SUWANEE, Ga. - Four of the six spots have been filled for the 2009 SCAC Softball Championships hosted by Trinity University. DePauw clinched the number one seed out of the Eastern Division after sweeping Rhodes in a four game series over the weekend. The DU Tigers have now won 29 straight regular season SCAC games.
- Around the SCAC -
Austin College took
one of four games in their series against Hendrix over the weekend,
falling 10-6 and 9-6 on Friday before splitting their Saturday
games with a 4-1 loss and a 7-3 victory. On Friday Stefanie Faith
went 3-for-3 with a home run and Suzanne Beltran had a pair of
doubles to bring her season total to 15 two baggers, but six runs
over the final three innings for Hendrix were too much for the
‘Roos to overcome. In game two Faith and Beltran each homered
but the ‘Roos fell in a 7-0 hole early and were unable to
recover. On Saturday the ‘Roos were limited to just six hits,
including a solo homer by Faith in their three run loss but the
team closed out the weekend with a victory behind two RBI from
Faith and a pair of hits each from Bobbi Schulle, Sam Smith and
Robyn Gorton. Gorton also drove in two runs in the win. For the
week, Faith hit .500 with three homers and six RBI and Beltran
drove in five runs for the ‘Roos.
Birmingham-Southern went 4-0 this week, taking all
four games at home against Millsaps. The series marked the last
home stand of the season for the Panthers, so seniors Kayla
Backlund, Erin Glover, and Melissa Muehlenfeld were honored prior
to Friday's doubleheader. On Thursday, BSC won 5-0 and 11-0, and on
Friday won 5-1 and 6-1. In game two on Thursday, Backlund, junior
Jena Franks, and freshman Ashley Bice all went deep for the
Panthers. BSC is now 29-3 on the season, and wraps up 2009 action
this week on the road, taking on Alabama State, Wednesday, and
Hendrix, Saturday and Sunday.
Centre earned a four-game SCAC sweep over Sewanee
this past weekend out-scoring the Tigers 55-3. The Colonels hit
.504 as a team with a 1.23 earned run average while not making an
error all weekend. Centre tallied 61 hits, including 14 doubles,
six triples and three home runs while allowing only 13 hits in 22
innings on the mound with 20 strikeouts and a .171 batting average
against. With Sunday being Easter the two teams played four games
Saturday with Centre winning by scores of 4-1, 26-2, 13-0 and 11-0.
Centre now 8-22 overall and 4-8 in the SCAC will host DePauw at
home this weekend to complete the regular season.
Nebraska Wesleyan got a pair of clutch two-out hits from Kelsey
Worley and Jenna Turner in the bottom of the fifth inning on
Saturday, scoring twice to snap a 2-2 deadlock then holding on for
a 4-2 victory over Colorado College in the
nightcap of a their non-conference doubleheader in Lincoln, Neb.
The PrairieWolves also won the opener, 9-1. The Tigers looked like
they might bounce back in the later contest when Alyssa Kallweit
belted a home run to lead off the first inning. Heidi Shannon, who
had a double in Game 1, then gave CC its second lead of the
afternoon with a two-out single that knocked in Sandy Corliss in
the top of the third. But that’s all Colorado College, now
4-19 overall for the season, could manage on the scoreboard against
two NWU hurlers. Starter Brenna Maguire went six innings, allowing
five of CC’s six hits. Maguire got some help in the top of
the sixth when center fielder Andrea Thorne threw out Shannon at
the plate as she tried to score from second on a single by Sirina
Milsap. Alie Ehrensaft reached base on an infield single to lead
off the Tiger seventh, but reliever Alysia Wittmaack proceeded to
retire Kallweit, Corliss and Paige Honsbruch in order to end the
game. Erica VanHoosen pitched six strong innings for CC, which
stranded seven runners in the loss. VanHoosen, who did not walk a
batter, struck out four while allowing eight singles and a
double.
#16 DePauw won all four games against visiting
Rhodes and extended its SCAC regular season win streak to 29 games.
The Tigers swept Friday's doubleheader by 7-1 and 14-3 scores and
then won on Saturday, 7-0 and 4-3. In Saturday's nightcap, the
Tigers entered the bottom of the seventh trailing 3-2, but Jen
Kosinski's single scored Chelsy Patterson and Brianne Weeks and
gave the Tigers the win. For the weekend, the Tigers hit .387 and
held the Lynx to just .176. Weeks led the Tigers with a .714
batting average (10-14). She scored six runs, had a .929 slugging
percentage and a .714 on-base percentage. Rachel Gill hit .538
(7-13) and her double in Saturday's first game lifted her career
total to 39 and broke the DePauw career record she shared with
Ashley Sewell (2003-06). Gill led the Tigers with seven RBI. Megan
Soultz picked up all four wins to improve to 18-7 on the season.
