SUWANEE, Ga. - The brackets are set for the 2009 SCAC Softball Championships hosted by Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas starting the Friday April 24th. DePauw University, the number seed from the Eastern division and Southwestern University, the number one seed from the Western division will both receive first round byes in the double elimination tournament.

- Around the SCAC -

Austin College season came to a close over the weekend as the team fell in three of four games to Trinity, ending the ’Roos chances of advancing to the SCAC postseason. The ’Roos finish the year with a record of 12-24 overall and 7-9 in conference play. On Saturday the ‘Roos fell 5-4 and 9-7 and in the second game gave up six runs in the bottom of the sixth in the loss. Sam Smith had a stellar weekend at the plate, hitting .455 with two doubles and four runs batted in and Suzanne Beltran also knocked in four runs to go along with a .333 batting average. Stefanie Faith hit her team best sixth home run in the team’s 9-0 win over Trinity on Sunday and Whitney Bodine hit .308 with three stolen bases over the weekend. Ashley Johnson had a strong weekend on the mound, picking up a win and boasting a 1.93 earned run average. Johnson allowed five runs, only three of which were earned, in 14.0 innings of work.

Birmingham-Southern wrapped up the 2009 season this week with three wins against Hendrix College and two close losses to Alabama State, all on the road. The Panthers lost to the Hornets 6-5 and 3-1, but then swept Hendrix in three games (the fourth was cancelled due to inclement weather) by the scores of 7-1, 10-2, and 11-0. BSC finishes the season at 32-5 for the best record and best winning percentage in program history, and its second-straight 30-win season. The Panthers end the 2009 season having broken several other program records, such as single-season batting average (.364), runs (279), stolen bases (86) and stolen base percentage (.945), triples (17), RBI (236), fewest strikeouts (102), and fielding percentage (.969). The pitching staff broke the single-season shutouts record (16), as well as the single-season records for lowest ERA (1.19) and lowest opponent batting average (.186). Individual records that fell this season were by senior Melissa Muehlenfeld (single-season stolen bases (38) and stolen base percentage (.974); career stolen bases (81) and stolen base percentage (.890); single-season runs (50) and career runs (128)); senior Kayla Backlund (career (19) and single-season (10) triples); and junior Jena Franks (single-season RBI (46)), and Harris (single-season low ERA (1.03) and opponent batting average (.158)).

Centre completed its 2009 season with three losses to DePauw. Due to inclement weather, the two teams played three games Saturday with the Tigers winning 4-0, 11-0 and 22-3. Centre finishes the season with an 8-25 overall record and a 4-11 mark in the league.

The four-game series between Southwestern University and Colorado College scheduled for last Saturday and Sunday was cancelled because of the winter storm that hit the Front Range on Friday. It marked the fourth time this season the Tigers had to change their schedule due to weather. Colorado College finished the season with a 4-19 record. CC is looking into the possibility of adding another home date to allow the team an opportunity to play in front of its fans one last time.

#17 DePauw wrapped up SCAC play with a three-game sweep of Centre on Saturday. The Tigers finished conference play with a 14-0 record and extended their SCAC regular season win streak to 32 straight games. DePauw has won 45 of its last 46 conference regular season games. The Tigers hit .398 in the three games and held the Colonels to a .167 average. Cymone Allen came off the bench and went 3-for-3 in the series, while Kelly Schwerzler hit .571 and Lauren Rees batted .556. Rees and Jen Kosinski drove in five runs each, while Brianne Weeks scored six. Megan Soultz went 2-0 and didn't allow a run in 10 innings and only gave up five hits with nine strikeouts and no walks. Kristin Barrow tossed seven innings and recorded 16 strikeouts of a possible 21 outs. In Saturday's third and final game, Gill became the first player in DePauw and SCAC history to record 200 career base hits.

