Never say die. The Cornersville Bulldogs advanced to the championship game of the District 11-A tournament for the second time in three years after pulling out a dramatic 4-2 win over the top seeded Richland Raiders in nine innings on Tuesday night in Lynnville. Richland had swept the regular season series against CHS and held a 1-0 lead through the first six innings of play in Tuesday's contest, but the Bulldogs (16-13) plated a run in the top of the seventh to send the game into extra innings tied at 1-1. more

The Marshall County Tigers were unable to defend their District 12-AA tournament title, as MCHS suffered an 8-2 road loss to the top seeded Spring Hill Raiders in the championship game on Wednesday night. Marshall County (22-7) had won the last five meetings against Spring Hill and held a 1-0 lead through the first two innings of Wednesday's contest, but the Raiders (22-8) controlled the game from that point on and outscored the Tigers 8-1 over the final five frames to claim the District crown. more

The Forrest Rockets have become the latest version of the 'cardiac kids', claiming their second consecutive seventh inning win with the latest heart-wrencher coming via a Landon Jones two-out game winning RBI Wednesday night for a 3-2 win over Community in the District 9-A Tournament Chapel Hill winner's bracket final. Forrest (21-12) will take on MTCS (24-7-1) Thursday night in the tournament title game at 7:00 p.m. in Murfreesboro. The two squads have split this season with Forrest winning 5-4 on April 8 before the Cougars came back the following night with a 9-5 win in Chapel Hill. more

Before the District 9-A winner's bracket final at Huntland Wednesday night, the Forrest coaching staff challenged their youthful squad to be the team, getting off bus ready to play 'Lady Rocket' softball and they did, beating Moore County 7-1 to earn a shot at the district tournament title, while securing a berth in the upcoming Region 5-A Tournament that commences on Monday. "I am very pleased with their effort," said Forrest head coach Becky Cheatham. "We asked them to play focused and they were. We played error free and hit the ball, I am very happy." more

There was just a slight breeze in Murfreesboro Friday afternoon, but blowing in the wind was a familiar sound, an inspiring chant of "Come On" from long-time MCHS tennis coach Dickie Adkins, who was cheering on his last Tigerettes' doubles team of Lauren Blackmon and Cortni Beardsley in the District 11A/AA Tournament final at Old Fort Park. Adkins, along with his long-time trusted assistant Jason Donahue, will retire coaching varsity at the end of the season after a successful 24-year career, mentoring Tiger tennis. more

If the Marshall County Tigerettes (21-8) want to repeat as District 12-AA tournament champions, they will have to take the path of greatest resistance after losing 7-5 to the third seeded East Hickman Lady Eagles at home on Friday night in the second round. Although MCHS had won the last six meetings against East Hickman, the Lady Eagles knocked Marshall County on their heels at the start of Friday's contest and jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the first inning. more

The Forrest Lady Rockets defended their home turf Thursday night with a 6-1 opening round District 9-A Tournament win over a tough MTCS Lady Cougars squad at the Field of Dreams in Chapel Hill. "We waited a while there before we opened things up, but I am pleased with the defensive effort," said Forrest coach Becky Cheatham. "I just want us to be more selective at the plate and stop dinging the ball around, hit the center of the ball and smack it through." more

The Marshall County Tigers (20-6) had little trouble advancing to the second round of the District 12-AA tournament, as they opened the tourney by defeating the Hickman County Bulldogs 9-1 at home on Friday night. Marshall County built a 5-0 lead through the first five innings of play before outscoring Hickman County 4-1 in the sixth to claim the eight-run victory. Senior third baseman Ryan McDaniel led MCHS' 11-hit attack by going 3-for-4 with a RBI, while starting pitcher Matt Sharp (1 RBI), Dylan McKnight (1 RBI), and Bubba Houghton each added two hits. Lane Whitesell (1 RBI) and Aaron Hobbs notched one hit apiece for the Tigers as well with Hobbs stealing four bases and scoring three runs. more

The Cornersville Lady Bulldogs (8-7) advanced to the second round of the District 11-A tournament by defeating the Santa Fe Lady Wildcats 8-0 in the first round on Thursday night at Richland High School. Having won all 16 meetings against Santa Fe since the Lady Wildcats joined their District in 2007, Cornersville was on upset alert after the two teams played to a 0-0 tie through the first four innings of play. more

The Marshall County Tigerettes (21-7) ended up turning a potential upset bid into a blowout on Thursday afternoon when they defeated the seventh seeded Hickman County Lady Bulldogs 16-3 in five innings at home in the first round of the District 12-AA tournament. Although MCHS had swept the season series against Hickman County, the Lady Bulldogs appeared they might play the role of spoiler in Thursday's contest and held a 3-2 lead through the first three and a half innings of play. more

Starting pitcher David Looney and catcher Cody Blackburn made sure that Cornersville remained in the winner's bracket of the District 11-A tournament, as they both turned in outstanding individual performances to help lead the Bulldogs to a 4-2 second round victory over the Culleoka Warriors at Richland High School on Thursday night. Having split the regular season series with Warriors, Cornersville (15-13) built a 4-1 lead through the first three innings of play before staving off a late rally attempt by Culleoka. more

After winning the District 11-A-AA tournament championship last year, the Marshall County Tigers soccer team began defense of their title on Thursday night by beating the sixth seeded Middle Tennessee Christian School Cougars 3-1 at home in the first round. Having defeated MTCS 2-0 in their lone regular season encounter, the third seeded Tigers raced out to a 2-0 lead midway through the first half of Thursday's contest before the Cougars tallied a goal late in the opening stanza to slice the deficit to 2-1 at the break. more

