Sports and Outdoors

Both leaders held firm in Tuesday’s second round of the Gary Wells Cup matches at the Ewell Butler Golf Course on the grounds of the Lewisburg Recreation Center as the Forrest Rockets picked up three strokes on the second place Marshall County Tigers, increasing their lead to 44 strokes heading in to Wednesday’s final round at the Rec Center. “I watched several of our boys groups yesterday and I'll admit, I think their mental game was a little off.” Forrest coach Andy Burkett said. “On a variety of occasions I watched several of our boys nearly drive the green, and then wind up with bogey or worse.”

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the ninth edition of the Gary Wells Cup kicked off the 2020-2021 prep sports season Monday at the Buford Ellington Golf Course inside Henry Horton State Park. “It was honestly just awesome to get some sense of normalcy out there for our kids and coaches, and to get the opportunity to see kids competing again in high school sports was just a really great sight to see,” Forrest coach Andy Burkett said. “In our current world filled with so many questions and doubts, it was awesome to see some semblance of positivity for our community and our schools.” Golf and Cross County may be the two safest sports for the competitors and the opening golf match between the three Marshall County high schools went off without a hitch.

2007 Marshall County High School graduate, two-time BCS National champion with the University of Alabama, and three-time Super Bowl champion Dont’a Hightower has opted out of the 2020 season for the New England Patriots due to COVID-19 concerns.

In a press conference on Tuesday, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced that he will soon sign Executive Order No. 55, which will include TSSAA member schools in an exception to contact sports restrictions. “We appreciate being able to work with Gov. Lee and his staff on this,” said Bernard Childress, Executive Director of the TSSAA. “I am pleased that we were able to develop some very specific guidelines for every sport that will allow our kids to get out on their fields and fully participate in football and girls’ soccer this fall.”

Tennessee now has a roadmap for both high school football and girls’ soccer in the fall. Convening its Board of Control Wednesday in Murfreesboro, the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) approved measures to outline the potential for a nearly complete football and girls’ soccer season.

The shortened 2020 Marshall County Babe Ruth League season ended Friday night as did the baseball careers for many of the players in the final 16-18 year-old division contest. According to many of his longtime teammates, Thomas J. Beardsley rarely brought a glove, bat, or equipment bag to a ballgame over the years, but on Friday night, Beardsley brought the only thing he needed….an ‘A’ game on the mound.

After capturing the regular season title, Nichirin entered the Marshall County Babe Ruth League’s postseason tournament as the main rival of the talented Columbia based Game Time squad. The two teams made it to the Gold Pool finals on Thursday night at the Jonathan D. Hollingsworth Memorial Babe Ruth Field and Nichirin jumped out to an early 1-0 lead before Game Time exploded with 16 unanswered runs to take the 16-1 three-inning, run-rule win.

The youthful A-Plus squad, coached by Cornersville 18-year olds Tilden Jackson and Jake Singleton (filling in for Walker Whaley), completed its late season surge Thursday night with a hard fought 7-6 win over the Elks in the Marshall County Babe Ruth League’s Silver Pool championship game. Kason Fuller picked up the win on the mound for A-Plus, giving up six runs (two earned) on six hits while striking out four and walking one in 4.1 innings of work before Grayson Miller came in with two outs and two runners on base in the final inning.

The Silver pool loser’s bracket final took two days to be completed because of a weather suspension and a lightning delay, but when it was finally finished the Elks ended Marshall Medical Center’s season with a close 6-4 win. The Marshall County Babe Ruth League’s postseason game began on Tuesday at the Jonathan D. Hollingsworth Memorial Babe Ruth Field as MMC starting pitcher Ashton Grubbs retired the side in order in the top of the first inning.

The Marshall County Babe Ruth League regular season champions Nichirin took on the Columbia Red Birds in the Gold Pool loser’s bracket game Wednesday and came away with a close 5-4 win. Nichirin had seven hits in the game with James Hery going a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate with two runs scored, an RBI, a stolen base, and one base on balls. Trey Warner picked up the win on the mound, giving up two runs (one earned) on three hits while striking out six and walking three.

