Lee University's first-ever NCAA Division II regional softball game was a 7-4 victory Thursday afternoon over third-seeded Alabama-Huntsville at Saint Leo, Fla. UAH (41-16) was the regular-season champion of the Gulf South Conference, which had six of the eight teams in the South Region tournament. Trailing 4-3, the sixth-seeded Lady Flames (34-18) scored four runs in the fourth inning, featuring a two-run double by Annabeth Pruett and a Stevie Baird squeeze-bunt RBI, and freshman pitcher Taylor Moran (12-5) retired UAH's last 12 batters. She allowed three hits and one run, unearned, in her 5 1/3 innings of relief. Kayla Louie was 2-for-3 and scored twice, Baird was 2-for-3 with a walk and Courtney Crawford, Moran and starting pitcher Leigh Beatenbough each was 2-for-4 for Lee, which plays North Alabama at noon today. Freshman Abby McKinney from Ringgold, who singled in Baird for the first run of the game, is the NFCA Division II South all-region first-team designated player. That was based on her .340 batting average, 45 RBIs and 25 runs in the regular season.
Golf
- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has added an All-Big East golfer from St. John's University to its women's recruiting class for 2017-18. The junior transfer is Kirsty Beckwith, a native of Alwoodley, Leeds, England, whose 76.16 scoring average this past season was fourth best in the Big East. She won the Quinnipiac Classic by nine strokes, was a runner-up three times in her other eight tournaments and finished ninth in the conference tournament. Beckwith represented England in the 2014 U18 Nations Cup and was a 2016 WGCA All-American Scholar. UTC coach Colette Murray said in a school release that Beckwith was a "really solid player coming out of England a few years ago. She didn't have a great freshman year (at St. John's) but was really, really good as a sophomore. She wants to be in a more competitive environment and feels like we can provide that. I believe she can really help us."
- Dalton State freshman SM Lee from Buford, Ga., is one of five finalists for the 2017 NAIA Jack Nicklaus player of the year award presented by Barbasol. Lee won four tournaments in the 2016-17 school year and has finished no lower than sixth in nine events. He leads the NAIA in adjusted stroke average and was the Southern States Athletic Conference player of the year. Nicklaus awards are presented annually in all three divisions of the NCAA as well as the NAIA and the NJCAA, and this year's five winners will compete June 3 in the Barbasol Shootout in Columbus, Ohio, for a spot in the PGA Tour's Barbasol Championship July 20-23 at Opelika, Ala. Dalton State will play in the NAIA national tournament beginning Tuesday at TPC Deere Run in Moline, Ill.
- The fifth-ranked Dalton State women were among the 30 participating teams officially announced for the NAIA national tournament May 23-26 at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. First- and second-round pairings will be revealed at 4 p.m. EDT today at www.naia.org. DSC automatically qualified as the SSAC tournament champion.
- Led by Meghan Symonds in 24th place individually at 232, Sewanee is 10th out of 22 teams at 959 after three rounds in the Division III national women's tournament at Bay Oaks Country Club in Houston. The Tigers' Natalie Javadi from Chattanooga is at 242, and Sophie Morrill is at 245 with Sarah Battye and Mary Elizabeth Benton at 247.
Track & Field
- Dalton State sophomore Emily Poole from Heritage High School is the SSAC track and field scholar athete of the year. She is a criminal justice major with a 3.88 grade point average on a 4.0 scale, and she broke her SSAC meet record in winning the 5000-meter run in 18 minutes, 27 seconds at the 2017 conference competition. She ran an 18:01 at the Austin Peay Invitational. Poole is a two-time SSAC champion and All-American in cross country. Said DSC coach Dee Goodwin: "Emily is the perfect example of a disciplined scholar athlete. She never misses a practice and has the same work ethic in the classroom."
Fishing
- Bryan College's Nathan Bell and Cole Sands were in fourth place and UTC's Gavyn Bridges and Dylan Anderson were seventh after the first day of the Carhartt Bassmaster College Eastern Series regional on Cherokee Lake at Jefferson City, Tenn. The two duos caught 14 pounds, 13 ounces and 13-4, respectively, on Thursday. Tennessee Tech's Sam Carris and John Berry took the lead with 15-8, and Bethel had three of the top five boats. Bryan's Jacob Foutz and Jake Lee were 15th out of 160 with 12-3.
Lacrosse
- Despite four goals and an assist by Peter Brown, Sewanee lost 14-12 at Lynchburg in a storm-interrupted Division III nationals men's lacrosse match Wednesday. Hayden Hunt scored three goals for Sewanee (10-7), and Selby Austin made 10 saves.
General
- Seven of UTC's 14 varsity sports had perfect 1,000 Academic Progress Rate scores for 2015-16, according to an NCAA release Wednesday, and nine beat the national average. All 14 were well above the NCAA minimum of 930. UTC women's basketball, women's tennis, women's cross country and women's track and field completed four-year compilations of 1,000, and volleyball, men's golf and men's tennis had multiyear 995, 993 and 980 scores, each with its third 1,000 going back to 2012-13. Football's multiyear score moved up to 978, the second best for the sport in the Southern Conference.