On Monday night, the Marshall County Tigers moved within one win of advancing to the championship game of the District 12-AA tournament when they defeated archrival Giles County 5-1 at home in the second round. Coming off a 1-0 upset victory over Summit in the first round, the sixth seeded Bobcats jumped to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning in Monday's contest, but the Tigers (21-6) answered with five runs in the bottom half of the frame to seize a 5-1 advantage. Although Marshall County did not record a hit after the first inning and failed to score the rest of the way, MCHS starting pitcher Dylan McKnight made the lead stand by shutting out Giles County (10-21) over the final six frames to help lead the Tigers to their eighth straight win over the Bobcats. Despite getting off to a rocky start, McKnight went the distance on the mound to earn his seventh victory of the season and racked up nine strikeouts in seven innings of work while limiting Giles County to six hits and two walks. "I always tell the guys that the first inning and the fifth innings are the key to the game. We won the first inning and McKnight shut them down after that," said Marshall County coach Steve Reese. "He was giving them a good dose of fastballs and when he mixed in his curveball they weren't ready for it. He just pitched a great ballgame." The Tigers also finished with six hits and two walks against Bobcat starting pitcher Carson Dickey, who suffered the loss. Bubba Houghton (2 RBI) and Aaron Hobbs each doubled to account for both MCHS extra base hits, while Chandler Harmon (1 RBI), Matt Sharp, Ryan McDaniel, and Grayson Wiles all singled. Dickey tallied two hits to pace Giles County at the plate. Andrew Morris, William McRae, Logan Phifer, and Sean Harmond each had one hit for the Bobcats as well. The Bobcats grabbed the momentum at the start of the game and pushed across a run in the top of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. Morris reached second base on an infield single and a Marshall County throwing error to start the frame before advancing to third on a McRae single. McRae was then thrown out at second base by Tiger catcher Zack Kirby on a stolen base attempt, but Morris scored on a wild pitch a few moments late to put Giles County up. The Tigers, though, quickly turned the tide and crossed home plate five times in the bottom half of the first to pull ahead 5-1. Hobbs smacked a double down the left field line to lead off the inning before advancing to third on a Sharp infield single. After Hobbs scored on a Bobcat error and McKnight reached first base on the play, McDaniel singled to lead the bases with no outs. Following a two-run double by Houghton, McDaniel scored on a Richardson sacrifice fly to make it 4-1 before Harmon plated Houghton with a RBI single. Giles County had a chance to cut into the deficit in the top of the second inning after putting runners on second and third with one out thanks to singles from Harmond and Dickey and a Tiger throwing error, but McKnight fanned the next two Bobcat hitters to escape the jam. After the Bobcats left a man at third in the top of the fourth, McKnight did not allow a Giles County base runner to advance past first base over the final three innings to run the Tigers' winning streak to 10 games. more

The Forrest Lady Rockets' mantra of never give up, never give in rang true again, this time in a foggy, misty, late-night come-from-behind 11-10 win over Cascade in the second round of the District 9-A Tournament at Huntland Monday night. "I am really pleased with the fact that they didn't get down on themselves, they never gave up, and didn't give in," said FHS head coach Becky Cheatham. "As long as they keep battling, we can fix the other stuff, move on, and be OK."... more

It was a hitter's night Friday in Chapel Hill as host Forrest took on Huntland in the opening round of the District 9-A Tournament, eventually outslugging the Hornets 14-6. It was the first post-season win for first-year Forrest head coach Chris Parker, who was not happy after the game, saying, "I'm mad, I'm angry. There were a lot of things, a lack of focus, a lack of intensity, defensive miscues, not throwing strikes, the list goes on and on and we are about to go talk about it." more

In preparation for the post-season mayhem, Forrest head coach Becky Cheatham added one last test to the regular season schedule and it was tough one at Class-AAA Shelbyville, who needed a seventh-inning game-winning hit by Jami Johnson, beating the resilient Lady Rockets 4-3. "The girls came back tonight, but I am kicking myself right now because there were two plays where I should have held runners," said Cheatham. "I'll take the kick in the butt for those two, I know better, I am going to have to be more patient. I was just a little over aggressive." more

The Cornersville Bulldogs (14-13) showed no signs of playoff jitters on Wednesday night, as they defeated the seventh seeded Hampshire Hawks 10-0 in six innings at home in the first round of the District 11-A tournament. Having scored a total of 22 runs in the two regular season meetings between the two teams, the second seeded Bulldogs continued to feast on Hampshire pitching and pounded out 11 hits against three Hawk hurlers to go along with three walks and two hit batsmen. more

On Tuesday night, the Marshall County Tigerettes (19-7) completed the season sweep of local rival Cornersville (7-7) when they went on the road and defeated the Lady Bulldogs 8-3. The two teams battled to a 2-2 tie through the first four innings of play, but the Tigerettes took control of the game after that point and outscored Cornersville 6-1 over the final three innings en route to claiming their fourth straight win. more

Wins allow Forrest to stay home for district tournament The Forrest Rockets had a late night Monday after a long bus ride home from Huntland where they survived 7-3 in a nine-inning thriller before blasting the Hornets on Tuesday night 11-2 in Chapel Hill to earn the second seed in the upcoming District 9-A Tournament. With the win, Forrest also won the tiebreaker over Community and earned the right to host one side of the district tournament bracket that begins Friday night. more

After beating District 9-A foe Eagleville 10-1 in the afternoon, the Forrest Lady Rockets travelled over to Manchester, hoping for a big weekend at the Coffee County Classic, but only got in one rain-soaked 6-2 loss to Marion County (24-8) before the sky opened up in a deluge, cancelling the remainder of the tournament. While the Forrest bats started silent off Lady Warrior starting pitcher Erica O'Kane, Marion County came out on fire, putting up two runs in the second, one in the third, and three in the fourth to take a 6-0 lead. more