a rarely seen obstruction call in the bottom of the seventh inning to win 5-4. The game itself was as good a baseball game as could be witnessed or as Tigers’ head coach Mike “Monk” Reese stated, “Nothing like fundamental baseball. We played a solid defensive game, our pitcher made them hit ground balls and we made the plays.”

It was senior night versus Cornersville at Chapel Hill on Friday and it turned out to be almost perfect as Forrest senior Justin Gillespie came within one out of pitching a perfect game in a 12-0 five-inning, run-rule win over the Bulldogs. “This group is special to me, I love these boys a lot,” Forrest coach Andy Burkett said. “After going through some of the stuff we went through last year (Covid-19) it was awesome to see them play a full season.”

Columbia State Community College head basketball coach Gwen Burton was all smiles last Friday morning at MCHS as the Tigerettes’ hoops duo of Dionna Crutcher and Karlye Wiser signed Letters of Intent to play basketball for the Lady Chargers next season. “I’m very happy with these two, Karlye and Dionna are going to be reunited with Hannah Davis who we signed last year as well, so we have a good nucleus with those three and we think they will be sixty percent of the scoring,” Burton said. “We know what we are going to get here at Marshall County because coach Steely is one of the great coaches in the Middle-Tennessee area.”

The Forrest Rockets hosted their annual Lift-A-Thon at the Chapel Hill Lions Club Memorial Fieldhouse Friday night and it was a huge success as 65 high school and middle school players lifted iron in front of a packed house of supporters. “I thought the senior class showed out,” Forrest head coach Eli Stephenson said. “They set new personal records (PR) for themselves."

The Community Vikings came calling to Joe George Field in Lewisburg to take on Marshall County Tigers on Monday evening in a District 12-AA baseball battle. With the regular season nearing completion and sharing the cellar in district standings with the Vikings, the Tigers saw the need to improve their position for the upcoming district tournament and they did exactly that as three runs in the first inning and four runs in the fourth produced an 8-1 victory for MCHS...

The Shelbyville Central Eaglettes were hoping to avenge a Senior Night home loss inflicted by the Cornersville Lady Bulldogs (13-11) two weeks ago when they rolled into Frog Bottom on Tuesday night for a non-district game. The Eaglettes used an eight-run seventh inning featuring Kaydence Rippy’s grand slam home run to overtake the Lady Bulldogs for a 10-6 victory. The Lady Dawgs led 6-2 entering the top of the seventh before Shelbyville rallied off Cornersville pitcher Carmen Ward, who had sailed through the Eaglettes’ batting order for six innings.

Murfreesboro Central Magnet 020 000 2-4 9 2 Marshall County 111 204 X-9 13 5 MCM: Jacey Geotzinger 2-for-3, Emmaline Whitt 2-for-4, Jasmyn Stanley 1-for-4, Hali Phillips 1-for-4, Abby Griffin 1-for-3, Caitlin Dodson 1-for-4, Emma Tellez 1-for-3. BB: Griffin, Geotzinger...

The three-time state champion Forrest Lady Rockets showed their mettle on Senior Night Tuesday at the Field of Dreams in Chapel Hill as they gutted out a 2-1 win over Nolensville to avenge their lone District 12-AA loss of the season earlier in the season to the Lady Knights...

2020-21 TSWA Wrestling All-State teams BOYS Class A-AA 106 Ethan Uhorchuk, Signal Mountain, 8th grade Porter Finstad, Gibbs, Jr. Taylor Turner, Harpeth, Jr. Sam Frank, Fairview, Fr. 113 Caleb Uhorchuk, Signal Mountain, So. Leandre Danbey Jr., Greeneville, Jr...

Class AAA Mason Miller, Germantown Houston, Sr. Matthew Schneider, Siegel, Sr. Grant Slatten, White County, Sr. Johnathan Lawson, Germantown Houston, Sr. Amarr Knox, Bartlett, Jr. Davon Barnes, Collierville, Sr. Philip Dotson, Arlington, Jr. Grant Hurst, Cleveland, Sr...

