SUWANEE, Ga. - Birmingham-Southern has opened up its 2012 softball campaign a perfect 5-0 and remains the only team who has started play this season unbeaten. The Panthers have now started out 5-0 or better three of the past four seasons.

-AROUND THE SCAC -

Austin College split a pair of game this past weekend against Texas-Dallas to open up the 2012 season. The ‘Roos fell in the first contest 8-3, before rebounding to take the second affair by a score of 4-3. Austin College will return to the diamond Saturday to take on Webster.

Birmingham Southern was at home this week, hosting the BSC Invitational Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, the Panthers defeated Huntingdon, 3-2, and Alabama A&M, 6-0, and on Sunday they beat Case Western Reserve , 4-3. Freshman Bethany Fronk led BSC at the plate (5-of-9), and also pitched in all three games, giving up two hits and no runs with nine strikeouts in eight innings. The Panthers are at LaGrange this Saturday before returning home to face Illinois College on Sunday.

Centre dropped its first three games of the season as part of the Birmingham Southern Invitational. The Colonels fell 16-8 to Huntingdon in the opener and then 4-0 to Case Western Reserve and 3-2 to NCAA Division I member Alabama A&M. The game with Alabama A&M was tied into the bottom of the sixth, but the Bulldogs plated a run and held Centre scoreless in the seventh for the victory. Centre will return home this week to host Calvin College in a doubleheader Saturday, March 3.

Dallas is now 3-5 on the season. Dallas opened their 2012 campaign with four straight losses, but captured a 3-1 record in the University of Dallas Softball Invitational, Feb. 25-26. The Lady Crusaders lost at home to Hutson-Tillotson University on Feb. 4, 21-9 and 13-1. Dallas then suffered 12-3 and 9-0 defeats to Oklahoma Christian University on Feb. 16. The team, however, got things rolling in the Invitational, knocking of Rust College (15-0; 14-1) and Howard Payne University (2-1) before concluding play with an 8-0 loss to University of the Ozarks.

Hendrix starts the season on March 3 when they host Washington University and Spalding University in the Warrior Spring Fling Classic.

Millsaps was finally able to open things up this weekend as they traveled to Atlanta to compete in the Emory Invitational. On Day One, The Majors opened the season with a heartbreaking 9-8 (9 innings) loss in nine innings to No. 7 Emory before coming back later in the day and defeating the Lynchburg Hornets, 3-2. In game one, the Majors held leads of 7-5 and 8-7 over Emory, but could not hold on as the Eagles found a way on their home field. Karen McWilliams (2-for-4), Logan Dukes (2-for-4), Caroline Thompson (2-for-4), and Allison Tarbox (2-for-5) all had multi-hit games as the Majors pounded 11 hits.

Emily Collins took the loss for Millsaps (0-1). In the second game, Millsaps only needed one inning as the brilliant pitching from sophomore Laurel Jones led Millsaps to a 3-2 win. After falling behind 1-0, the Majors came back in the bottom of the third with RBIs from Abbie Joiner, Tarbox, and Allyson Christian to take a 3-1 lead. That's all Jones needed as she pitched a complete game, giving up two runs off four hits, no walks and struck out five in her first game back after an injury made her miss half of her freshman year. Things didn’t go as well for the Majors on Day Two, as they dropped both games to Lynchburg 4-3 and Emory 8-1. Dukes led the way for Millsaps, going 3-for-6 with two runs scored on the day. Hewitt and Collins each added the lone RBIs of the day for the Majors. The Majors return to action on Wednesday, as they will travel down the road to take on the Mississippi College Choctaws in Clinton, Miss. for a double header. First pitch is set for 5 p.m. They then open things up at home as they will battle Webster University and Austin College (non-conference game) twice each.

Rhodes split with future SAA Conference foe Berry, fell to Maryville (TN) and tied perennial HCAC power, Transylvania, in a game called due to darkness.   Under a new style of softball the girls are coming together and finding out what they are capable of.  The opening weekend saw some growing pains, but Rhodes looks to rebound this weekend and play a more polished style of softball against opponents Millikin and Fontbonne.  Rhodes plays host to their second early season tournament in as many weekends and will be looking to get back to their winning ways.

Sewanee will open up the 2012 season on March 5th, when the Purple Tigers will host a double-header against Judson.

Southwestern had a busy week of action playing six games, four against two of the top teams in the ASC. Tuesday the Pirates faced Schreiner College and their usually hot bats were quieted as they posted just eight hits in the two game series. SU pulled out the win in game one, 3-2, but couldn't push a run across in game two with a 1-0 loss. Concordia was next up for the Pirates on Friday. Pitchers dominated game one as the contest remained scoreless through six inning of action. SU's Karen Ramirez's bloop single brought in pinch runner Linsay Biggers for the game winner in the seventh. Game two took on the same tone as neither team scored through the first four innings. Concordia took advantage of a Pirate error following a lead off single in the fifth and followed with two more singles to take a 2-0 lead through five. The Pirates had chances to score in the first and sixth innings, but perfect throws from the Tornados' outfielders to home kept the Pirates off the board. Sunday Southwestern faced UT Tyler for two games and despite out hitting the Patriots in game one fell 3-1 before committing five errors in game two to fall 8-0 in six innings. The Pirates fall to 4-5 on the year and remain in tough non-conference action this weekend as they head to the ASC Crossover tournament, facing Ozarks and UT Tyler on Friday and Louisiana College and Centenary on Saturday.

Trinity split three doubleheaders over the past week, going 3-3 overall against Schreiner, Hardin-Simmons, and East Texas Baptist. The Tigers opened the week with a win over Schreiner on Wednesday, then lost a 2-1 nail-biter to the Mountaineers. On Friday, the Tigers were blanked 3-0 at Hardin-Simmons, but bounced back with a 1-0 shutout win of its own in the finale. East Texas Baptist also shut Trinity out in the opening game on Saturday, but once again, the TU Tigers bounced back with a 5-2 win to earn the DH split. Trinity has another tough week of action coming up, facing off against two non-Division III schools from San Antonio. The Tigers face D-II University of Incarnate Word on Tuesday afternoon, then will host NAIA school Our Lady of the Lake University on Wednesday evening.

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