Posted: Apr 12, 2010
SUWANEE, Ga. - With just one regular season weekend remaining before the SCAC Softball Tournament at the end of April, five of the six tournament spots have been claimed with the final spot in the Eastern division yet to be determined. In the Western division, Millsaps, Southwestern and Trinity have all earned their spots while DePauw and Centre have punched their tickets in the East.
- AROUND THE SCAC -
Austin College dropped three of four to Millsaps over the weekend, falling 5-4 in game one before taking a 7-4 victory in game two on Saturday and then dropping a pair by scores of 7-6 and 10-5. Stefanie Faith hit three homers over the weekend and drove in six runs, giving her 12 home runs on the year and putting her in first place nationally in homers. Faith’s 12 homers this season also move her into first place on the SCAC career home run list. Sam Smith and Heather Farquhar also had big weekends at the plate, with Smith hitting .571 (8-of-14) with three doubles and Farquhar hitting .455 (5-of-11). Charlotte Trudell hit .357 in the series and notched her second triple of the season, and Sam Matulis picked up the lone win of the weekend on the mound, her sixth pitching victory of the season.
Birmingham Southern dropped
four games this week, losing on the road to No. 25 DePauw. The
Panthers lost 4-1, 6-1, on Saturday, and 8-7 in 12 innings, 8-0, on
Sunday. The Panthers were undefeated at 12-0 in the SCAC before
losing to the Tigers. BSC is at home for the last time this season
this Wednesday, taking on in-state NAIA rival Spring Hill College
in a 5 p.m. doubleheader.
Centre played Rhodes College in a double
header on Saturday, April 11 where the two teams split a
game. Centre lost the first game 10-2, but came back and won
the second game by a score of 2-0. On Sunday, April 12 Centre
played Rhodes again in a double header, but the Lynx were able to
win both games. In the first game the Colonels fell 8-2 and
in the second game Centre was beat 6-2. During the upcoming
week Centre will play Wilmington College in a doubleheader at home
on Tuesday, April 13. On Thursday, April 15 the Colonels will
face Mt. St. Joseph at home in a double header. The Colonels
will finish out
the week with a double header against DePauw on Saturday,
April 17 and Sunday, April 18.
DePauw improved to 24-3 overall and 11-1 in
the SCAC after winning all six games last week. That also extended
the Tigers win streak to 12. DePauw swept Manchester (7-0, 13-5)
and won all four against Birmingham-Southern (4-1, 6-1, 8-7 (12),
8-0). The Tigers hit .359 for the week and limited the opponents to
just .219. Jamie Story made three starts in the middle infield
positions an hit .600 (6010), while Jen Kosinski and Emma Minx each
batted .545. Kosinski paced the Tigers with seven runs, 12 hits and
10 RBI and had the game-winning hit in the bottom of the 12th of
Sunday's first game win over Brimingham-Southern. Megan Soultz
posted a 4-0 record with a 1.40 ERA, while Kristin Barrow was 2-0
and didn't allow a run in seven innings. With Saturday's first game
victory, DePauw head coach Bonnie Skrenta picked up here 200th win.
Soultz picked up her 100th career pitching victory in Saturday's
nightcap. She ranks sixth in Division III history with 101 wins,
fifth with 129 starts, tied for ninth with 101 complete games, 10th
with 780.0 innings and 10th with 43 shutouts.
Hendrix suffered its second series sweep in
back-to-back weekends with four losses to Trinity University on
Saturday and Sunday. The Warriors fall to 14-18 overall and
3-9 in SCAC play after their eighth straight loss.
First year right-hander Sydney Friday tossed a complete game with
13 punch outs to lead the Tigers to a 3-1 win in Saturday’s
opener and then slammed the door shut in the second game to earn
her second win of the day, a come-from-behind 6-5 victory, at
Warrior Field. Friday pitched six shutout innings in the
first game before Hendrix scored its lone run in the seventh
inning. She scattered five hits and allowed just one free
pass in 28 batters faced with five fly outs and three ground
outs. Hendrix first year right-hander Ashley Halbert allowed
just eight hits, no earned runs and no walks in the complete game
loss. Trinity rallied for three runs with two outs in the top
of the seventh to hand Halbert her fifth loss of the season.
Trinity knotted the second game up with five runs on six hits in
its last at bat. The Tigers pieced together four straight
singles to produce the five runs. Junior 2B Alexa Calderon
scored the game-tying run on a base knock by first year RF Sarah
Rabaey. Calderon then drove in the go-ahead run with two outs
in the eighth frame on a base knock through the left side, scoring
sophomore CF Karen MacPherson. MacPherson finished the second
game 5-for-5 at the plate with a pair of doubles. Friday
entered the circle in the bottom of the eighth and picked up two
more strike outs for the victory, while Hendrix junior right-hander
Jaclyn Herrera was pinned with the loss and fell to 4-4 on the
year. Trinity University tallied 20 hits to earn a 14-5
victory in Sunday’s opener and then used a stellar
performance from senior right-hander Helen Thompson for a 4-1 win
in the night cap to notch the four-game series sweep.
Thompson tossed six shutout innings in the night cap for her first
win of the season. First year right-hander Sarah Rabaey
inherited two runners with one out in the bottom of the seventh and
made her way out of the jam for her first save of the year.
Thompson allowed just six hits over the first six innings to hold
Hendrix off the scoreboard. Junior DP Ellen Burr and first
year LF Alyssa Barry were the only Warriors to record multiple hits
in the second game.
