SUWANEE, Ga. - Birmingham-Southern is coming off its second straight four game SCAC conference series sweep and are now 11-1 in the league, sitting in first place in the Eastern Division. The Panthers are currently riding a nine game winning streak, their sixth winning streak of nine wins or more in the past four seasons.

- AROUND THE SCAC -

Austin College went 1-3 last week in a four game series against SCAC rival Trinity. Senior Suzanne Beltran had a strong week at the plate in four games, hitting .444 with two doubles, a homer and three RBI and adding a 1.000 slugging percentage and a .455 on base percentage against Trinity. The ‘Roos will return to action April 17th against Texas Lutheran. 
 
Birmingham-Southern swept Centre this weekend to remain atop the SCAC East Division standings. BSC hit well over the four games with a combined batting average of .356 including five doubles and three triples. The Panthers out-scored the Colonels 22-3 and were 8-8 on stolen bases over the four games, and committed only one error in the field. Senior Ashley Bice led at the plate, going 9-13 (.692), and she and senior Ronni Ferris led with four RBI each. Ferris and freshman Bethany Fronk both got two wins in the circle after throwing two complete games apiece, with Fronk getting two shutouts. Ferris struck out 14 and Fronk struck out 10. Bice, Ferris, and fellow seniors Beth Lefler and Emily Merritt were honored in a pregame ceremony on Saturday, as the doubleheader was the last home date for BSC this season. The Panthers take a break from conference action this week, traveling to face LaGrange on Friday and Berry on Saturday.

Centre went 0-4 on the week dropping all four games to Birmingham Southern on the road. The Colonels lost 4-1 and 5-0 on the first day and then fell 7-2 and 6-0 on Saturday to fall to 8-17 overall and 1-7 in league play. Centre will host Spalding in a doubleheader Wednesday and then travel to Sewanee for a four-game series Saturday and Sunday.
 
Dallas (9-23, 1-11 SCAC) went 0-4 on the week, in a four-game series on the road versus Hendrix College. On Friday, the Lady Crusaders fell 8-1 (F/7) in Game one before notching a 12-1 (F/5) loss in Game two. Though Saturday's scores were closer, Dallas remained on the wrong end of the scoreboard, succumbing 2-1 (F/7) in Game one, and 5-3 (F/7) in Game two.

Hendrix evened up their SCAC record to 4-4 by sweeping Dallas in a four-game home series. The Warriors started the series with a 8-1 victory on Friday. They batted around in the first, scoring five runs to take control of the game. Junior third baseman Paula Burr went 3-for-4 with three RBI and Morgan Fires, Catelyn Gibbs and Ashley Halbert added two hits each. Halbert also picked up the win, allowing three hits and striking out three. Hendrix cruised to a 12-1, five-inning win in the nightcap on Friday. Sophomore catcher DJ Sandidge went 3-for-3 with four driven in and Halbert was 2-for-2 with a double, three runs scored and two RBI. Freshman Lauren Whitby earned the win. On Saturday, Halbert struck out six and allowed six hit for her ninth win of the year in a 2-1 win. Gibbs had two hits with two stolen bases. In the 5-3 finale, Halbert hit a two-run home run and recorded a double and Gibbs had a two-run triple. Whitby earned another win in the circle. Hendrix will take on Division I Central Arkansas on Tuesday at 6 p.m., then host Trinity in conference play on Saturday and Sunday.

