Softball Recap (Week 8) - Around the SCAC

SUWANEE, Ga. - The teams are set but the seeds are yet to be settled heading into the final weekend of the regular season. Out of the Eastern Division, Centre, DePauw and Rhodes have all punched their tickets to Greencastle, Indiana while Millsaps, Southwestern and Trinity have claimed spots out of the Western Division.

- AROUND THE SCAC -

Austin College went 1-3 against SCAC leading Southwestern over the weekend, giving the Pirates their first conference loss of the season in game two of the four game series. The 'Roos fell 6-0 in game one before run-ruling the Pirates 9-1 on Saturday and then fell 6-3 and 9-8 on Sunday. The 'Roos finish their season with an overall record of 15-25 and a conference record of 6-10. After getting shut out in game one, the 'Roos came alive offensively in game two and Suzanne Beltran's two run double sparked a four run second as Austin College went on top 6-0 after two, and Sam Matulis needed only 50 pitches and scattered six hits in a complete game victory. On Sunday, after falling 6-3 in game one despite Sam Smith's eighth homer of the year, the 'Roos fell behind 8-0 in the top of the third in game two and nearly pulled off the miraculous comeback, stranding the tying run in the bottom of the seventh. Brianna Slawson went 3-for-4 in the game and Smith was 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI.

Birmingham Southern went 3-1 this past weekend against No. 4 DePauw University to clinch the SCAC East Division title. Playing with only 10 players on the roster all season, the Panthers finished their SCAC schedule with a 13-3 record; they are also 22-8 overall. Junior Ashley Bice leads the team hitting .478 with 31 RBI and five home runs. Overall the Panthers have out-scored their opponents 244-82 and out-hit them 301-189 this season. The pitching staff, consisting of only juniors Ronni Ferris and Beth Lefler, has an ERA of 2.34 with eight shutouts and 156 strikeouts in 194.1 innings. BSC returns home this week, taking on Covenant College, Thursday, at 6 p.m.

Centre traveled to Wilmington, Ohio on Wednesday, April 6 to take on Wilmington University in a double header. The Colonels fell in the first game 6-5 before coming back to win game two 9-5. During the weekend Centre faced conference opponent Sewanee. On Saturday, April 9 the Colonels took a 9-0 win in six innings and a 19-5 win in five innings. The Colonels continued to play well on Sunday, April 10, as they won 12-3 in five innings in the first game and 8-2 in the second game. Centre is 13-15 on the season following this past weeks action and they are 5-7 in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. Next up for the Colonels is a mid-week double-header against Spalding University in Louisville, Ky. The first game is set to start at 6:00 p.m.

#4 DePauw posted a 1-5 record for the week including a four-game losing streak which is the program's longest since 2005. The Tigers dropped a pair of one-run games (11-10, 10-9) at Anderson on Thursday and both came in the Ravens' final at-bat. DePauw then dropped a doubleheader to Birmingham-Southern by scores of 9-1 and 10-5 on Saturday before splitting Sunday twinbill with a 4-2 win and an 11-9 loss. Over the six games, the Tigers hit .376, but opponents batted .419. Emma Minx and Rachel MacBeth each hit .542 (13-24), while Cymone Allen batted .474. Minx hit four doubles, one triple and two homers for a 1.042 slugging percentage and drove in 12 runs. As a team, the Tigers had a .586 slugging percentage and fielded at a .970 clip. They also turned a triple play in the final inning of Sunday's second game with Birmingham-Southern.

Hendrix went 3-1 on the week after a twinbill split at University of the Ozarks on Wednesday and then a pair of mercy rule victories at University of Dallas on Saturday.  The Warriors improve to 12-22 overall and will wrap up their 2011 slate at Trinity on April 16 and 17.  Hendrix senior Christina Byler went 4-for-6 with one run scored and four RBI to lead the Warriors to a twinbill split at Ozarks.  The Eagles came away with a 7-3 win in the opener and the Warriors rallied for a 9-6 victory in the nightcap.  Hendrix finished 1-3 against Ozarks in 2011.  Hendrix cruised to a pair of 16-1 mercy-rule victories over Dallas at Crusader Field.  The Warriors bats combined for 27 hits, including seven doubles and two homers, while the Hendrix pitchers allowed just four hits and struck out seven in the two victories.  Sophomore Ashley Halbert led Hendrix at the plate and in the circle in the opener.  She went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBI, and also allowed just one hit in her sixth win of the season.  Sophomore Paula Burr was 2-for-5 with three runs scored and two RBI.  Senior Christina Byler tagged a three-run homer in the third and senior Jaclyn Herrera clobbered a three-run shot over the fence in the fourth.  Herrera paced the Warriors in the second game with a 3-for-4 performance, including three doubles, four runs scored and one RBI.  Sophomore Alyssa Barry went 2-for-3 with a double and Burr was 1-for-4 with a double and two RBI.  Sophomore Sydney Copeland earned her second win of the season after allowing just three hits and no free passes.

