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By Michael MacEachern The Savannah College of Art and Design swept a Florida Sun Conference softball doubleheader from Warner Southern College April 23, 3-1 and 9-0 (five innings), at Daly Field in Lake Wales, Fla. The Bees improved to 31-15 overall and to 14-2 in the conference. The 31 wins are the second most in the 14-year history of the softball program at SCAD. Only the 2000 team won more; their record was 33-11. The Bees are now off until May 12-13, when they host the four-team, double-elimination NAIA Region XIV Championship at the Paulson Softball Complex. SCAD took a 1-0 lead in the second inning of the opener as Whitney Hess doubled and later scored on Jamie Smith’s single. The Bees added two more runs in the fourth. Jessica Sciulli was hit by a pitch and came around to score on Cristina Morgado’s double. Morgado, who had a stolen base in the doubleheader to push her total to 56, later scored on Charity Graham’s single. Morgado eclipsed the school career record of 53 stolen bases held by Larissa Stec (2000-03) in one season. Morgado is 12 stolen bases shy of the NAIA single-season record of 68. Warner Southern got a run in the fifth on an RBI triple, but the Royals got no closer. Sarah Areheart, named Florida Sun Conference Pitcher of the Week, pushed her record to 13-7 as she limited Warner Southern to just three hits. The Bees scored six runs in the second inning of the nightcap and never looked back. Sciulli drove in two runs on a double, while Morgado’s triple scored two more. Christina Queen and Graham each drove in a run. SCAD added a run an inning later on an RBI double by Brittany Kelley, who went 2-for-2. The Bees closed out the scoring with two runs in the fourth. Areheart and Kayla Timulak, named Florida Sun Conference Player of the Week, had back-to-back RBI doubles for SCAD. Kerri Lewis scattered four hits as she improved to 6-1 on the season. Hess went 2-for-3 for the Bees, who had nine hits in the second game. SCAD claimed its second Florida Sun Conference title of the year as the Bees swept a conference doubleheader from Webber International University 1-0 and 10-6 April 22 at Nancy Nichols Park in Babson Park, Fla. The first game was a pitcher’s duel as the teams combined for seven hits. The only offense came with two outs in the top of the fourth inning when Timulak smacked the first of two home runs on the day to center field to give the Bees the 1-0 victory. Areheart allowed just three hits while striking out 10. The Bees jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning of the nightcap as they took advantage of two Webber International errors. Timulak drove in a run with a sacrifice while Kelley, who went 3-for-4, added a run-scoring single. The Warriors scored a run in the second on a double before the Bees got the run back in the third on Timulak’s sixth homer of the season. Webber International rallied to score three times in the bottom half of the inning and took a 4-3 lead. SCAD tied the game at 4 in the fourth on a single by Graham, who went 2-for-5. The Bees took the lead for good an inning later at 5-4 on Kelley’s fourth home run of the season. SCAD tacked on runs on Sciulli’s double and Queen’s single to take a 7-4 lead. Sciulli and Queen each had two hits in the second game. The Bees, who collected 15 hits in the nightcap, added some insurance with two runs in the sixth and one more in the seventh to take a 10-4 lead. Hess, who went 2-for-4, drove in a run in the sixth on a double, while Kelley added an RBI single. In the seventh, Morgado singled and stole second before scoring on Graham’s single. Alex Alcott (3-0) picked up the win for the Bees in relief, as she didn’t allow a hit in three innings of work. Baseball team fights ‘Battle for Savannah’ Three Savannah State University pitchers struck out 17 as the Tigers defeated Savannah College of Art and Design 7-2 in a non-conference baseball game April 26 at Grayson Stadium. The NCAA Division I Tigers improved to 20-15 to capture the inaugural “Battle for Savannah” trophy. The Bees dropped their sixth consecutive game and fell to 22-30. SCAD concludes the regular season April 30 with a 1 p.m. doubleheader against Faulkner University at Chain Field. Savannah State starter Eric Alvarez (4-0), Josh Wagner and Sean Griffin combined to strike out 17. Alvarez allowed the Bees just two hits and struck out 11 — six of them looking — in 5 1/3 innings. The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the first off SCAD starter Matt Barker (4-5). Savannah State added another run in the fourth. SCAD cut the lead in half to 2-1 when Adam Honeycutt’s ground-out scored Ryan Strefling, who had reached on an error. The Tigers put the game out of reach with two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to take a 6-1 lead. Savannah State added a run in the seventh on an RBI single. The Bees rallied for one run in the top of the ninth as the Tigers committed two errors in the inning and had the bases loaded. Chase Gilbert hit a laser to center field to end the game. St. Thomas University swept a Florida Sun Conference baseball doubleheader from SCAD 9-3 and 9-1 April 23 at Esposito Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. The Bobcats improved to 33-17 overall and to 14-7 in the conference, while the Bees fell to 22-29 and 7-14. Alex Pascual’s 2-for-4 effort with four stolen bases and five RBI led St. Thomas in the first game. His two-run double in the second inning gave the Bobcats a 3-0 lead. He drove in two more in a four-run fourth that gave St. Thomas a 7-1 lead. He added an RBI fielder’s choice in the fifth. Sean Smith had two of the hits for SCAD. Eddie Anderson (3-9) allowed seven runs (three earned) in four innings. Gilbert, Strefling and James O’Connell each drove in a run for the Bees. O’Connell was the only player for the Bees with more than one hit off St. Thomas starter Armando Fernandez (4-3), who struck out seven. O’Connell went 2-for-3. SCAD scored its lone run in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Strefling. St. Thomas sent 20 batters to the plate in the fifth inning as the Bobcats scored 14 times en route to a 19-5 victory over SCAD April 22. The Bees had taken a 4-0 lead into the top of the fifth before St. Thomas turned eight hits, five walks and two hit batsmen into 14 runs. The Bobcats tied the game at 4 on a two-run homer off SCAD starter Barker (4-4) and took the lead for good on a two-run triple. Smith, O’Connell, Josh Eastwood and Casey Allen each had two hits for the Bees, who had 11 hits in the contest. Smith, O’Connell, Allen, Honeycutt and Nathan Hagar each drove in a run for SCAD. Golf teams rank in Top 25 SCAD’s ranking in the NAIA Men’s and Women’s Golf Top 25 Ratings remained unchanged in the polls. The women’s team, which finished third at the NAIA Region XIV/Florida Sun Conference Tournament April 17-18, remains ranked 17th. The men’s team, which finished fifth at the same tournament, remains ranked No. 23. The women learn May 5 if they earned an at-large berth to the NAIA National Championship, which will be held May 17-20 in South Bend, Ind. The men find out if they earned an at-large berth to the NAIA National Championship, which will be held May 24-27 in Olathe, Kan. Tennis teams remain ranked SCAD’s men’s and women’s tennis teams remained in the same positions in the latest NAIA Top 25 Ratings. The women’s team, which is a school-record 15-4 after advancing to the championship match of the 2005 NAIA Region XIV Tournament April 17, remained at No. 11, while the men’s team, which is 8-9 after losing in the quarterfinals of the tournament, remained at No. 20. Both teams find out May 11 if they earned an at-large bid to the 2005 NAIA National Championship, which will be held May 16-20 in Mobile, Ala. MacEachern is sports information director at SCAD. |
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