A-Plus Collision Center put a serious dent in Marshall Medical Center’s hopes of taking the Silver Bracket crown via a 9-3 second round win in Monday night’s Marshall County Babe Ruth League Tournament at the Jonathan D. Hollingsworth Memorial Babe Ruth Field in Lewisburg. MMC beat the Elks in the first round, but ran up against a stellar performance by Grayson Miller on the mound and at the dish in round two. Miller tossed a complete game one-hitter with seven strikeouts and one base on balls while going 2-for-3 at the dish with a two-run homerun and three runs scored.

Top-seeded Game Time beat Nichirin in round one of the Gold Bracket playoffs before taking on Columbia neighbor Red Birds in round two and they remained undefeated in the postseason with a come from behind 9-3 win. The Red Birds struck first with a pair of first inning runs as Andy Reed reached on a leadoff error and Jake Uselton bashed a single before Chris Gilbert walked to load the bases and Bryson Jones followed with another walk to drive in Reed. Koen Fagan followed with an RBI fielder’s choice before Game Time starting pitcher Cole Taylor settled in with inning-ending back-to-back strikeouts.

Duck River Raceway Park Independence Shootout Results Friday, July 3 Feature Results Super Late Model ($2000 to Win) 1. Scott Cook 2. David Brannon 3. Jason Milam 4. Dean Carpenter 5. Tommy Taylor 6. Josh Putnam 7. Oakley Johns 8. Blake McClain 9. Robert Ardy...

We are pleased to announce that the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association continues its support of the National SAT/ACT Prep Project through the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS) and eKnowledge. Because of this association, Tennessee students receive a 95% discount on SAT or ACT prep courses...

July 8, 2020 The TSSAA Board of Control held a special called meeting on Wednesday, July 8, 2020 to discuss plans for the upcoming football and girls’ soccer seasons due to the extended COVID-19 State of Emergency that is set to expire on August 29. Bernard Childress, Executive Director of the TSSAA, updated the Board on the status of discussions with the Governor's legal counsel. “We are working with the Governor’s legal counsel and based on the conversation we are having, we think it is best to delay any vote on a contingency plan,” stated Childress.

In the next to the last game of the 16-18 year-old Babe Ruth season Friday night at the Jonathon D. Hollingsworth Memorial Babe Ruth Field in Lewisburg, the Gamecocks jumped out to a big lead over the Beavers before surviving a serious comeback bid to hold on for a 10-8 win. Carson Cheek had another huge night for the Gamecocks, smashing the league’s first home run of the season and picking up the win on the mound. JW Beasley and Logan Courtemanche both went 2-for-3 at the plate for the Gamecocks with Beasley driving in two and scoring two runs while Courtemanche drove in two, scored a run, stole two bases, and tossed one scoreless inning on the hill to earn a hold.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Since 2012, Bassmaster Magazine has released annual rankings of the country’s best bass fisheries. While tournament data could not be gathered because of the COVID-19 pandemic, crunching numbers gathered over the past eight years revealed a surprising Best Bass Lake of the Decade — California’s Clear Lake...

Like all other prep baseball teams in Tennessee, the 2020 Forrest graduating class’ senior season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Rockets got to play one last game on Senior Night at Chapel Hill as the participated in an intra-squad contest in front of a packed house on Friday. The Blue Team consisted of all the Forrest underclassmen who squared off versus the White Team, made up of all four 2020 seniors and some past greats from the school.

It was high school senior night on Tuesday at the Jonathan D. Hollingsworth Memorial Babe Ruth Field in Lewisburg as the Beavers took on the Gamecocks in a 16-18 year-old division doubleheader. Carson Cheek stole the show in game one, tossing a no-hitter in a close 3-0 win for the Gamecocks.

In the early spring of 2008, the Marshall County Tigerettes won their fourth state title to cap off an exciting winter sports season in Marshall County and it was quickly out to the diamonds and the courts to cover baseball, softball, tennis, and soccer.

The Marshall County Babe Ruth League’s 16-18 year old division hosted Spring Hill based Hustle Factory for a Friday night doubleheader at the Jonathan D. Hollingsworth Memorial Field in Lewisburg and came away with a sweep over the 16U travel team. The Beavers, looking for their first win of the season, took the field in game one with Caleb McElhaney on the mound and he struck out the first two Hustle Factory batters.