Lee University lost to Fresno Pacific for the second year in a row in the championship game of the National Christian College Athletic Association baseball tournament. Top-seeded Fresno Pacific won 6-2 over the second-seeded Flames Saturday in Mason, Ohio, after beating the Flames 5-1 in last year's final. Lee, now an NCAA Division II program awaiting postseason eligibility at that level next year, won the first-ever NCCAA championship -- men's basketball in 1968 -- and won four this school year (men's and women's soccer, men's cross country and women's basketball) in addition to finishing second in baseball and third in softball. Saturday, Fresno (39-18-1) scored a run in the second inning, two in the third on a Steven Lozier home run and three in the fifth with Michael Hostetler stroking a two-run double as part of a 3-for-3 day with three RBIs. Ben Holland's leadoff homer in the fourth and Josh Tate's RBI single in the sixth brought in the runs for Lee (39-19-1), which matched Fresno with 11 hits. Andres Nelo was 3-for-5 in defeat, and Luke Toms, Nathan Wierzgac and Tate each was 2-for-4.
Golf
* With Sean Elliott's runaway medalist performance in the NAIA men's golf tournament this past week making him one of 10 first-team All-Americans in the sport, Dalton State had five All-Americans in its first year of postseason eligibility as a four-year-school athletic program. Elliott joins basketball player Ladaris Green and women's golf national medalist Julia McQuilken as first-teamers, and Sean Tate from the national-champion basketball Roadrunners and Caroline Griffin from women's golf were second-team NAIA All-Americans. Additionally, Dalton State's Jordan Bowling was the MVP of the NAIA men's basketball tournament. Hunter Cornelius from Heritage High School was one of three first-team All-American golfers from two-time national champion Coastal Georgia.
Track & Field
* Chadron State College freshman Damarcus Simpson from LaFayette (Ga.) High School won the NCAA Division II men's long jump Thursday in Allendale, Mich., with a leap of 26 feet, 3 inches. He got to the finals with a 25-11 jump in the first flight of competition and added four inches to that with his first finals attempt. "What I did today came as a huge surprise to me," Simpson said afterward, according to Starherald.com of Scottsbluff, Neb. "I never thought I would jump that far. And when I heard that my second jump was 25-11, I said to myself, 'I can't go any farther than that,' but I did." Simpson won a Georgia state championship with a 23-11 jump as a LaFayette junior and was the state runner-up at 23-9 as a senior.
Basketball
* Ema Plentauskaite from Hamilton Heights Christian Academy signed scholarship papers this past week to continue her basketball career at Roane State Community College. The 5-foot-8 guard from Lithuania played two years for the Chattanooga school, helping the Lady Hawks go 43-22. "Ema is a wonderful person on and off the court," Hamilton Heights coach Keisha Hunt said in a school release. "Ema will be able to step in and make contributions with her 3-point shooting and work ethic." Said Roane State coach Monica Boles: "I love her ability to see the floor and distribute precise passes as well as her ability to shoot the basketball. She is a great teammate and hard worker and has a great knowledge of the game."
Softball
* With four Chattanooga-area players in key roles, Shorter University goes against a familiar foe today at 1 p.m. EDT in the semifinals of the NCAA Division II softball tournament in Oklahoma City. Having already beat Division II's seventh- and 10th-ranked teams, the 24th-ranked Lady Hawks (43-15) have to beat sixth-ranked North Georgia (51-8) and the nation's top pitcher -- NFCA national player of the year Courtney Poole -- but can get two tries at it if needed to reach the championship game Monday. Shorter first baseman Ericka Bynum from Ringgold had two RBIs in each of the first two wins in ASA Hall of Fame Stadium, and shortstop Kendall Johnson is an NFCA all-region player from Gordon Lee. Maddie Bray from Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe and Kalei Kimbrell from Gordon Lee are among the Lady Hawks' top pitchers. The other semifinal pits Dixie State against California University of Pennsylvania.