SUWANEE, Ga. - Defending SCAC Champion Southwestern opened up their 2011 conference campaign with a four game sweep of Hendrix this past weekend finding themselves atop the Western Division. The Pirates were led at the plate by Amanda Ambrose posting five hits for a .455 batting average that included two home runs, three runs scored and three RBI's.

- AROUND THE SCAC -

Austin College went 3-3 on the week, splitting a doubleheader with the University of Dallas before taking two of four from Millsaps College in their SCAC opener over the weekend. The ‘Roos fell 9-8 in their first game against UD before responding with a 19-3 victory as Sam Smith belted three homers with 10 runs batted in during the doubleheader and finished with 13 RBI for the week. Against Millsaps, the ‘Roos took a 7-6 extra innings victory in their first game against Millsaps before falling 13-1 in game two. In the final doubleheader of the weekend, Stefanie Faith hit a walk off two run homer to give Austin College a 6-5 win, but in game two a pair of errors in extra innings opened the door to a three run eighth inning, giving the Majors an 11-8 win. Faith hit .571 with three homers, three doubles and nine RBI on the week and Smith hit .429 and added a pair of doubles. Brianna Slawson hit .600 with two doubles, a homer and three RBI while Sam Matulis went 2-1 on the mound during the week. With nine runs batted in this week, Faith needs just six more to tie the SCAC single season record of 51 and 10 more to tie the SCAC career mark of 158.

Birmingham Southern went 7-1 this past week, all on the road, with doubleheader sweeps of Covenant College and Millsaps College, and a 3-1 showing against Centre to open conference play. After opening the season 1-4, the Panthers have turned it around and won 11 of its last 12 games. BSC has out-scored their opponents more than three times over, 135-46, and out-hit them 167-113. Against Covenant, sophomore Chelsea Fernandez hit the team's first home run of the season; the Panthers ended up hitting six home runs this week. The BSC pitching staff, which consists of only two players, has an ERA of 1.91 with four shutouts and 93 strikeouts and an opponent batting average of .247. The Panthers return home this weekend to face Rhodes College in doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday.

The Colonels were suppose to play Asbury on Wednesday, March 16, but the game was cancelled due to weather. Centre then hosted conference opponent Birmingham Southern on Saturday and Sunday, March 19 and 20. During the two days of play the Colonels went 1-3, falling 9-1 before winning 3-2 in eight innings on a walk-off homerun on Saturday and on Sunday Centre lost 6-5 and 16-0 in five innings. Next up for the Colonels will be a double header against Mount St. Joseph on Wednesday, March 23. Centre is currently 6-6 on the season and 1-3 in the SCAC. 

#7 DePauw went 5-1 for the week including a 3-1 mark in SCAC games at Rhodes. The Tigers opened the week with a sweep at Manchester by 12-2 and 10-2 scores. They then lost the first game against Rhodes, 5-2 before taking Saturday's nightcap, 8-1. Sunday's sweep at Rhodes was by 14-3 and 15-0 scores. For the week, DePauw hit .416, averaged 10.2 runs per game and hit 10 homers. The Tigers had a .668 slugging percentage over the six games and a .466 on-base percentage. Opposing hitters batted just .213 and averaged 1.8 runs per game. Jen Kosinski paced the Tigers with a .650 batting average (13-20) with nine runs and 16 RBI. Rachel MacBeth hit .565 and scored a team-best 10 runs, while Haley Buchanan hit .500 with a team-high five homers. Emily Bichler posted a 5-1 record with a 2.00 ERA as she started alll six games in the circle and completed four. For the season, MacBeth has hit safely in all eight games.

Hendrix had a tough week on the diamond posting a record of 1-5. The Warriors split a pair of non-conference games with Rhodes earlier in the week before being swept by Southwestern in the first conference action of the year. Hendrix played three tight games against Southwestern losing by a total of just four runs before getting knock in the final game of the four game series 10-0. Senior Jaclyn Herrera paced the Warriors from the plate posting a .333 average with six RBIs, five hits including two home runs and scoring four runs. Hendrix returns to action Tuesday as the Warriors face Westminster on the road.

Millsaps went 2-4 this week with a pair of wins over Austin College in Sherman. Birmingham-Southern came to Jackson on Wednesday and took two from the Majors 5-2 and 10-1 before the weekend series with the 'Roos. The Majors won game two both days, 13-1 on Friday and 11-8 in 8 on Saturday. Sam Wursteisen drove in four on three hits in Friday's win, including two doubles. The Majors got six runs in the first on Saturday to take control early, but the 'Roos battled back to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings. Two Austin errors coupled with two Major hits drove in three in the top of the eighth to put the Majors up for good. Millsaps will return home this weekend for a three-game set with Hendrix starting at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday and concluding with a double header at noon on Sunday.

Rhodes posted a 4-4 record this week, splitting a doubleheader with Hendrix in non-conference action, then sweeping a twinbill from the University of the Ozarks.  Rhodes defeated Hendrix 7-1 in the first game before falling in game 2 10-0.  Behind another strong pitching performance from Sara Bowen, the Lynx topped Ozarks 1-0 in the first game, then came from 6 runs down in game 2 to earn the 9-7 win in 8 innings.  The Lynx then opened SCAC play with a 5-2 win over #6 DePauw, before dropping the final 3 games of the series 8-1, 14-3, and 15-0.  Rhodes will travel to Birmingham Southern this weekend for a 4-game series.

Sewanee did not play this week. The Tigers are currently 2-0 on the season and will face Judson in a doubleheader in Sewanee March 23rd.

Southwestern opened up SCAC Conference action over the weekend, facing Hendrix College in Conway, Ark. The Pirates saw two close games on day one, narrowly winning 4-2 and 4-3. In game one SU found themselves tied with the Warriors through five innings despite ending with twice as many hits as Hendrix. One run in the sixth and another in the seventh inning gave Southwestern the breathing room they needed to secure the win on defense. In game two the Pirates needed extra innings to win the ball game. Southwestern scored the game winner on Kayla Irvin's single in the eighth and played strong defense to pull out the win. It was a close one once again in game one on day two. Both teams pushed three runs across the plate in the second inning but it was the Pirates who scored one in the sixth. Irvin once again had a key hit, starting the sequence with a lead off single to left. With momentum on their side Southwestern unleashed a flurry of hits in game two and never trailed, using a steady stream of runs to mount and maintain the lead, winning 10-0. The Pirates sit at 16-10 on the year and return home for non-conference action against the University of Dallas on Saturday.

Trinity was 2-2 in four road games last week, getting swept by UT-Dallas on Thursday, but sweeping a doubleheader from the University of Dallas on Saturday. First-year pitcher Colbie Devost threw a perfect game (five innings) to earn the win in the opening game against Dallas. For Trinity, it marks just the fifth perfect game ever thrown, and the 11th overall no-hitter thrown by a Tiger pitcher. Already the career leader in steals at Trinity, junior outfielder Karen MacPherson broke the conference record for stolen bases last week, and currently has 70 steals in just 77 attempts. A busy weekend is coming up for the Tigers, who will play six home games this week. Trinity hosts Hardin-Simmons on Friday, followed by a four-game weekend series against Austin College. It will be the SCAC openers for Trinity.

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