Millsaps split all three of their double headers this week, including the four-game series with Trinity over the weekend. They travel over to Montgomery on Wednesday to take on Huntingdon College. The Majors won game one 5-0, Megan Yglesias had three RBI in the win. The Hawks took game two 3-1. The Majors came home for the weekend series with the Tigers, taking games one and four of the set. Emily Spicer drove in the winning run in the seventh inning of the opener to get the 2-1 win. Game two needed ten innings to find a winner, in fact, both Majors losses came in extra-inning games. They fell 6-7 in ten on Saturday and 2-3 in eight in game three on Sunday. The Majors got the series split in the finale with a 6-4 win in regulation.  Yglesias came up big again, this time with a grand slam in the fifth to put Millsaps over the top after trailing 4-2 early on. Lindsay Drane came in for the save, getting the Tigers in order in the sixth and seventh to close the door on the Tigers. The Majors will take on the Mississippi College Choctaws in a make-up game on Wednesday before traveling to Georgetown to take on Southwestern for the final weekend series of the regular season.

Rhodes posted a 2-4 record this weekend in a non-conference road swing through Georgia.  The Lynx opened with a pair of losses on Friday to Berry College, dropping game 1 by a 6-2 score and falling in game 2 by a 12-3 margin.  On Saturday, the Lynx squared off against #2 Emory, who came into the games ranked #2 in the country with a 29-2-1 record. Rhodes jumped on the Eagles early on game 1, taking a 2-0 lead on back to back RBI doubles from Sara Bowen and Courtney Williams, but the Eagles answered with 2 runs in the bottom of the inning and went on to a 5-2 win.  In game 2, Rhodes again scored first, courtesy of a bases loaded, 3-run double from Liv Ryan, and added another run in the 4th on an RBI single from Megan Matthews.  Emory answered with 5 runs, in the bottom of the 4th, taking advantage of a Lynx error with 2 outs in the inning, and held on for the 5-4 win.  On Sunday, the Lynx closed the road trip with a pair of 5-inning wins over Wesleyan College, taking the first game 17-2 and the second game 15-1.  Rhodes stands at 21-15 on the season, and enters this weekend’s SCAC series with Sewanee with a 6-6 record in the SCAC.

Sewanee lost four road games to SCAC rival Centre College over the weekend, dropping their overall record to 2-12 and their conference record to 0-10 this season. The Colonels’ picked up both ends of Saturday’s doubleheader, winning game one 9-0 and game two 19-5, despite a perfect day at the plate for Tiger Dana Middleton. Middleton went 6-for-6 on the day as Michelle Thibodeaux was charged with the pair of losses on the mound. On Sunday, Sewanee dropped both games of the twinbill, losing 12-3 and 8-2 to the Colonels. Thibodeaux pitched complete games in taking both of the losses, while Erin Polena paced the Tigers with a 2-for-3 effort at the plate with one RBI in game one. Sewanee will play host to Fisk University on Wednesday for a non-conference doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.

Southwestern secured a spot in the SCAC Conference tournament this weekend with three wins over Austin College. They improve to 25-11 on the season and 11-1 in the SCAC and retain their top spot in the West. The Pirates started out strong behind starting pitcher Lauren Zearfoss in the first game. Defense was key as SU held the 'Roos scoreless in the game while Zearfoss scattered five hits to win 6-0. Game two took a different tone early as AC scored nine runs in the first three innings with help from SU errors to hand Southwestern their first conference loss of the year 9-1 in five innings. Southwestern rebounded well on Sunday to take both games in two scrappy contests, 6-3 and 9-8. The Pirates come home for the final games of the regular season this weekend, facing second place team in the West, Millsaps. The series begins on Saturday with two games starting at 1:00 pm.

Trinity earned a four-game SCAC weekend split at Millsaps College over the weekend, which along with results from the rest of the West Division, was enough to clinch a spot in the SCAC Softball Tournament for the Tigers. Both of Trinity’s wins were in extra innings, winning 7-6 in 10 innings on Saturday, then edging the home team 3-2 in eight innings on Sunday. With the wins, the Tigers improve to 2-2 in extra-inning contests this season. The Tigers will be either the #2 or #3 seed from the West Division, depending on results this weekend. Trinity will face Hendrix in a four-game SCAC series to finish out the regular season on Saturday and Sunday. The Tigers swept a four-game series at Hendrix last year, and Trinity is 11-1 against the Warriors over the past three seasons.

To view the entire SCAC Fastpitch Weekly for week eight, click here.