Hendrix went 2-3 on the week after a midweek doubleheader against University of the Ozarks and a three-game series against Birmingham-Southern College over the weekend. Hendrix first year P/1B Liz Vaughan fired a four-hit complete game shutout to lift the Warriors to a 7-0 game one win over Ozarks, while Vaughan and sophomore RHP Jaclyn Herrera combined to go 7-for-8 with four runs scored and six RBI to top the Eagles in the nightcap on Wednesday, 13-8. Birmingham-Southern came in a posted a 3-0 series win over the Warriors after a rainy weekend at Warrior field. The Panthers notched a 7-1 win in the opener on Saturday before game two was cancelled due to heavy rain. Hendrix dropped a pair of games on senior day with a 10-2 loss in game one and an 11-0 loss in the second game on Sunday. Hendrix senior 3B Sara Hunter was honored between games as the Warriors’ lone graduate in 2009. Hunter highlighted her senior day by collecting her 38th career double. She is now tied for first with DePauw University’s Ashley Sewell (2003-06) on the conference’s all-time career doubles list. Hunter has hammered out 14 doubles this year and now sits in a tie for sixth all-time on the SCAC’s single-season list. She also made her way up the SCAC’s career hits list and now owns the fourth spot with 161 total base knocks.

Millsaps put together a 3-1 week on the diamond to wrap up the regular season at 15-20 overall and 7-7 in SCAC play – its most league wins since 2005. The Majors split a rescheduled doubleheader with local rival MS College on Tuesday, falling 8-0 in the opener before rebounding in convincing fashion with an 11-3 run-rule win. In a shortened weekend at Sewanee, the Majors took both games by 16-0 and 16-1 scores behind eight RBIs from Laura Litton and seven from Jen McKinley. As a team, Millsaps hit .435 on the week which included 12 doubles, five home runs and 43 runs scored. The Majors wrapped up the East’s No. 3 seed in this week’s SCAC Tournament in San Antonio and will open the weekend on Friday at 2 p.m. against the West’s No. 2 seed Trinity University.

Rhodes had the week off from action after a two can series with Williams Baptist was cancelled due to weather. The Lynx finished the regular season with the most wins in school history (26-10) and earned the #2 seed out of the Eastern Division. Rhodes will play Hendrix in the first round of the SCAC Softball Championships.

Sewanee went 2-2 this week, topping Fisk in Friday's doubleheader before losing two to Millsaps on Saturday. Sunday's games against the Majors were cancelled due to weather. The Tigers close out the season at 2-20. Erin Polena and Regan Rau led Sewanee from the plate this year, batting .250 and .262. Rau and Courtney Hinkle each picked up a pitching win for the Tigers, also.

Due to a massive winter storm in Colorado, the Pirates final conference games were canceled. Southwestern remains in first place with a 9-3 conference record and claim the first seed on the West in the SCAC Conference Tournament held in San Antonio, Texas. Southwestern will play at 4 p.m. on Friday, April 24th and will face the winner of an earlier Hendrix/Rhodes match-up.

Trinity needed two wins to advance the SCAC Softball Tournament next weekend, the Tiger softball team took three out of four games in its SCAC weekend series with Austin College, and will be the West Division’s number two seed. Trinity sealed its fate in the first day of action, winning 5-4 and 9-7 in a Saturday afternoon doubleheader that ensured its participation in the championships. Austin College opened the second day with a 9-0 win, but then the Tigers bounced back to win 5-4 in the series finale. In the second game, Trinity was down 7-3 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning and was just six outs from splitting the opening day’s games. That would have left the Tigers needing a win on the final day to qualify for the tournament; however, Christina Carni’s three-run double capped a six-run inning that led to Trinity’s crucial win. The Tigers will open the tournament against Millsaps College at 2:00 p.m. on Friday afternoon. The Tigers and Majors have faced off each of the past two seasons in the SCAC Tournament, with the teams splitting the two games. Trinity won 1-0 over Millsaps on its way to winning the 2007 tournament, then Millsaps defeated Trinity 8-3 last year.

To view the enitre Fast Pitch Weekly for week 10, click here.