Dalton State wins SSAC golf
Dalton State won the championship Wednesday in its first Southern States Athletic Conference men’s golf tournament, as the 11th-ranked Roadrunners edged Mobile by two shots, 830-832, with defending NAIA champion Coastal Georgia third at 834 at the Montgomery (Ala.) Country Club. Dalton State’s Sean Elliott passed teammate Levi Nix for medalist honors with a final-round 64 for a 10-under 200. Nix was second at 202 with Anthony D’Angelo tied for 10th (with Coastal’s Hunter Cornelius from Heritage High) at 215 and Chase Jones and Maximilian Bruck sharing 13th at 217.
Led by individual runner-up Chase Cole at 216, the Georgia Northwestern men’s golf team finished second to longtime junior college power Darton in the Region XVII tournament that ended Wednesday at Stonebridge Country Club in Albany. With their 897, GNTC’s Bobcats far outdistanced the only other NJCAA Division III team in the field for a spot in the national tournament the first week of June in Chautauqua, N.Y. Cole’s 4-underpar 68 was the low round of the day, and teammate Jordan Estes joined him on the all-region team with a 69 and a tie for fourth at 220.
Former Baylor School golfer Alyssa Brown had the best score for Centre College in tying for 13th place individually last weekend in the Illinois Wesleyan Spring Fling tournament in Normal, Ill. Brown had a 36-hole 155; Centre was ninth out of 19 teams.
SOFTBALL
UTC will honor softball coach Frank Reed for his 1,000th career victory before today’s 4 p.m. home doubleheader against UAB (26-14, 10-4). Friday, the Moc RBI Club is hosting a celebration cookout open to the public. It starts at 6 p.m. and is free of charge, although donations will be accepted. Another part of the celebration will be a “golden ticket” special for the Mocs’ weekend series against Western Carolina. Tickets for Saturday’s doubleheader cost $8, and each guest if UTC wins the second game can get a free ticket to Sunday’s 2 p.m. game. Reed is 1,001-375 as a college coach, 525-308 at UTC.
Designated player Gretchen Aucoin drove in four runs with two homers and outfielders Tory Lewis and Shaliyah Geathers from Chattanooga were a combined 3-for-4 with two walks at the top of the lineup with four runs scored and two batted in as the 12th-ranked Tennessee softball team won 11-0 in five innings Tuesday night at East Tennessee State. Cheyanne Tarango pitched a one-hitter as the Lady Vols improved to 113-3 all-time against in-state opponents, 79-0 under former UTC coaches Ralph and Karen Weekly. Wednesday at Virginia Tech (2911), the Lady Vols (32-11) won 13-4 with Scarlet McSwain homering twice and plating five runs, Lewis going 1-for-3 with a walk, a hit by pitch, a run and an RBI and Geathers contributing two sacrifice bunts.
Covenant College sophomore third baseman Jordan Brett made the USA South all-conference softball second team for 2015, and Kaitlyn Sirmons was the Lady Scots’ representative on the all-sportsmanship team. Brett leads Covenant with a .438 batting average, four home runs and 33 RBIs and has had 16 multihit games — two with four hits — and a dozen with multiple RBIs.
BASKETBALL
Georgia Northwestern on Tuesday signed Scott Royal from Gordon Lee High School as a Bobcats basketball player for 2015-16. Royal was an All-Region 7-AA selection after averaging 10.7 points and 4.3 rebounds a game this past season, and he averaged 15-points-plus for the Trojans’ last 10 games. “He bloomed right before our eyes this season,” Gordon Lee coach Alex Disbrow said in a GNTC release. “About midway through the season he decided that he wasn’t going to be just a role player anymore or a kid that just came off the bench. He was going to be a starter and produce, and when he did flip on that switch he became one of the best players on our team.” Said Bobcats coach David Stephenson: “He’s an athletic kid that will get on the floor after loose balls. … He’s got great character and he’s a solid ballplayer.”