SUWANEE, Ga. - Balls were flying out of the ballparks this past week as five different SCAC players had two home run weeks - led by the league's offensive Player-of-the-Week, Jennifer McKinley of Millsaps College, who had four round-trippers on the week including three in one game against 10th-ranked Mississippi College. McKinley is believed to be just the second player in league history to have a leave the yard three times in one game. Stefanie Faith of Austin College, who ironically was one of the five to hit at least two home runs this week, hit three in a single game against Hendrix on March 22, 2008.

Rhodes College's Sara Bowen, the league's Pitcher-of-the-Week, found a way to avoid the big bats as the tossed her fifth career no-hitter on Thursday against Blackburn as the junior right-hander struck out 11.

- AROUND THE SCAC -

Austin College went 2-2 on the week, splitting doubleheaders with Murray State College and Midland Lutheran College.  In the first game against Murray State, the ‘Roos got home runs from Stefanie Faith, Sam Smith and Jennifer Dowsey as part of a six run third to blow open the game on their way to a 7-1 victory.  Faith knocked in four runs in the game and Chelsea Delaney finished 3-for-4 while Ashley Johnson went the distance for the win, at one point retiring 12 straight batters.  In game two the teams were tied at 5 heading into the seventh inning, but four Murray State runs in the top of the seventh lead to a 9-5 loss.  Against Midland Lutheran, the ‘Roos took a two run lead into the seventh but an error with two outs opened the door for the Warriors to score three runs and hand Austin College a 6-5 loss.  Faith and Suzanne Beltran hit back-to-back homers to lead off the third, while Johnson was handed her first loss of the season and is now 5-1.  In game two the ‘Roos got another homer from Beltran to go ahead and didn’t look back, taking a 5-2 victory with Sam Matulis tossing a complete game for the win.

Birmingham Southern did not play last week. The Panthers, 10-0 and sporting a 13-game win streak that dates to last season, will put their perfect record on the line on Tuesday with a road doubleheader at Spring Hill (Ala.) College.

Centre went 4-5 on the week, as they hosted their annual March Mayhem Tournament of Saturday, March 13 and Sunday March, 14. On Saturday, the Colonels opened play against Manchester College, where the team picked up a 10-5 win. The Colonels had a big seventh inning where they scored six runs, while only giving up one run to the Spartans to close out the inning. In the Colonels’ second game, the team faced Oberlin College. Centre won the game by a score of 11-3 in six innings.  The Colonels scored four runs in the third, three runs in the fourth, and four more runs in the sixth. Centre opened up the second day of action with a 3-2 loss against Manchester. The Colonels recovered in their second game of the day as they beat Oberlin, 12-5. Freshman Chelsea Collard had four runs in the game, while sophomore Elizabeth Ensminger had five RBI’s in the win. In the third and final game for Centre, the team earned a 7-5 victory over Maryville (Tenn.) College in eight innings after Collard hit a two run homer to win the game. Centre will take part in the Maryville College Classic on Saturday, March 20 and Sunday, March 21.

#24 DePauw improved to 6-1 on the season after sweeping their three games at Centre's March Mayhem Tournament. DePauw opened with an 11-5 win over Manchester followed by a 15-1 victory over Maryville (Tenn.) and a 12-0 win over Oberlin. In the win over Manchester, the Tigers banged out 19 hits with Rachel MacBeth and Jen Kosinski each collecting three. Kosinski homered in the win. Haley Buchanan and Emma Minx each hammered grand slams in the win over Maryville as DePauw totaled 14 hits. Megan Soultz and Kristin Barrow combined to strike out eight without allowing a walk. The Tigers wrapped up the weekend with a combined shutout from Soultz, Barrow and Emily Bichler as the three combined to allow just one hit and striking out nine with no walks. Offensively, DePauw had 15 hits paced by three each from Rachel MacBeth and Ashlee Anton. For the weekend, the Tigers hit .558 and posted an .826 slugging percentage with a .594 on-base percentage. Kosinski hit .714 (5-7) followed by MacBeth at .700 (7-10). Soultz posted a 2-0 record with Barrow finishing at 1-0.

Hendrix posted a 3-1 record this week after splitting a doubleheader against University of the Ozarks on Thursday and sweeping its competition on the first day of the Rebel Spring Games on Sunday. The Warriors improve to 7-5 overall and will play six more games at the Rebel Spring Games. Hendrix stranded seven runners and gave up a pair of runs on three errors in its 5-2 loss to Ozarks in Thursday’s opener.  The Warriors collected 13 hits and had five players post multi-hit performances for an 8-5 victory in the night cap.  Jaclyn Herrera started on the rubber in the first game and scattered 10 hits over 6.0 frames. She gave up one free pass and fanned five batters in her first loss of the season. Ashley Halbert started in the circle for game two and improved to 2-0 on the season after 5.0 innings, seven hits, four runs (two earned), two walks and two strike outs. Jessica Mabry finished off the last two innings for her first save of the year. Ryan Bracken, Alyssa Barry, Christina Byler, Sydney Selby and Sydney Copeland all collected two hits in the second game. Hendrix tallied 25 hits and 20 runs in its first day of the Rebel Spring Games to defeat Rutgers-Newark University, 9-1, and Springfield College, 11-7, at the Fortune Road Complex. Liz Vaughan scattered two hits over 5.1 shutout innings before Mabry entered with the bases loaded and walked the Raiders’ only run across before getting a strikeout and ground out to end the contest. Herrera was a perfect 4-for-4 with a home run, four runs scored and two RBI in the second game. Vaughan, Selby, Byler and Berry all collected two hits in the nightcap. Big damage came in the sixth when Herrera clobbered a two-run bomb for Hendrix and Vaughan followed with a solo shot for the duo’s second back-to-back home run performance of the day. Halbert improved to 3-0 with the win and Mabry slammed the door shut in relief for the second time on Sunday.

