Women’s tourneys end today at HSV
HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE — The Women’s Southern Golf Association champion here today may lack name recognition. But with past winners including PGA Tour stars Stacy Lewis and Lexi Thompson, give her time.
College players from SMU and Georgia square off in a scheduled
18-hole final today at the Granada Course. Top seed Lindsey McCurdy, of Liberty Hill, Texas, faces No. 11 seed Gabriela Coello, from Winter Garden, Fla., and originally from Venezuela.
McCurdy won 6 and 5 over No. 5 seed Lauren Hartlage (Elizabethtown, Ky.) and Coello 5 and
4 over No. 2 seed Elizabeth Bose (Norfolk, Va.) in semifinal matches Thursday. Earlier, McCurdy survived 1 up against No. 8 Marisa Marquez (Amarillo, Texas) and Coello won the 18th hole in a 2-up quarterfinal against No. 3 Kaylee Benton (Litchfield Park, Ariz.)
McCurdy and Coello tee off at 8:30 a.m, 10 minutes after Fort Smith’s Tanna Richard and Susan West (Tuscaloosa, Ala.) square off in the WSGA Mid-Amateur final, also on the Granada course.
West prevented an all-Arkansas final when she defeated Julie Ox-
endine, of Dover, 2 up in the semifinals. Richard, an Arkansas state champion before and after marrying fellow golf star Ron Richard, went 19 holes in her afternoon match agaisnt Dallas’ Liz Scaggs.
Oxendine rolled past Dallas’ Carolyn Creekmore 6 and 5 in her morning quarterfinal, Richard advancing with a 3-and-2 triumph over Laura Carson (Vero Beach, Fla.)
Both amateur finalists defeated Atlantic Coast Conference players in the afternoon round, McCurdy prevailing over the 2017 ACC Freshman of the Year (Hartlage) from Louisville and Coello against an incoming junior (Bose) at Virginia Tech.
McCurdy set a school-record scoring average of 72.18 strokes in her recently completed senior year at SMU. She reached the U.S. Women’s Amateur quarterfinals in 2015, her only college-tournament victory coming that year as a Mustang sophomore.
The 5-3 Coello just finished her freshman year at Georgia, her victory over Bose coming against the reigning Women’s Eastern Amateur champion. — Bob Wisener
Lakeside’s West signs letter with Arkansas JC
Three weeks after teammate Race Tittle signed with the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Lakeside’s Carter West ensured himself of playing baseball at the collegiate level on Wednesday.
West signed a National Junior College Athletic Association letter of intent to play for North Arkansas College in Harrison.
West batted .222 with six extra-base hits, 13 RBI and a teamhigh 22 walks in 28 games this season. His potential as a power hitter was on full display in a matchup with crosstown rival Hot Springs.
West sent a towering home run to right field in Lakeside’s 14-4 rout, one of only two home runs for the team all season.
Primarily an infielder, West also made three appearances on the mound, finishing with a 1.75 ERA, six strikeouts and just one walk.
West will join a North Arkansas squad that finished 16-18 but posted a team batting average of .276 while scoring slightly more than five runs per game.
Along with Tittle and 2016 graduates Erick Aguirre and Brandon Hall at Arkansas Baptist, Kyle Lightsey at Southern Arkansas and Jon Youngblood at Henderson State, West is the sixth player to sign a college letter in Lakeside coach Leighton Hardin’s two seasons at the helm.