SUWANEE, Ga. - Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, four of the six slots are accounted for as the conference prepares for the SCAC Tournament. In the Eastern Division, Birmingham-Southern and Millsaps will be in Memphis while Centre and Rhodes will battle it out for the final spot out of the east. In the Western Division, Southwestern and Trinity have earned spots at the Tournament while Hendrix and Austin College will battle out for the final spot out of the west this weekend.

- AROUND THE SCAC -

Austin College took a week off from action. The ‘Roos are now 5-7 in the SCAC and will return to the diamond Tuesday against Texas Lutheran. 
 
Birmingham-Southern played two non-conference doubleheaders on the road this week, splitting each one. BSC split with Huntingdon on Friday and Berry on Saturday. Junior Brittany Berkopec led the Panthers at the plate over the four games, going 6-13 (.462), but freshmen Taylor Bassett and Erin Lopez led with three RBIs apiece. Despite the two losses this week, BSC is still out-scoring its opponents 138-64 so far this season, and out-hitting them 265-191. The Panthers wrap up the regular season on the road this weekend at Sewanee, with doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday.

Centre went 5-1 on the week to improve to 13-18 overall and 5-7 in league play. The Colonels split a non-conference doubleheader at home against Spalding winning game one 2-0 and then falling 9-4 in the nightcap. Over the weekend, Centre swept a four-game series from Sewanee on the road winning Saturday’s games 27-9 and 12-3 and Sunday’s games 10-0 and 12-5. The two shutout victories on the week were the first two shutouts of the season by the Centre pitching staff. The offense had a big week as well posting a .413 batting average with 32 extra base hits, including 11 home runs, 18 doubles and three triples. Centre will host Mount St. Joseph in a doubleheader Wednesday and then Rhodes in the final SCAC series of the season on the weekend.
 
Dallas (9-27, 1-15 SCAC) was swept in four games over the weekend by Southwestern University in the Lady Crusaders' final home series and games of the 2012 season. On Saturday, the Lady Pirates took Game 1, 8-2, over Dallas, before winning Game 2, 6-0. After inclement weather forced a two-hour weather delay on Sunday, 'Senior Day' festivities began for Dallas with a trio of seniors -- Becca Burns, Jessica Mollner and Liana Reveles -- honored in a ceremony between they day's doubleheader. Despite Dallas' best efforts, Southwestern orchestrated 6-0 victories in both games.

Hendrix went 1-4 on the week, but ended it on a high note with a 2-1 walk-off win in the eighth inning against Trinity on senior day. The Warriors started the week with an 18-1 defeat at the hands of Division I Central Arkansas.  On Saturday, the visiting Tigers shutout the Warriors 8-0 and 5-0. Junior third baseman Paula Burr had two hits in the second game. After being shutout 9-0 in Sunday’s opener, the Warriors got a two-run single from Burr in the bottom of the eighth to win the game 2-1. Freshman Lauren Whitby picked up her fifth win of the season, allowing just five hits and a run to go with four strikeouts. Senior Trace Grinnell, playing in her fourth game after missing the first 25 with an injury hit a double. After Sunday’s game, the Warriors honored their seniors – Kaylen Stevenson, Brittiny Casteen and Grinnell. Hendrix needs to win three of the four games this weekend at Austin College to make the SCAC Softball Championship Tournament.

