SUWANEE, Ga. - Southwestern rolled through conference action this weekend, sweeping Hendrix College at home to improve to 17-12 overall and 7-1 in the SCAC. The Pirates along with the Panthers of Birmingham-Southern are the only current teams in the SCAC that have won at least 17 games over the past four seasons.

- AROUND THE SCAC -

Austin College had a busy week going 4-4 in eight contests. The ‘Roos dropped a pair of games against Hardin-Simmons before bouncing back to split a pair of games against Howard Payne in non-conference play. Austin College went into the weekend with a huge SCAC series with Dallas picking up three of the four games. It was a tight series with three of the four contests being decided but a single run. The ‘Roos return to the diamond at home against Trinity starting Friday evening.
 
Birmingham Southern shut out Rhodes in all four games this weekend on the road, winning both games on Saturday in eight innings and then winning 10-0 and 3-0 on Sunday. Senior Ronni Ferris led with 4 RBI and was also 2-0 in the circle with 18 strikeouts. Freshman Bethany Fronk was also 2-0 with 8 strikeouts. For the season, senior Ashley Bice leads the Panthers hitting .373 (31-83), and she and freshman Taylor Bassett lead with 15 RBI each. Bassett leads with 4 home runs. BSC has out-scored its opponents so far this year 100-44 and out-hit them 200-138. The pitching staff owns a 1.36 combined ERA with nine shutouts and 126 strikeouts. The Panthers return home this weekend to face Centre in a four-game series, Friday and Saturday.

Centre went 1-3 on the week in four conference games against Millsaps. The Colonels dropped both ends of a doubleheader Saturday losing 8-4 in eight innings and 8-0 in five innings. After waiting through a rain delay, Centre won game one Sunday 4-2 before falling 12-6 in game two. The Colonels, now 8-13 overall and 1-3 in the SCAC will travel to Birmingham Southern this weekend for a four-game series.
 
Dallas softball team (9-19, 1-7) had a tough weekend picking up one win in the four game series against conference rival Austin College. Two of the Crusaders three losses where by a single run in a series that was separated by a total of just eight runs in the four games. Dallas returns to the diamond with another four game conference series this weekend against Hendrix.  

Hendrix opened SCAC play by being swept in a four-game series at Southwestern. The Pirates took game one on Saturday by the score of 6-3. Sophomore second baseman Catelyn Gibbs had two hits and a stolen base. In game two, the Warriors erased a four-run deficit in the top of the seventh to keep the game alive, but the Pirates scored in the bottom of the frame to win 8-7. Sophomore right fielder Tiffany Hubbard recorded two hits, including a double and drove in two. Junior third baseman Paula Burr also had two RBI. On Sunday, Southwestern won the first game 5-2. Burr recorded two more hits, including a triple and stole a base. The Pirates concluded the series with a 8-0, one-hit shutout in six innings. Gibbs came up with the Warriors’ only hit. This week, Hendrix will host Dallas in a four-game series beginning Friday.

Millsaps Team traveled to Danville, Ky. as they took on the Centre Colonels in a four game series. On Saturday, the Majors survived an exciting eight-inning game as they pulled away to take an 8-4 win before returning in Game Two and blowing out the Colonels 8-0 in five innings. The following day, with bad weather looming throughout the day, Millsaps fell 4-2 to the Colonels before returning to win series with a 12-6 win. Junior Megan Yglesias had a huge day, going 4-for-5 with three RBIs and three runs scored. Sophomore Caroline Thompson was also big for Millsaps as she went 4-for-5 with two runs scored. Senior Allison Tarbox also added two RBIs. In the second game, Millsaps jumped out to a 8-0 lead after one inning. Sophomore Molly Tyner would have been fine with only one as she dominated in the circle, pitching all five innings while giving up three hits and striking out one to earn the win in a convincing way. Yglesias added two more RBIs to her day as she went 1-for-3 for the day while Thompson, Christian, and Birdwell each had two hits on the day. The following day, Centre rallied from two down with C three in the fifth inning and added one more in the sixth to salvage a game, 4-2. Millsaps responded though with a huge 12-6 win highlighted by back-to-back home runs by Yglesias and Tarbox. The Majors pitched sophomore Katie Birdwell, sophomore Molly Tyner, and junior Emily Collins in the win. Birdwell took the win for the Majors in the contest. Yglesias was great for the second straight day as she finished a combined 5-for-8 again with four RBIs and two runs in the two combined games. Hewitt added a 4-for-7 day with two RBIs while Thompson was 4-for-9 with a RBI and three runs scored. Millsaps sits at 9-17 on the season and is 4-4 in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. The Majors return to action this weekend as they welcome in the Sewanee Tigers to the Millsaps Softball Complex.

Rhodes had a tough weekend going 0-4 on the week falling in all four games against SCAC foe Birmingham-Southern. The Panthers held the Lynx scoreless in all four games. Rhodes, 12-11-1 overall, will return to action in two weeks after taking Easter Weekend off to face Millsaps in a four game conference series.

In its only contests of the week, Sewanee swept Rust College 18-2 and 8-0 last weekend. The Tigers were led by freshman Kayla Sewell and sophomore Michelle Thibodeaux. Sewell finished the afternoon with five runs driven in while Thibodeaux retired the first 14 batters in the nightcap. Overall, Sewanee will briefly return to action at home with a pair of games against Fisk Tuesday. The Tigers will then head on the road against Millsaps this weekend.

Southwestern rolled through conference action this weekend, sweeping Hendrix College at home to improve to 17-12 overall and 7-1 in the SCAC. The Pirates scored six runs in the middle innings of game one, posting 11 hits to win 6-3. Game two the bats remained strong for SU as the Pirates recorded 17 hits to take a 7-3 lead into the seventh. Hendrix put together a big rally to even the score 7-7 heading into the bottom half of the inning. With two outs Taylor Turpin reached safely with a single and was brought home for the game winning run on a double to right field by Amanda Ambrose.  On Sunday Southwestern celebrated senior day, the first class to graduate in the young program. The Pirates were determined to send their seniors off with a good feeling and did just that winning 5-2 in game one and 8-0 in six innings in game two. SU remains at home to face Schreiner on Friday for two games.

Trinity did not play this week, as its only scheduled games at Concordia (TX) were cancelled. The Tigers have won seven consecutive games, and are leading the SCAC West Division with a 4-0 conference record. Trinity is 17-7 overall, having won 11 of its past 13 games. Trinity will resume SCAC play this weekend, heading to Austin College for a four-game series. The Tigers swept a four-game series from Austin in San Antonio last year, but went 2-2 the last time these teams met in Sherman, Texas.

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