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GIRLS Division I Kailee Channell, Hardin County, Sr. Elizabeth Coutta, Smyrna, Jr. Bricey Caudill, Stewarts Creek, So. Kyleigh Husted, White House, Sr. Janna LaBuda, Bartlett, Sr. Division II Lucy Garry, St. Benedict, Sr. Jenna Hedgepath, Lipscomb Academy, So...

The Cornersville Bulldogs played host to the Fayetteville City Tigers Monday afternoon in a District 8-A contest. The Bulldogs were attempting to extend a winning streak that twin wins over Culleoka last Thursday and Friday had produced, but the bats of Fayetteville proved far too much for the young Cornersville team as the Tigers exploded for seven runs in the first and second innings in a five-inning 20-1 run-rule win...

The Forrest Rockets took the pitch on the Lions Club Memorial Field in Chapel Monday night versus Cascade looking for their first win of the season. All signs were pointing to a win or at least a tie as the first 65 minutes were played to a 1-1 contest before the Champions went on a wild scoring barrage to win going away 7-1...

The Marshall County High School Tigers (1-5) hosted the Columbia Academy Bulldogs (3-1) on the pitch in Lewisburg in a non-district game on Tuesday evening. The Tigers struck first at the 17:30 mark of the first half as Juan Carlos Mejia sailed one into the Bulldog’s net to put MCHS up 1-0. In the second half Will Garrison scored for CA on a penalty kick and neither team scored again as the two squads plated to a draw.

The Forrest Lady Rockets have been beset with the injury bug the last few weeks, but they have plugged on. Forrest lost its first district game since April 27, 2016 at Moore County when they fell 12-2 at Nolensville on April 8. Since the loss to the Lady Knights, Forrest has reeled off four straight wins, including a 10-0 five-inning run-rule win over Marshall County Tuesday night at the Field of Dreams in Chapel Hill. “Definitely a big win for district play, but also a pride win,” Forrest coach Shelby Lightfoot said. “Anytime you play anyone in the county you want to come out on top.”

An eighth-inning RBI double by Braden Bowyer and run scoring base hit by Justin Gillespie, plus some clutch relief work on the mound by Kain Moses and Max Kirby led the Rockets’ to a 7-6 extra-inning win on Monday night at Unionville. On Tuesday night at Chapel Hill, the Rockets didn’t need any late inning drama as the pounded out 12 more hits and got a combined shutout by freshman Preston Gentry and Moses on the mound in a 10-0 six-inning, run-rule win over the Vikings. “I think we kept the positive momentum we had from the previous night and really just rolled it into a combined effort Tuesday night,” Forrest coach Andy Burkett said. “I couldn't be more proud of our guys for the determination they had to get these two wins, especially knowing how much they meant to us in the long run of district tournament seeding.”

The Marshall County Tigers’ football family lost a legend last week with the untimely death of Kamron Liggett, who was the all-time leading rusher at MCHS. Liggett rushed for a school record 4,135 yards for the Tigers with 74 touchdowns on the ground and five receiving TDs in his varsity career...

The Cornersville Lady Bulldogs (9-8, 2-2) made the trip to the Walking Horse capital of the world in Shelbyville to take on the Eaglettes (2-6) for a non-district softball game on a pleasant Monday evening. The hometown District 8-AAA Eaglettes, celebrating Senior Night, found that the District 8-A Lady Bulldogs came calling with their hitting shoes on as they pounded Shelbyville for 17 hits in an 8-6 Cornersville victory. “Absolutely a big win for our team,” Cornersville coach Nathan Polk said. “Anna Wood played really well and this win shows the capabilities of our team.” Wood was 5-for-5 at the plate with a double, scored two runs, drove in two runs, and had one stolen base for the Lady Bulldogs.

After a 4-0 loss at Murfreesboro Central Magnet School on Monday, the Marshall County Tigers returned home to Joe George Field in Lewisburg on Tuesday night trying to avoid the District 12-AA sweep, but it was not to be as they fell 7-4. The Tigers (7-6, 1-5) remain in the basement of the district standings while Murfreesboro Central Magnet (8-8, 3-3) moved into third place with the win. “We battled back and had our opportunities with runners in scoring position two or three times in crucial situations, but just didn’t get that big hit,” MCHS coach Mike “Monk” Reese said. “It just didn’t happen tonight, but we are going to keep battling.”