She pitched 24 innings and recorded 22 strikeouts with just four
walks. In Saturday's doubleheader Patterson and Carolyn Bartlett
both broke the DePauw career record for games played and started as
each has played in and started all 156 possible games.
Hendrix went 3-1 this
week after a four-game weekend series against SCAC western division
foe Austin College. The Warriors improved to 18-15 overall and 9-7
in conference play. Hendrix swept the Roos in a 10-6 and 9-6
doubleheader on Friday night before splitting the final two games,
4-1 and 3-7, on Saturday. The Warriors were led by first year
standout Liz Vaughan at the plate this week. She posted an
impressive .800 (8-for-10) batting average, 1.200 slugging
percentage and .833 on-base percentage. Vaughan drove in four runs,
scored five times ad tagged two doubles and one triple on the week.
Vaughan walked twice and didn't strike out once all week. She led
the Warriors defensively as well after going 2-0 in two complete
game performances and improving to 9-2 overall. Vaughan scattered
17 hits, allowed seven runs (all earned), walked four and struck
out three batters.
Millsaps (12-19, 5-7 SCAC) was on the wrong end of
a weekend sweep at Birmingham-Southern this past weekend, as the
Panthers improved to 29-3 overall by outscoring the Majors 27-2 in
four games. Amanda Berry and Erica Douglas grabbed five hits apiece
to pace an offensive attack that was held in check by BSC pitchers,
with Douglas and Karoline Kremers driving in the lone runs.
Millsaps will wrap up its regular season this week, hosting MS
College in a pair of makeup games on Tuesday before traveling to
Sewanee for a four-game set April 18-19.
Rhodes dropped 4 games to Depauw by scores of 7-1,
14-3, 7-0 and 4-3. Rhodes finishes the SCAC regular season with an
11-5 record and 26-10 overall record. Rhodes will play Williams
Baptist and Central Baptist this weekend in preparation for the
SCAC Tournament. Junior designated player Rebekah Moore was 5 for
12 with a double and 3 RBI on the weekend.
Sewanee put up a fight in the first two games of
Saturday's marathon day at Centre, falling 4-1 in the tight
contest. The Colonels topped the Tigers 26-2. In the late
doubleheader, Centre took both games from Sewanee with 13-0 and
11-0 wins in Danville. Senior Audrey Jernigan had three hits on the
day and also scored three times. Sewanee is now 0-18 overall and
0-11 in SCAC play. The Tigers will host Fisk University in
non-conference doubleheader action on Friday. The first game is
scheduled to start at 1 p.m.
Southwestern softball had a big week that
propelled them into first place in the SCAC conference. The Pirates
took on Trinity on Friday and Saturday for a four game series. SU
took game one in big fashion, winning 8-0 in six innings and
scoring in every inning but one. Kaitlyn Pavlicek threw a one hit
shut out of the Tigers to take the game one victory. In game
Trinity put two runs up in the fifth inning to take a 3-2 lead that
they would not relinquish and evened the series at one a piece.
Sunday, both teams came alive at the plate as a back and forth
contest fell the Pirates’ way and SU won 10-9, despite the
six Pirate errors in the contest. In game two Southwestern went
back to their consistent hitting and fielding and scored nine runs
while only allowing one to take the game 9-1 and series 3-1 to
capture first place. SU heads to Colorado College for their final
weekend of regular season conference action beginning on
Saturday.
Trinity lost three of four games at Southwestern
this weekend, though the team still has control of its own destiny
to qualify for the SCAC Tournament. The Tigers currently stand in
second place in the SCAC West Division, and will conclude the
regular season at home this weekend against Austin College. Trinity
needs to split the series to advance to the tournament, which will
be in San Antonio. After dropping the opening game of the series
8-0, Trinity bounced back with a 4-2 win to split the first day of
action on the SCAC weekend. Southwestern came from behind late to
start the second doubleheader with a 10-9 win, then the Tigers lost
the finale 9-1 on Saturday. Jamie Williams hit over .400 for the
weekend, collecting her 183rd career hit, which places her second
in SCAC history behind DePauw’s Rachel Gill. Gill broke the
SCAC record of Katherine Womack of Hendrix earlier this season, and
Williams surpassed Womack’s total over the weekend. Karen
MacPherson also hit over .400 during the four games, scoring six
runs and stealing two bases as well. MacPherson, who broke
Trinity’s single season record for steals earlier this year,
is now tied for second in SCAC history in stolen bases for a single
season with 28. The record is 38, set by Breezy Hughes of Hendrix
in 2001.
To view the entire Fast Pitch Weekly for week 9, click here