Millsaps got four terrific games this weekend as they cruised to four shutout victories over the Sewanee Tigers. The Majors outscored the Tigers 39-0 to take over sole possession of second place with third place team Rhodes coming in this upcoming weekend. On Friday, the Majors got a pair of complete game, two hit shutouts from sophomores Laurel Jones and Molly Tyner and 25 total hits to cruise to 8-0 and 9-0 wins in five innings. Jones spun a gem, going six full innings while giving no runs off two hits while striking out seven and walking one to earn her fifth win of the season. Sophomore CarolineThompson led the way offensively going 4-for-4 with a RBI and two runs scored while senior Allison Tarbox, senior Jade Hewitt, and junior Emily Collins all added two hit games with Hewitt driving in two runs. Junior Megan Yglesias added two RBIs on the day. In Game Two, It was Tyner’s turn, as she picked up her second win of the season as she pitched five innings while only allowing two hits and striking out two. Offensively, Hewitt added two more RBIs to up her total to four on the day with a 1-for-3 day while Tarbox 3-for-3 on the day with two runs scored. Sophomore Allyson Christian added two RBIs of her own. On Day Two, Millsaps continued to get great performances in the circle, this time from junior Emily Collins and sophomore Katie Birdwell, and scored at least one run in every inning they hit in today as they took a pair of 11-0 wins over Sewanee in five innings each. All of the runs didn't make any difference to Collins, who calmly through Millsaps' third straight complete game, two hitter in five innings of work including five strikeouts and no walks issued to pick up her third win of the season. Yglesias finished her day 3-for-4 with six RBIs and was only a triple short of the cycle. Tarbox added a 1-for-1 day with three RBIs while Thompson, Joiner, and freshman Karen McWilliams both picked up two hits on the day. In Game 2, it was all sophomore pitcher Katie Birdwell needed as she cruised to a complete game shutout and improve her record to 3-1. She gave up no runs on three hits while striking out five. Offensively, both Thompson and McWilliams were terrific as they were both 3-for-3 on the afternoon. McWilliams picked up two RBIs while Thompson added one while scoring three times on the afternoon. Joiner added a 2-for-3 day including two RBIs of her own. Millsaps improves to 13-17 on the season and are on a five game winning streak. They are also sitting at 8-4 in the SCAC and have a chance to clinch the second seed in the tournament next weekend as they welcome in the Rhodes Lynx for a four game series. First pitch is set for Saturday at 1 p.m.

Rhodes took the week of from action on the diamond this past week. The Lynx will return to action this weekend as Rhodes will travel to Jackson, Mississippi to square off in a four game SCAC series with Millsaps. 

After sweeping two games against Fisk, Sewanee dropped all four contests at Millsaps, over the weekend. Michelle Thibodeaux led the way. Thidbodeaux struck out a career-high 14 against Fisk while allowing only one hit in five innings. At the plate, Thidbodeaux hit her first homerun and drove in four RBI.  Kayla Sewell, Carly Warfield and Claire Knepshield also chipped in two hits each. Sewell and Erin Polena drove in three runs apiece. Sewanee returns to action this week a pair of games against Hiwassee and a four-game series against Centre over the weekend.

Southwestern split a pair of non conference games this past week defeating Schreiner 7-1 before falling 2-1 in the second contest. Lyndsy Maus picked up the victory for the Pirates with a complete game allowing just one run on five hits with seven strikeouts. Southwestern will return to action this weekend as the Pirates will be on the road for a four game SCAC series with Dallas.

Trinity kept pace with Southwestern for the top spot in the SCAC West Division, winning three out of four road games against Austin College over the weekend. The Tigers split the first day’s action, bouncing back from a 2-1 loss in the opener to take a 7-5 win in game two. Saturday’s opening game was 4-1 heading into the sixth, but a 10-run inning for Trinity blew the game wide open. The Tigers continued their offensive onslaught in game two, earning a 12-0 victory to finish off the series. Caitlynn Dykes tied a school record with two home runs in the second game of the series, driving home a total of five runs in the game. Dykes is also just one RBI from tying Trinity’s single season record. Karen MacPherson became Trinity’s all-time leader in runs scored (currently, 133), scoring five times in the four games this weekend. She surpasses Jamie Williams, who scored 129 runs from 2006-09. MacPherson also recorded her 100th career stolen base over the weekend. Trinity will host the University of Houston-Victoria in a doubleheader on Thursday evening, then will travel to Hendrix College for a four-game SCAC series. Last season in San Antonio, the Tigers swept all four games from Hendrix.

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