Millsaps earned a spot in the SCAC Tournament and also wrapped up the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Division as they took three out of four from the Rhodes Lynx on the weekend. On Saturday, Senior Allison Tarbox belted a three run homerun to win it in the ninth, 6-3 while junior Megan Yglesias forced elimination on the Lynx as her two run homer in the fifth gave Millsaps a 12-3 win in five innings. Tarbox finished the day 2-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored while Caroline Thompson was 3-for-5 with a run scored in Game One. Allyson Christian added a 2-for-4 game with a RBI. Sophomore Molly Tyner earned the win for the Majors to improve to 3-1 on the season. Emily Collins earned the win for Millsaps in Game Two to improve to 4-8 on the season. Offensively, Yglesias had a huge game, going 3-for-4 with five RBIs and three runs scored to lead Millsaps. Thompson followed her up with a 2-for-4 game including two RBIs while Tarbox was 2-for-3 with one RBI. On Sunday, It was a cold start for the Majors in Game One as they could not solve starting pitcher Forrest Skelton who pitched a two hit, complete shutout. The Majors were only able to come away with two hits, both coming off the bat of sophomore Caroline Thompson. It was a different story in Game Two as Tyner was terrific, pitching six innings while allowing no runs off six hits to go with three strikeouts and one walk to go to 4-1 on the season and earn her second win over the Lynx on the weekend. Collins pitched the seventh inning as she only allowed one hit to close the door. Yglesias led the way in Game Two, going 4-for-4 with one RBI and two runs scored while Tarbox was 1-for-3 with two RBIs. Nearly every Major came away with a hit in the second game. Millsaps sits at 16-18 overall and finished the SCAC year with a 11-5 record. They will be the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Division for the SCAC Tournament later this month. Their first game in the tournament will be the No. 3 seed out of the Western Division. Millsaps returns to action with their regular season finale on Thursday as they welcome in the Centenary Ladies to the Millsaps Softball Complex. They will get things rolling at 2 p.m.

Rhodes dropped three of four contests over the weekend against SCAC opponent Millsaps in Jackson, Mississippi. The Lynx lone with was a 7-0 shutout on Sunday. Rhodes is now 13-14-1, 5-7 in the SCAC and will return to the diamond this weekend against Centre is a battle to earn a spot at the SCAC Tournament at the end of the year.

Sewanee dropped all four games to Centre, over the weekend. The Tigers offense struggled after being outscored by the Colonels 61-17. The Tigers have alsolost eight straight games. This week, Sewanee will look to break its losingstreak against Hiwassee and BSC.

Southwestern continues to get stronger as the conference season goes on and swept the University of Dallas this weekend in Irving, TX. The win improves SU to 22-13 on the year and 11-1 in the SCAC, setting up a showdown for first-place in the SCAC West this weekend. The Pirates bats were alive this weekend as they posted 22 hits through the two games on day one and 26 hits on day two to run the table against the Crusaders. SU won 8-2, 6-0 on day one before taking both games 6-0 on day two. First-year Ashleigh Scott spearheaded the offensive attack for the Pirates, going 8-15 from the plate with three doubles, six runs scored and seven RBI's. Senior Lyndsy Maus took on the bulk of the responsibilities on the mound, earning all four wins with 23 innings of work, allowing just two runs, one earned on 12 hits for a 0.39 ERA. With a spot secured in the conference tournament Southwestern has set their sights on locking up first place and have the chance to do so this weekend. They face Trinity in San Antonio on Saturday and Sunday, playing two games each day. Both teams sit a 9-1 in the SCAC and whoever wins the most games this weekend will take the #1 seed into the SCAC tourney.

Trinity took three out of four games from Austin College over the weekend, finishing with a 3-3 overall record last week. The Tigers opened with two narrow losses against the University of Houston-Victoria on Thursday, which is the ninth-ranked team in NAIA. Trinity rallied over the weekend to score three straight shutout wins at Austin College, before falling 2-1 in the eight-inning series finale. First-year Caitlynn Dykes broke Trinity’s single season record for RBI, finishing the weekend with a total of 40 this season. She breaks the record of 38 RBI, set in 2008 by Michelle Gossein. Junior Megan Russell tied Trinity’s career record for RBI, collecting the 100th in her career. She has tied Ali Woods (1999-02) for the Tiger record. Trinity will face off against Southwestern University this weekend, with the West Division’s top seed on the line. The Tigers trail Southwestern by one game heading into the four-game series. Last year, Trinity lost all four regular season games against Southwestern in Georgetown, Texas. The Tigers did beat the Pirates in the SCAC Tournament, advancing to the Championship game with the win.

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