Despite using up his eligibility at Marshall County High School, senior baseball player Brandon Bush will remain a Tiger for two more years after signing a letter of intent to play with the Chattanooga State Community College Tigers last Thursday while making a visit to their campus. A three-year starter at catcher for MCHS, Bush was one of Marshall County's main offensive catalyst's during that time and earned All-District honors his senior season. more

Marshall County High School senior baseball player John Brent Reese will get a chance to compete at the collegiate level after signing a letter of intent to play at Jackson State Community College on Friday afternoon in the MCHS library. A three-year starter at centerfielder for the Tigers, Reese turned in a strong senior campaign and helped guide Marshall County to a 26-10 record while MCHS captured their first District title in four years. more

The Marshall County Dusters kicked off their 2012 summer season by defeating the Middle Tennessee Mudcats 8-2 at Columbia Central High School on Thursday afternoon in their opening pool game of the Southern Athletic Fields Invitational. Marshall County held a 3-1 lead through the first three innings of play before outscoring the Mudcats 5-1 over the next three frames to pull away for the six-run victory. more

After defeating the Middle Tennessee Mudcats 8-2 earlier in the afternoon, the Marshall County Dusters fell to 1-1 in pool play of the Southern Athletic Fields Invitational when they lost 3-2 to the Summertown Eagles on Thursday at Columbia Central High School. Summertown held a 3-1 lead through the first four innings of play before withstanding three rally attempts by the Dusters over the final three frames to hold on for the one-run victory. more

Having split their first two pool games in the Southern Athletic Fields Invitational, the Marshall County Dusters had to settle for a tie in their third contest, as they battled tournament host Columbia Central to a 1-1 tie on Friday afternoon before the game was called at the end of the 10th inning due to time restrictions. Marshall County outhit the Lions 10-3 overall, but failed to cash in on several scoring opportunities and left 13 men on base. First baseman Cody Vernon went 3-for-3 to lead the Dusters at the plate, while Brandon Bush and Bubba Houghton both notched two hits. Matt Sharp, Jesse Kilpatrick, and starting pitcher Dylan McKnight each had one hit for the Dusters as well. more

Coming off a 1-1 tie against tournament host Columbia earlier in the day, the Marshall County Dusters notched their second victory in the Southern Athletic Fields Invitational by defeating the Oakland Patriots 9-2 in six innings on Friday afternoon to finish pool play with a 2-1-1 record. Having left a slew of runners on base in each of the previous two contests, the Dusters finally cashed in on their scoring opportunities and pounded out 11 hits against two Oakland pitchers. more

Last Wednesday in Chapel Hill, Forrest's Zack Brewer signed a Letter of Intent to join the RedHawks' baseball program next season at Martin Methodist College in Pulaski. Martin Methodist head coach Kelly Bratton said about Brewer, "Zack is another dual player, he will have an opportunity to play somewhere on the field and pitching, but I think his upside is on the mound. He throws strikes, he throws his breaking ball for strikes, and he swings the bat good, so he is just an all-around good player for us." "Martin is definitely a good fit for me," said Brewer. "I just want to play ball, just go in there and have a good career, finish up college, play and have fun." more

Tom Turchetta is entering his third year as the head football coach at Marshall County High School and 2011 was a program-changing season as the Tigers' squad took a giant leap forward, posting a sparkling 9-4 record and becoming only the fourth MCHS team to play three play-off games and the first since 1988 to have the trio of post-season contests at Preston Hopkins Field in Lewisburg. "That was tremendously satisfying and so different than the year before when I remember after getting the job and two days later, going over to Lincoln County on the bus, and I didn't even know their names," said Turchetta. "It has been great to see these kids buy in, how hard they try. You always form a bond with all your kids and I am very proud of all of them. But that senior class that just graduated, as sophomores were 1-9, as juniors they went through the coaching change and had something entirely different and went 4-7 and made the playoffs, and then last year they went 9-4, going to the third round, so they will always have a special spot in my heart." more