Millsaps played No. 10 Mississippi College and Huntingdon College to a split on Friday giving the Lady Choctaws their only loss of the season, 7-1, before falling to the Hawks, 6-5. Saturday, the teams squared-off again, this time the results were switched as the Majors beat Huntingdon, 8-2, before falling to MC, 7-4, in six innings. Senior Jennifer McKinley had a career outing for Millsaps going 3-for-3 with three home runs and five RBIs against the Lady Choctaws. This was the first time a Millsaps player has ever hit three home runs in one game. Senior pitcher Kasey Thibodeaux was stellar in the circle for Millsaps giving up just one run off six hits while striking out five to earn the victory over MC. Coming off its most impressive victory in recent history, the Majors could not put up a repeat performance against Huntingdon, falling 6-5. Millsaps rebounded on Saturday morning against the Hawks to come away with an 8-2 victory. LeAnn Williams doubled down the left field line in the third and later scored on a single by Matthews before Yglesias drove home Matthews with an RBI double as the Majors took a 2-0 lead through three innings. Emily Spicer added an RBI single in the fourth and that would be all the run support Thibodeaux would need. Thibodeaux started the next game with Mississippi College but did not fare as well – allowing five first-inning runs to the Lady Choctaws. Millsaps would get two runs back in the bottom half of the inning when Tarbox hit a two-run double and McKinley led the bottom of the third with a solo home run, her fourth against MC on the weekend, but it was not enough as the Majors stranded 11 runners and fell 7-4. Millsaps, now 3-7 overall, will be back in action at home as Rust College travels to Jackson for a doubleheader on Monday afternoon with first pitch at 1 p.m.

Rhodes finished the week 6-0, improving their overall record to 14-4, and is currently riding an 11-game win streak. On Tuesday, Rhodes defeated MacMurray by scores of 5-2 and 15-0, with Cindy Bitters picking up her first win of the season in game one and Chelsea Peters tossing a five-hit shutout in game two. Kelli Zomer belted two home runs on the day and Elise Suna added another to pace the Lynx offense. On Thursday, Rhodes got no-hitters from Bitters and Sara Bowen, defeating Blackburn 8-0 in both games. For Bitters, it was the first no-hitter of her career, while Bowen tossed her fifth career no-hitter. Zomer, Suna, Olivia Ryan, Rebekah Moore and Allison Conn each homered to pace the Lynx offense. Rhodes opened their Spring Break trip to Cocoa Beach with a pair of wins on Sunday, 9-0 over Finlandia and 3-0 over Division II University of Minnesota-Crookston. Bowen struck out 15 and tossed a 1-hit shutout against Finlandia, and added a home run in the game, while Suna and Ryan each added a home run to lead the Lynx at the plate. Against Minnesota-Crookston, Peters tossed her fourth shutout of the season and improved to 7-2, giving up just five hits and not allowing a runner past second base. Moore gave the Lynx an insurance run with an RBI single in the sixth and Jennifer Whatley’s sharp line drive past the Crookston third baseman in the seventh added a third insurance run to seal the win. Rhodes has 4 more games this week in Cocoa Beach before opening up SCAC play on Saturday, when they host two-time defending SCAC champion DePauw.

Sewanee did not play. The Tigers (0-4) are not scheduled to hit the diamond again until a pair of SCAC doubleheaders at Centre College on March 27 and 28.

Southwestern softball has been hard at work this week as they played a couple of make up games before heading out on a spring break trip. Tuesday, Texas Lutheran made the trip north for a double header that found Southwestern easily winning game one and then falling in game two, 5-3. Errors cost the Pirates in the second contest as they had five hits and five errors. Southwestern played in Arizona this weekend, facing Division III teams from around the nation. Saturday SU faced Augsburg for two games and won easily 12-4 and 10-2. They continued their winnings ways, posting a 4-0 victory against Dickinson and a 6-3 win over Wisconsin LaCrosse on Sunday. The Pirates finish their games in Arizona on Monday against St. Scholastica and Minnesota-Morris before returning home to open up conference action against Austin College on Saturday.  

Trinity softball team split a doubleheader at Schreiner in its only action last week, bouncing back after a 10-2 loss to earn a 13-6 victory.  The Tigers also split with Schreiner at home earlier this season. The Tigers return home this week to start a 10-game home stand, including six games this week. Trinity will play Midland Lutheran on Wednesday afternoon, and then Friday and Saturday will be back-to-back doubleheaders against Millsaps to open SCAC play.

To view the entire Fast Pitch Weekly for week four, click here.