SUWANEE, Ga. - Heading into the first conference weekend of the season, Birmingham-Southern and Trinity have the two best records respectively. The Panthers are 11-3 for the second time in three seasons; while Trinity, 13-7, has won three straight contests and seven of its last nine.

- AROUND THE SCAC -

Austin College traveled to Kissimmee, Florida over spring break to participate in the Rebel Spring Games. The ‘Roos went 1-7 in eight contests with its lone win a 3-0 shutout win over Skidmore. Austin College will return to action this weekend as they host SCAC for Southwestern. 

Birmingham-Southern played twice at home this week, splitting with Mississippi College on Tuesday. Senior Ashley Bice led the Panthers at the plate, hitting 5-of-8 (.625), but freshman Taylor Bassett led with five RBI after hitting 4-of-7 (.571) with a home run. Freshman Bethany Fronk led the pitching staff with 7.2 innings thrown, allowing seven hits but no earned runs with four strikeouts. She recorded a save in the win against Mississippi College. The Panthers are on the road Monday and Wednesday, facing Spring Hill College and AUM, before returning home this weekend for a conference series against Millsaps, Saturday and Sunday.

Centre went 4-0 on the week, extending its winning streak to five games with doubleheader sweeps of Franklin and Hanover. On Saturday, the Colonels took game one from Franklin by the score of 6-2 before coming back to win 5-4 on a Hannah Simpson walk-off single in the second game. On Sunday, Centre held off Hanover 4-3 in the first game, and won 3-1 in the second. The Colonels' overall record stands at 7-8 heading into a road trip to Georgia, where it will play doubleheaders at LaGrange on Friday and Berry on Saturday.

Gearing up for weekend SCAC play versus Trinity University, the University of Dallas softball team (8-12) went 1-1 on the week. With inclement weather altering a three team round-robin in Irving, Texas, the Lady Crusaders were finally able to take to Crusader Field late Wednesday afternoon. In a pitchers' duel, Dallas succumbed to LeTourneau University, 2-0, in Game 1. The night cap brought a 6-0 victory for Dallas over Greenville College (Ill.).

Hendrix went 3-1 this week, shutting out Ozarks twice on the road on Tuesday, then splitting their first two games of the Gene Cusic Classic in Fort Myers, Fla. Hendrix defeated Ozarks 12-0 and 11-0 in five innings each to start the week. In game one, junior third baseman Paula Burr went 3-for-5 with a home run and five batted in and junior hurler Ashley Halbert threw a one-hitter. In the nightcap, Halbert tossed a three-hitter with four strikeouts and hit a two-run home run. The Warriors opened their 10 games in six days schedule in Florida with a 5-4 loss to Hamilton on Sunday. Halbert hit a home run and was 3-for-3 with four RBI. Hendrix rebounded to top St. Joseph’s (Brooklyn) 4-2 in eight innings. Sophomore catcher DJ Sandidge hit a two-run homer in the top of the eighth to give the Warriors the win. Halbert tied her career-high with 10 strikeouts and picked up her third win of the week. Hendrix will continue their week in Florida with games against Amherst, University of New England, Wooster, Olivet, St. Olaf, Worcester State, UW-Oshkosh and UMass Dartmouth.

Millsaps struggles continued as they went 1-5 on the weekend with a split to Centenary before dropping double headers to William Woods and Huntingdon. After two previous cancellation, the Millsaps Majors Softball Team was finally able to play the Centenary Ladies on Thursday afternoon as they split a doubleheader. Centenary posted four runs in the fifth and sixth to come from behind and win 6-3, but the Majors responded with 10-8 win in the second game thanks to 13 hits. Millsaps returned home on Friday afternoon as they welcomed in the William Woods Owls from NAIA. Despite great starting performances from sophomore Laurel Jones and junior Emily Collins and great relief efforts from sophomores Katie Birdwell and Molly Tyner, the Owls were able to leave Jackson with two wins 3-2 (9 inn.) and 4-2. Millsaps welcomed in the Huntingdon Hawks on Sunday afternoon for a doubleheader at the Millsaps Softball Complex. Two late inning rallies by the Hawks proved to be the difference as the Hawks knocked off Millsaps 9-4 in eight innings and 10-5. With the losses, the Majors fall to 5-13 on the year. They return to action on Tuesday as they hit the road to Pineville, La. to take on the Louisiana College Wildcats in a doubleheader.

After having the Rhodes Showcase washed out due to weather, the Lynx returned to action going 3-1 over the past week picking up a sweep of Piedmont and splitting action with LaGrange. Rhodes is now 6-5-1 overall on the year this season and will return to action Monday afternoon against Freed-Hardeman.

Sewanee did not play last week. The Purple Tigers will return to action this weekend as they square off against conference rival Rhodes.

Southwestern headed to Kissimmee, FL for spring break, competing in the Rebel Spring Games. The Pirates opened with a 7-0 win over Millikin University on Tuesday before dropping the second game of the day 4-2 to Rowan University. Wednesday SU opened with nationally-ranked Wisconsin-River Falls and couldn't get the bats going in the game as they were held scoreless for a 3-0 loss. The bats came alive in the second game as Southwestern dropped 12 hits for 10 runs in a 10-0 run rule victory of Centenary College (NJ). After day break SU faced off with Wisconsin River Falls once again this got the revenge they were looking for as they dominated for a 6-0 win. Riding high Southwestern took on Anderson (IN) for the final game of the week. SU came out strong to lead by two, but Anderson pushed back in the final innings to steal the 4-2 win. After going 3-3 over the weekend Southwestern moves to 10-11 on the year. They come home to open SCAC conference action this weekend, facing Austin College for a four game series starting with a double header on Saturday beginning at 1pm.  

Trinity was 4-2 over the past week, with the only two losses coming against eighth-ranked UT-Tyler and ninth-ranked Central (IA) College. Lauren Mercado finished off the week with the 12th no-hitter in Trinity history, striking out 12 batters over five innings. Mercado also had two hits and three RBI to lead the Tigers to the 9-0 win over Calvin College. Trinity started the week with a doubleheader split with #8 UT-Tyler, winning the first game 2-0, before losing 3-1 in the finale. The Tigers then went to Arizona for the Tucson Invitational, going 3-1 overall. After starting the tournament with a narrow 5-4 loss to #9 Central, Trinity hammered out three run-rule victories over Lakeland (11-0), Augsburg (13-4), and Calvin (9-0). Trinity will open up SCAC play this weekend, hosting the University of Dallas in a four-game series on Saturday and Sunday.

To view the enitre SCAC Fastpitch Weekly for week five, click here.