The sun shined briefly as the Nolensville Lady Knights rolled into Reese Hambrick Field in Lewisburg riding a three-game winning streak for a District 12-AA Tuesday night matchup with the Tigerettes. Marshall County, sporting a four-game winning streak, saw that go by the wayside as Lady Knights’ hurler Rylan Smith tossed a four-hit shutout to power Nolensville to a 6-0 win. Smith, with a blazing fastball and off-speed breaking pitches, struck out eight Tigerettes and only walked two for the complete game blanking.

The Forrest Rockets knew what they were up against as they travelled to Nolensville Monday night for an all-important District 12-AA contest with Knights’ ace lefty Ethan McElvain on the hill. The sophomore Vanderbilt commit gave up a first inning run versus the Rockets and then slammed the door the rest of the way, throwing no-hit ball over the last six innings, while striking out 14 in the game and walking one Forrest batter in a 7-1 win.

A beautiful spring day turned in to a pleasant Monday evening for an intra-county rivalry to be played out on Cornersville High School’s softball field as the Marshall County Tigerettes, fresh off a trip to Gulf Shores, Alabama for the Gulf Shores Classic III Softball Tournament, rolled in to take on the Lady Bulldogs. The Tigerettes, who had beaten the Lady Dawgs 11-8 on March 22, completed the season series sweep with an 8-5 victory.

In the first of the home and away District 12-AA series, the Forrest Rockets (8-2, 2-1) held the home field versus intra-county rival Marshall County (3-4, 0-3) via a 9-5 comeback win over the Tigers at Chapel Hill Monday night. Forrest had two big innings as they scored four runs in the third inning and five in the fifth to secure their fourth win in a row. “Baseball is an emotional game, we were emotional, they were emotional and I couldn’t be more proud of these guys,” Forrest coach Andy Burkett said. “Cannon Cervantes battled through a foot injury the last three innings he pitched and we were absolutely not taking him out of the game and we knew he was going to get the job done.”

The Forrest Rockets (7-2, 1-1) picked up their third win in a row Friday night at Chapel Hill, coming back for an 8-7 win over the Page Patriots. “I think one of the big trademarks of our team is that we got great team chemistry, but on top of that team chemistry, we play fantastic defense as well,” Forrest coach Andy Burkett said. “Our guys got behind our pitchers today, they hit it, but we were able to make the plays to win the ballgame.” The two squads have played 15 times since 2003 with the Rockets leading the series 9-6.

On a sun splashed early Spring Monday evening, the Cornersville Lady Bulldogs welcomed the Cannon County Lionettes for a non-district softball game. The Lady Bulldogs hitters blistered the Lionettes for 13 hits and 11 runs and got solid pitching from Carmen Ward for a four-inning 11-0 shutout win...

After a 4-1 District 12-AA loss to Giles County at home on Monday, Forrest senior Max Kirby made his first start of the season on the mound on Tuesday versus the Bobcats at the fabled Sam Davis Park in Pulaski where he turned in his best performance of his varsity career, wheeling and dealing his way to a complete game victory as the Rockets won going away, 11-4. “Monday night was a tough game for us…that kid Jake Cardin, the lefty on the mound, he is going to be something special, he is just a sophomore and he had some good stuff and kept us off balance all night,” Forrest coach Andy Burkett said. “Even later in that game I thought we squaring balls up a little bit, but were weren’t finding the holes, so it was really nice to see our guys come out today and swing aggressively against some pretty good pitching.”

The Nolensville Knights inherited a King’s treasure when sophomore ace lefty Ethan McElvain transferred from Summit. On Monday night at Joe George Field in Lewisburg, the Vanderbilt commit showed why Nolensville is now the favorite to win District 12-AA as he tossed a complete game one-hitter, striking out 18 out of the 24 Tigers’ batters he faced in an 8-0 win...

The three-time state champion Forrest Lady Rockets took on the 2005 state champion Marshall Tigerettes in a District 12-AA, intra-county showdown Friday night at Reese Hambrick Field in Lewisburg. “We haven’t been able to do this in a year, so any time you get to go play a team in your county, it’s a big game, there is just a lot on it,” Forrest coach Shelby Lightfoot said...