Lighthouse Lookouts win national title and other sports news

Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog

The Lighthouse Lookouts/Athletic Shop men's slowpitch team from Chattanooga won the 50-plus major division in the 2014 Softball Players Association Winter National Championships last weekend in Pensacola, Fla. That was after going 0-2 in pool play and being seeded sixth out of the six teams in bracket play. Managed by Rex Elmore, the Lighthouse Lookouts edged Langston Painting from Birmingham 16-15 and nipped Adiktiv Sports, a major-plus team, 21-19 before outslugging defending champion Doc C's of Pensacola 41-36 in the winners-bracket final. In that win, Rodney Waters and Mark Talley each went for 5-for-5, Waters with two home runs, and Bobby Adams, Kevin Highsmith, Jeff Jones, David Reynolds and Stacy Powell each was 4-for-5. In both that game and the 30-26 championship defeat of Doc C's, after a 22-20 loss in the first final, the Lookouts' Van Shumaker ended the contest by fielding a ground ball, stepping on second base and throwing to first for a double play. He also was 4-for-4 with two homers in the finale, when Mike Wood was 4-for-4, Highsmith was 4-for-5 with three homers and Adams and Art Pendergrass each was 4-for-5 as well. Six Lookouts made the all-tournament team: Wood with a .864 tournament average and six homers, Waters with a .778 and 11 homers, Adams and Talley each with a .714, Highsmith with a .704 and nine homers and Shumaker with a .679 and seven homers.

Volleyball

• Covenant College lost a five-set match to visiting Piedmont in a USA South volleyball match Wednesday on Lookout Mountain. The Scots were ahead 2-1 heading to the fourth set, but lost 25-22, 14-25, 19-25, 25-21, 15-13. Ginny Moore led the Covenant on both offense and defense, making 23 kills and getting 24 digs in the loss, and Schulyer Moore had her fourth career triple-double with 13 kills, 30 assists and 18 digs.

• Megan Gorey had 16 kills and Lexie Bradley and Megan Wadsworth combined for 20 as North Alabama beat Lee University 3-0 in Gulf South Conference volleyball Tuesday night in Florence, Ala. Lauren Williams and Latrice Johnson paced Lee (7-16, 4-9) with six kills each, Johnson adding 11 digs. Haley Foote had 19 assist and 10 digs and Stephanie Hernandez had 14 digs.

• Brenau won 3-1 in Southern States Athletic Conference volleyball Tuesday at Dalton State, despite 12 and 11 kills and 11 and 12 digs by the hosts' Alyne Bianchi and Anna Metzler and 39 assists and 11 digs by Michala Askew. Karly Newman had 21 digs, Tori Pierce had 13 and Metzler served four aces in the 25-21, 15-25, 25-18, 25-20 defeat. Brenau is 13-9 overall, 7-5 in the SSAC. DSC is 10-9, 6-6.

• Bryan College won 3-0 at Point while Tennessee Wesleyan lost 3-1 at home to Reinhardt in Appalachian Athletic Conference volleyball Tuesday. First-place Bryan (20-4, 11-0) won 25-17, 25-15, 25-22. TWC is 7-17, 4-7 after falling 25-14, 21-25, 25-16, 25-19 to the third-place Lady Eagles (14-8, 8-3).

• Rachel Harper from Boyd-Buchanan had 17 kills and 23 digs and fellow senior Kristen Pickett from Cleveland High School had 40 assists and 14 digs as Carson-Newman set a program record for South Atlantic Conference wins in a season in a 3-1 victory Tuesday night at Tusculum. The Eagles are 19-4 overall, 14-1 in the league.

Basketball

• The Chattanooga Area Basketball Club will have its fall league finals tonight at East Ridge High School, beginning with the fifth-place game at 6. The third-place game is set for 7, the championship game for 8.

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