SUWANEE, Ga. - The SCAC Softball Tournament is set to begin from Greencastle, Indiana later this week with Southwestern and DePauw earning the top spots and a bye in the first round. The Pirates will face the winner of Rhodes and Trinity while the DU Tigers will square off against the winner of Millsaps and Centre.

- AROUND THE SCAC -

Austin College did not play last week after closing out its season with a record of 15-25, 6-10 in league play. Earlier this past week head coach Edie Fletcher resigned as head coach to complete her Master’s degree and pursue the opportunities associated with it.

Birmingham Southern played one game this week at home, taking on Covenant College, Thursday evening. It was the last home game of the season for the Panthers, and lone senior Melissa Revis was honored in pregame festivities. BSC split with the Lady Scots, winning the first game, 3-0, but losing game two by the same score. The Panthers wrap up the 2011 season this weekend on the road, traveling to face Berry College in a Saturday doubleheader.

Centre played in six games this week. On Wednesday, April 13 the Colonels faced Spalding in a double header in Louisville, Ky. and Centre fell 8-7 in the first game after leading 7-5 heading into the seventh inning. The Colonels came up short in the second game after they made a comeback to tie the game at three all in the seventh inning. Spalding went on to win the game 4-3 in the eighth inning. Centre played in their final regular season conference series on Saturday and Sunday, April 16 and 17. During the double header on Saturday, Centre lost 10-2 and 16-8. The following day Centre was beaten 8-0 and 3-0 by the Tigers. Next up for the Colonels will be a double header against Spalding on Tuesday, April 19 at home in Danville, Ky. with the first game starting at 5:00 p.m.

#19 DePauw posted a 6-0 record with a doubleheader sweep at then #19 Illinois Wesleyan (7-6, 4-3) on Tuesday and a weekend sweep of Centre. The Tigers won by 10-2 and 16-8 scores on Saturday and 8-0 and 3-0 on Sunday. With the sweep over Centre, the Tigers clinched the top seed in the SCAC East Division and improved to 23-7-1 overall with a 10-4 conference record. For the week, DePauw hit .387 with a .542 slugging percentage and outscored the opposition, 48-19. In three games, Amy Hallett hit .556, while Emma Minx batted .478 (11-23) with nine runs, three homers, 11 RBI and a .913 slugging percentage. Emily Bichler posted a 5-0 record with a 2.23 earned run average and opposing hitters batted .242 against her. She recorded two shutouts and added a save. The Tigers belted four homers during the week to push the season total to 29 which broke the school record of 27 set last year.

Hendrix wrapped up its 2011 season with a five consecutive losses on the week.  The Warriors dropped a midweek affair to NCAA D-I cross-town rival University of Central Arkansas, 11-3, in five innings on Tuesday.  Hendrix then suffered a series sweep from Trinity University on Saturday and Sunday to close the year with a 12-27 overall record and 1-15 conference mark.  UCA junior righty Cami Newsome allowed just one hit and struck out six batters in the first three innings to set the pace in an 11-3 mercy-rule win over Hendrix.  Trinity held Hendrix to just nine hits and stole two games, 2-1 and 3-0, on Saturday.  Trinity sophomore righty Colbie Devost fired a four-hit and 11 strikeout complete-game victory in the opener.  Hendrix senior Christina Byler highlighted the first game of the series with a solo homer in the fifth inning.  Tigers sophomore righty Sydney Friday tossed a complete-game shutout in the second game, allowing just five hits and striking out five.  Trinity sent Hendrix packing with two more losses, 6-2 and 8-3, to complete the series sweep on Sunday.  Devost earned her second win of the weekend after tossing six shutout innings in the opener.  Friday also collected her second victory of the series after a complete-game performance in the night cap.  Hendrix sophomore Ashley Halbert suffered her 13th loss of the season in the opener and senior Jaclyn Herrera dropped her 14th game of the campaign in the second contest.  Halbert finished 4-for-7 with one run and two RBI on the day and Byler went 3-for-6.

