SUWANEE, Ga. - Birmingham-Southern has now won 19 straight competitions against SCAC opponents dating back to last season after picking up a four game series sweep against Rhodes this past weekend. The highlight of the series came in the first game, as sophomore pitcher Ronni Ferris threw the third perfect game in program history, and first perfect game since February 2005.

- AROUND THE SCAC -

Austin College went 1-3 in its weekend series with Hendrix over the weekend, splitting on Saturday with a 10-2 loss and a 7-3 win before falling by scores of 4-2 and 3-1 on Sunday. The ‘Roos are now 12-14 overall this season and 2-6 in conference play. In game one on Saturday the ’Roos fell in a big hole early and couldn’t get their bats going, falling behind 10-0 before a two run homer from Stefanie Faith in the fifth made it a 10-2 final with the run rule. In game two the ‘Roos used a six run fifth inning, including a grand slam by Jennifer Dowsey, to get the 7-3 victory. On Sunday, the ‘Roos jumped on top in both games but were unable to hang on with Hendrix scoring all of their runs in both games in the fourth inning or later. Sam Matulis went 1-1 on the weekend with a 1.93 earned run average, striking out five batters with no walks in her two appearances. Abbey Hayes and Cierra Wieghat each hit .444 for the weekend to lead the ‘Roos offensively.

Birmingham Southern went 4-0 this weekend, sweeping Rhodes to move to 17-3 overall and 8-0 in the league. On Saturday, BSC defeated the Lynx by the scores of 8-0 (5 innings) and 3-2 (10 innings), and on Saturday, they won 3-0 and 10-7. In the first game of the series, sophomore pitcher Ronni Ferris threw the third perfect game in program history, and first perfect game since February 2005. She also struck out 10 of the 15 batters she faced. Overall, the Panthers are now out-scoring their opponents 162-44 and out-hitting them 196-106. The BSC pitching staff has an overall ERA of 1.47 with eight shutouts and an opponent batting average of .219.

Centre faced Spalding University at home in Danville, Ky. in a double-header on Wednesday, March 24.  The Colonels split the series winning the first game 7-3, but they came up short in the second game losing 4-2.  Sewanee then came to Danville, Ky. to take on the Colonels on Saturday, March 27 and Sunday, March 28 in the first conference match up of the season for Centre.  On the first day Centre won three games over the Tigers beating them 13-0, 7-0, and 9-0.  During the second day the Colonels recorded two more wins as they beat Sewanee 22-0 and 16-2 to improve their overall record to 13-9 and 4-0 in the SCAC.  In the upcoming week Centre will play Franklin College on Wednesday, March 31 at home in a double-header.  The Colonels will then travel to Birmingham, Ala. to take on conference rival Birmingham Southern in a double-header on Friday, April 2 and Saturday, April 3.

DePauw posted a 5-1 record over the remainder of their spring break trip to improve to 14-3 overall. Competing at the National Training Center Tournament just outside of Orlando, the Tigers blanked Wisconsin-Stevens Point (9-0) and Hope (7-0) on the first day before defeating 14th-ranked Eastern Connecticut, 2-0, and losing to 25th-ranked Wisconsin-Whitewater, 6-4. Each of the latter two games were decided in eight innings. DePauw wrapped up the week with a 3-2 win over Chicago and a 6-3 victory over Allegheny. The Tigers hit .282 for the week and held the opposition to a .189 batting average. Emma Minx led the way with a .368 batting average, while Rachel MacBeth hit .353. Jen Kosinski led the Tigers with six runs, while Minx and MacBeth each drove in seven. Minx also led DePauw with a .789 slugging percentage. Megan Soultz posted a 5-0 record with a 0.80 ERA. She allowed just seven runs (four earned) on 22 hits with 30 strikeouts in 35 innings. Opponents hit just .183 against Soultz for the week. Soultz into a tie for seventh on the Division III all-time games started (124) list as well as pitching victories (97). Her 42 career shutouts are tied for 10th in Division III history.

Hendrix sophomore infielder Liz Vaughan went 8-for-14 at the plate with three doubles, four runs scored and two runs batted in, and also picked up a pair of complete game victories inside the circle to lead the Warriors to a 3-1 record against Austin College on Saturday and Sunday at Old Settlers Park.  Hendrix improved to 14-8 overall in its first SCAC series of the year.  The Warriors now own an 11-4 all-time record and have won three regular-season series record against the Roos, since they joined the league in 2007.  Vaughan helped herself to a 10-2 five-inning victory in the opener.  She was 2-for-3 with two doubles, two runs scored and two RBI.  Vaughan also scattered six hits, gave up two earned runs in the fifth inning and allowed just one free pass.  First year SS Ryan Bracken was perfect at the plate (3-for-3) with two doubles and three runs scored.  Hendrix senior C Christina Byler also went 2-for-3 with two doubles and three RBI.  The Warriors suffered a 7-3 loss in Saturday’s night cap.  Hendrix was held scoreless until the fourth inning when junior RHP Jaclyn Herrera led off with a double and came across on sophomore 2B Sydney Selby’s base knock.  Byler scored the go-ahead run on a grounder up the middle to make it a 2-1 contest. Austin rallied for six runs on four hits and two errors in the fifth to take the final lead.  First year PH Jennifer Dowsey highlighted the inning with a grand slam.  Hendrix pulled out a come-from-behind victory to open Sunday’s doubleheader.  The Warriors were held scoreless for the first three innings once again and trailed 2-0 heading into the fourth.  Austin loaded the bases with a pair of infield errors and first year CF Alyssa Barry drove in Vaughan for the first run.  Sophomore LF Trace Grinnell knotted the game with a sacrifice fly to right field.  Bracken led off the fifth with her second homer of the season to put Hendrix on top 3-2 and the Warriors manufactured a run in the sixth to reach the final mark of 4-2.  Vaughan earned her fourth straight win from inside the circle and improved to 6-2 on the season.  The Warriors came from behind once again in the final game of the series.  Hendrix trailed 1-0 after five innings of play until Barry tagged a two-run single with two outs in the top of the sixth.  Herrera clobbered her team-high fourth roundtripper of the season in the seventh to take home the 3-1 victory.  First year RHP Ashley Halbert improved to 5-1 with the complete game win.  She allowed just three hits, no earned runs and one free pass in her third complete game of the year.  Herrera was 3-for-4 at the plate and Vaughan went 2-for-4.

