Marion's O'Kane to play softball for TSU and other sports news

Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog

Marion County's Erica O'Kane has signed softball scholarship papers with Tennessee State University in Nashville. O'Kane, who played on the varsity at Signal Mountain as an eighth-grader before transferring, played for the 16-under Ball Hawks last summer. Coach Carl Edmondson helped arrange a Thursday visit for O'Kane before the team was leaving for a big weekend tournament in Colorado. "I just fell in love with it," O'Kane said. "It's beautiful. The people were really nice. I was on the visit with some other girls and we got to meet some of the softball players." O'Kane said TSU liked that she could hit and pitch and was versatile enough to also play first or second base. She had an 11-5 pitching record last spring for the Lady Warriors with an ERA of 2.05 in 92 innings pitched. She led the team in batting average at .504 and with 21 doubles. She was second with six homers and 37 RBIs. "She actually started as a freshman for us and got a lot of pitching time," Marion County coach Chris Thomas said. "Her bat has been strong and seemed like it got better over the years. She was close to leading the team in home runs and was up there in RBIs. She's been a major contributor to our program."

Tennis

• Sydney Patton of Simpsonville, S.C., was announced Thursday as a signee for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's tennis team. "Sydney has been one of the top players in South Carolina her entire junior career," UTC coach Jeff Clark said in the Mocs' announcement release. "She has a great tennis future ahead of her and will make our team better." Patton has helped Mauldin High School win three state team championships and is a three-time all-region selection. She is rated No. 2 in South Carolina as a four-star prospect by Tennisrecruiting.net. She represented her state in the USTA Southern Junior Cup in Chattanooga.

Golf

• As had been reported long ago, Lake Johnson of Chattanooga Christian School committed to play college golf for UTC, and he followed through by signing his letter of intent. "Lake can be very special for us," Mocs coach Mark Guhne said in the school's official announcement. "He has been very good as a junior and has a lot of potential. He is not just a great player. He is a good student and a great young man. He is just a really good fit for our team."

Volleyball

• Sonoraville High School's Haley Ponder has been selected to the Georgia Volleyball Coaches Association all-state team in Class AAA. Ponder started for four years for the Lady Phoenix and was a team captain this season. She set a school record for kills in a season with 451 and helped Sonoraville reach a state semifinal for the first time. The Lady Phoenix were 147-45 during her career and 44-2 in Area 6 matches. Her 857 kills rank second in the program's nine-year history. "She really developed into a fantastic leader for us this year," Sonoraville coach Trace Vaughn said. "She's her own biggest critic, so I didn't really have to do a whole lot of coaching her up. She's a great kid and a great student. Being with her so long, it feels like she's one of mine."

• Top-seeded Bryan College plays Reinhardt at 11 a.m. today in the Appalachian Athletic Conference volleyball tournament semifinals at Kingsport, Tenn., and the winner will face Milligan or Union (Ky.) at 4 p.m. for the championship. Bryan, Union and Milligan went 2-0 in pool play with Reinhardt, St. Andrews and eighth seed Tennessee Wesleyan going 1-1. Bryan had a bye in the first round of single-elimination play Thursday, when Milligan topped TWC 3-1 (25-11, 18-25, 25-18, 26-24).

• Coastal Georgia improved to 30-1 overall and 19-0 against Southern States Athletic Conference volleyball competition this season with a 3-0 win over Dalton State in the league tournament Thursday at Montgomery, Ala. Dalton State (15-12, 10-9) continues in pool play today against Brenau and Loyola, La.

Soccer

• Reinhardt University ended the Tennessee Wesleyan women's soccer season at 11-7-1 with a 4-0 win Thursday in the AAC semifinals at Laurinburg, N.C. The second-seeded Lady Eagles (14-3-2) scored all four goals in the first half, two by Lindsey White.

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