Millsaps went 3-3 this week, including splitting the final regular season series at Southwestern over the weekend. The Majors opened play with a make-up double header with Mississippi College on Wednesday. The Majors took game one 6-4 before dropping game two 8-6. Over the weekend the Majors traveled to Georgetown to take on the Pirates. Southwestern won game one on both days, 2-0 and 7-0 and the Majors took game two each day, 3-0 and 6-4. Millsaps pitcher Lindsay Drane was the winning pitcher in all three Major wins over the week. She went 18 total innings, allowing seven runs on 19 hits across four appearances. The senior posted a 3.00 ERA for the week, including a 1.64 ERA in game two with Southwestern on Saturday. The Majors will now prepare to take on the 3rd-seeded Centre College Colonels in the second game of the opening round of the 2011 SCAC Softball Championship, hosted by DePauw University. The Majors and Colonels will square off for a noon start.

Rhodes swept a 4 game series from Sewanee, winning 17-0, 20-1, 24-1, and 18-0.  On the weekend, Rhodes broke 11 school or SCAC records.  Sara Bowen picked up her 13th win of the season in game 1, breaking the Rhodes single-season record for wins.  It also gives her 40 wins for her career, eclipsing the mark of 39 wins set by Amy Whitten from 1998-2001. Bowen also tossed the second perfect game of her career and 7th no-hitter, also Rhodes records.  Freshman Jessica Brown's 3 home runs set a Rhodes single-game record, and her 7 RBI in game 1 tied the single game record. In the second inning of game 1, Bowen connected for the 45th double of her career, setting a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference record, and Allison Conn's single in the first inning of game one gave her 57 hits on the season, breaking her own single-season record of 56 hits set in 2010, and she scored her 48th run of the season, setting a Rhodes single season record. On Sunday,  Conn scored 3 times in game 1, giving her 51 runs scored this season, tying the SCAC single season record.  Rhodes win in game 2 gives them 23 on the season, and gives the 2011 Seniors 92 wins in their career, making them the winningest class in Rhodes Softball history. Jessica Brown (3), Courtney Williams (2), Elise Suna (2), Liv Ryan, Kelli Zomer, Sara Bowen, Katie Stich and Amber Hunt all homered on the weekend, giving the Lynx 12 round trippers in the 4-game series.

Sewanee closed out the regular season this week with a pair of wins over visiting Fisk University on Wednesday before dropping four games to SCAC rival Rhodes College over the weekend. Against Fisk, freshman Michelle Thibodeaux picked up both wins in the circle and turned in a 4-for-7 effort at the plate to lead the Tigers to a sweep of the Bulldogs, winning 14-2 in game one and 16-0 in game two. But the Tigers struggled against Rhodes dropping a pair of games each on Saturday and Sunday to the Lynx. Rhodes earned 17-0 and 20-1 wins on Saturday, as Thibodeaux was charged with both losses on the mound. In game two, Kali Ousley was 2-for-2 at the plate to lead the six-hit Tiger offensive attack. On Sunday, the Tigers wrapped up the 2011 season by dropping both games to the Lynx, 24-1 in game one and 18-0 in game two. Thibodeaux was the losing pitcher in both efforts. The Tigers close out the season 4-16 overall and 0-14 in SCAC play. 

Southwestern solidified their spot as the #1 seed in the West by splitting their final regular season series with Millsaps College. Lauren Zearfoss was nearly untouchable on the mound in both games, holding the Majors scoreless in both contests. Fortunes reversed in the second game each day as it was Millsaps that scored early to take the lead and held the Pirates off-balance at the plate. Southwestern won 2-0 and then fell 3-0 on day one and won 7-0 before falling 6-4 on day two. With the split the Pirates move to 27-13 on the year and 13-3 in the SCAC. They will be the #1 seed in the West and receive a first round bye at the SCAC Conference Tournament held in Greencastle, IN this coming weekend.

Trinity swept a four-game SCAC series from Hendrix over the weekend, finishing off the regular season, and earning a 10-6 record in the SCAC. The Tigers are the #3 seed from the West Division, having clinched a spot in the SCAC Tournament last weekend. Trinity will open the SCAC Tournament against Rhodes College on Friday morning at 10:00 a.m., with the winner facing the West’s top seed in Southwestern University. In SCAC Tournament history, Trinity is 4-1 against Rhodes, and 0-1 against Southwestern. The Tigers defeated Rhodes to open last year’s tournament, but later were eliminated by Southwestern. Trinity remains the all-time leader with seven SCAC Championships, winning four consecutive from 1999-02.

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