Millsaps picked up three important conference
wins at home against division rival Austin College over the weekend
to clinch a spot in the SCAC Playoffs later this month. Facing the
‘Roos in the series-opener Saturday afternoon, the Majors
built an early 5-0 lead coming off a solo home run by LeAnn
Williams in the first, a sacrifice fly from Laura Litton in the
second and a two-run double by Megan Yglesias in the third. Austin
College’s comeback efforts fell just short as it scored two
runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh but starter Kasey
Thibodeaux held off the rally to pick-up the complete game victory,
5-4. Millsaps held a 4-1 lead through four innings in the second
game thanks to Williams’ second home run of the day and an
RBI groundout by Josie Matthews. The lead would not last long as AC
got four runs off starter Brittney McAllister in the fifth before
adding two insurance runs in the seventh for a 7-4 win to even the
series. Finishing the weekend series on Sunday afternoon, Millsaps
came back from a six-run deficit to claim a 7-6 win in game one.
After AC scored five runs off Thibodeaux in the fourth for a 6-0
lead, the Majors answered with three runs in the bottom of the
inning to get back into the game, down 6-3. A two-run home run by
Matthews in the fifth evened the score 6-6 and Emily Spicer picked
a perfect opportunity to hit her first career home run in the
bottom of the seventh. Spicer stepped up to the plate and sent the
first pitch offered over the fence in left field to cap the
come-from-behind victory 7-6 with a walk-off home run. In the
weekend-finale, the Majors found themselves behind 3-1 in the
fourth inning before exploding for four runs in the bottom of the
fourth and five more in the fifth for a 10-5 victory. In the
fourth, the Majors regained a 5-3 advantage behind four runs
highlighted by a pair of two-run doubles by Matthews and Amanda
Berry. A piece of history was also made in the fourth inning as
McKinley became the all-time hits leader in Millsaps history with a
single for hit number 174 of her illustrious career, passing
Christina Sharp’s mark of 173. Due to a two-run home run by
Spicer and McKinley’s conference-leading 11th home run of the
season, the Majors broke the game wide open with five runs in the
fifth for a 10-3 lead. McKinley’s solo blast also tied Robin
Rockco’s single-season record for home runs in Millsaps
softball history. AC scored two runs in the top of the seventh but
it was not enough as the Majors recorded the 10-5 win to remain
atop the SCAC West Division with only one conference series
remaining. Millsaps, now 16-14 overall and 9-3 in the SCAC, will
return to the field on Tuesday for a doubleheader at Huntingdon
College in Montgomery, Ala.
Rhodes posted a 4-2 record this week, and
improves to 23-13 on the season and 4-8 in the SCAC.
The Lynx started the week with a doubleheader split against
cross-town rival Christian Brothers University, dropping the first
game 5-0 before bouncing back to win game 2 in dramatic
fashion. Trailing 4-2 with 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th,
Sara Bowen delivered a 3-run, walk off home run to give the Lynx
their first win over Christian Brothers since 2001. Bowen was
also the winning pitcher in the game, striking out 12 and giving up
just 2 earned runs. The Lynx then traveled to Danville,
KY, for a 4-game series with Centre. Rhodes took game 1 by a
score of 10-2 behind another strong performance by Bowen at the
plate and in the circle, going 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI,
while striking out 6 and giving up just 1 earned run. Centre
bounced back to take game 2 by a 2-0 score to even the series at 1
game a piece. On Sunday, Rhodes took game 1 by an 8-2 score,
getting 6 shutout innings and 9 strikeouts from Bowen, who improved
to 11-5 on the season. Kelli Zomer had 2 doubles and a
single, while Allison Conn was 3 for 4 to lead the Lynx
offense. In game 4, Chelsea Peters picked up her
10th win of the season, giving up just 6 hits and striking out 8 as
the Lynx won 6-2. Zomer had 3 more hits, including a
home run, to pace the Lynx offense. Rhodes will host Sewanee
this weekend for a 4-game series.
Sewanee did not play last week. The Purple Tigers return to the diamond April 12th against Fisk.
Southwestern had an off week from conference
action and picked up a couple of non-conference games in hopes of
continuing their tough play heading into the final stretch of the
season. Tuesday SU played Concordia (TX) on Tuesday and won game
one 5-1, but one big inning by the Tornados pushed them past the
Pirates for the 9-3 win. SU responded well on Sunday, winning a
pair of games against the University of Dallas. SU continued to
push runs across the plate to win 7-1 and 7-5. The Pirates are now
23-10 on the year and 8-4 in the SCAC as they head into their final
week of regular season action, facing Trinity on Saturday and
Sunday in San Antonio.
Trinity enjoyed one of its best performances of the season in a four-game SCAC sweep at Hendrix College over the weekend. The Tigers secured a spot in the SCAC Championship Tournament at the end of the season with the four wins. Trinity and Hendrix were tied for third in the SCAC West Division heading into the weekend, but the Tigers won 3-1, 6-5, 14-5, and 4-1 to post the team’s longest win streak of the season. Trinity will conclude the regular season with another SCAC series this weekend, hosting Southwestern University for four games on Saturday and Sunday. Last year, the Tigers lost three out of four against the Pirates in Georgetown. Trinity is currently one game behind Southwestern for second place in the standings.
To view the entire SCAC Fast Pitch Weekly for week eight, click here.
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