Prior to Thursday morning's loser's bracket contest at the Blue Cross Spring Fling in Murfreesboro, Forrest head coach Becky Cheatham urged her squad to leave it all on the field and not give in or give up and her Lady Rockets responded, turning in a more than gallant effort before falling 15-13 in a ten inning, three hour and ten minute slugfest to Silverdale Baptist Academy. "I am very proud of their effort because you know what, we have a bunch of kids that could have quit a long time ago when Katie (Warrick) got hurt or they could have quit when they were a freshman or a sophomore, but they hung in there," said Forrest head coach Becky Cheatham. "And that will speak volumes about them later, because when you learn how to deal with controversy and overcome, that is the best lesson we can have I think because we are not going to get everything we want in life, but we can sure try hard and give our best effort." more

Forrest went toe-to-toe with the defending Class A state champions Riverside Lady Panthers Wednesday night, but some early mistakes and a bucket load of base runners left stranded in scoring position eventually cost the Lady Rockets a 6-3 loss and a trip to the loser's bracket. "We shot ourselves in the foot," said Forrest head coach Becky Cheatham. "And Oh man, I don't even want to think about how many base runners we left stranded." The Lady Rockets had 10 hits in the game, but left the bases loaded twice and runners on second and third once in the contest as they just could not get the big hit at the crucial time. more

The Forrest Lady Rockets returned to the Blue Cross Spring Fling after a one-year absence and made the most of their opening round game, defeating the 2011 Class-A runners-up Grace Baptist Academy 4-2. Forrest head coach Becky Cheatham said about her squad's win, "It's good to be here and get the first one out of the way. I think we may have had a little first-game jitters going in, but we are still good and we have to come back tomorrow and get down to business again." more

In the end, it was about returning to the country for Chris Parker, who was introduced as the new Forrest baseball coach on Monday. Parker takes over for Babe Hardison, who retired after 26 years at the helm of the Rockets. "I grew up about five miles down the road, I think I am a country guy and there is a time to come back to the country," said Parker. "And I don't think you could find any better people to work for than Danny Morgan and Scott Delk." more

Forrest had their backs squarely against the wall in hostile territory at Summertown in Friday night's Class A sectional contest, but mustered up some more magic in a long line of miracles to post a gutsy 5-1 win over the Lady Eagles, sending the Lady Rockets back to the Blue Cross Spring Fling for eighth time in 11 years. "That was sweet," said Forrest head coach Becky Cheatham. "We knew it could be done if we came here and got down to business and now we get to go again. I have to give them all the credit, I wasn't too happy about the other night, but they didn't get down. We talked to them about what was possible and they believed." more

The Marshall County Tigers (13-5-2) left it all on the pitch, but were unable to prolong their stay in the postseason, as they lost 3-2 in overtime to the Fairview Yellow Jackets at home in the first round of the Region 6-A-AA tournament on Tuesday night. Having been knocked out of the playoffs in the opening round of the Region tournament each of the last two years, the Tigers trailed 1-0 late in the second half, but senior striker Andres Acosta tried to singlehandedly reverse MCHS' fortunes and tallied two goals in a span of eight minutes to stake MCHS to a 2-1 lead. more

During the TCCAA & NJCAA Region VII Tournament in Chattanooga on May 7 and 8, center fielder Brandie Jett was named to the All-TCCAA First Team, while third baseman Rachel Curtis and Kaylee Jones were selected for the Second Team. more

The Forrest Lady Rockets came into Wednesday night's Region 5-A title game riding a 12-game winning streak with another win versus Moore County securing one more home game in the state sectional round, but the Raiderettes spoiled the fun by breaking Forrest's winning streak with a 7-2 victory at the Field of Dreams in Chapel Hill. "We shot ourselves in the foot in more ways than one," said Forrest head coach Becky Cheatham. "They came here with an intent to whip our butts and guess what, they did." more

Camden Central continued their hex over Marshall County on Tuesday night at Reese Hambrick Field in Lewisburg as the Lady Lions beat the Tigerettes 5-2 in the Region 6-AA opening round, ending the season for MCHS. "I've been with these seniors since they were little and I love them like they are my own, so it's rough," said a teary eyed MCHS head coach Holly Cook after the game. "But, we really had a good season and I couldn't be more proud of them." more