Millsaps faced Southwestern University in a four-game series over the weekend and were victorious in three of the four contests to take sole possession of first place in the SCAC West Division at 13-9 overall and 6-2 in the SCAC and have won 10 of its last 12 games. Starting game one on Saturday, pitcher Kasey Thibodeaux continued her dominance in the circle for the Majors holding the Pirates to five hits and two runs –one earned – while throwing a complete game for the victory. Josie Matthews came through with a two-run single as the Majors jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after one complete inning. Millsaps would add a run in the third when LeAnn Williams scored on a throwing error by the first baseman for a 3-0 advantage. Southwestern would cut into the lead in the fourth inning with two-run home run by Kaitlyn Pavlicek but the Majors added two insurance runs in the sixth inning on a two-run home run by Megan Yglesias to give the Majors the 5-2 victory. Beginning the second half of the doubleheader, Spicer again led the game with a single and McKinley drove her home with a two-run blast to center field for her conference leading tenth home run of the season. The Pirates would come back to even the score 2-2 in the top of the third inning off starter Brittney McAllister and scored two more runs en route to a 4-2 win to even the series. On Sunday afternoon, Millsaps opened game one with four runs, all coming with two outs, for a 4-0 lead after two innings. The Pirates responded by cutting the deficit in half with two runs in the top of the third and scored again in the sixth but Thibodeaux would not allow any more as she closed out the game for the 4-3 win. Game two opened with the Majors jumping out to another early 3-0 lead. Millsaps continued to swing the bat with authority scoring one in the second and two in the third for a comfortable 6-0 advantage. The Pirates took advantage of a Millsaps error in the top of the seventh to get on the scoreboard but it was too little, too late as the Majors secured the conference win, 7-1. McAllister pitched the final two innings in relief of Thibodeaux, who recorded her fifth straight victory and sixth win in her last seven starts to improve to 10-6 on the season. The Majors will return to action when they travel to Livingston, Ala., for a doubleheader with the University of West Alabama beginning at 4 p.m.

Rhodes dropped 4 SCAC contests to Birmingham Southern this weekend, falling to 19-11 overall and 1-7 in the SCAC.  Rhodes fell in game 1 by a score of 8-0, then dropped game 2 by a score of 3-2 in 10 innings.  Game 1 on Sunday also went to the Panthers, as they notched a 3-0 win, and the Panthers won the final game of the series 10-7.   Despite going 0-2 on the weekend, Sara Bowen put up impressive numbers in the circle, tossing 15 1/3 innings, giving up just 10 hits and 4 earned runs while striking out 15.   Rhodes takes the week off, before returning to action Tuesday, April 6 against cross-town rival Christian Brothers followed by a 4 game SCAC series with Centre.  

Sewanee dropped five games to Centre at Danville this  weekend. The Tigers broadened their pitching lineup with the addition of Nikki Poppiti (Greensboro, Ga.) and she and Carly Warfield (Nashville, Tenn.) split time on the mound. Erin Polena is leading Sewanee with seven hits and two RBIs this year. The Tigers are 0-9 and 0-7 in the SCAC. They will host DePauw this weekend before closing out the season at Rhodes April 17 and 18.

Southwestern had a tough time on the road this week, dropping three of four games at Millsaps College. The two teams, who were battling for sole possession of first place, split day one with SU falling 5-2 in game one and then winning 4-2 in game two. In the second day of action early big innings by the Majors kept Southwestern out of the game as they fell 4-3 and 7-1 on Sunday. Southwestern is now 16-9 on the season and 4-4 in the SCAC. They have a big four game series this weekend at home as Hendrix College comes to town on Friday and Saturday. 

Trinity went 0-4 last week, losing twice to NAIA Simon Fraser University of Canada, then falling in two close games over the weekend against the University of Dallas.  Trinity lost 11-0 and 11-4 to Simon Fraser, and Dallas beat the Tigers 2-1 and 4-1 on Saturday.  The Tigers are headed to Sherman, Texas, this weekend for an important four-game SCAC series at Austin College on Friday and Saturday.  That opens an eight-game road trip for Trinity, before returning home to face Southwestern University in the regular season finales on April 17-18.

For the entire SCAC Fast Pitch Weekly for week six, click here.