After starting the season 0-23, the third-year Covenant College softball team wound up making it to the National Christian College Athletic Association national tournament in West Palm Beach, Fla., and three Lady Scots earned All-America recognition.
Pitcher Chelsea Krafft from Southeast Whitfield High was a first-team NCCAA All-American, and former Dade County athletes Christine Core and Kim Cuticchia were second-team choices. All three were Mid-East all-region.
Core led the Lady Scots with a .348 batting average in the regular season and then went 15-for-30 in the region and national tourneys, and she stole 19 bases. Cuticchia hit .276 in the regular season, stole 11 bases and led the team in fielding percentage at .985 while making 176 putouts and throwing out nine would-be base stealers. Krafft pitched 187 of the staff’s 264 innings, struck out 145 batters and had a 3.44 earned run average with 12 wins as the Lady Scots wound up 13-31.
Kelley all-tournament
Chattanooga State’s Leah Kelley’s four home runs in onsecutive at-bats the first day of the NJCAA Division I softball nationals led to all-tournament status for her.
The seventh-ranked Lady Tigers wound up seventh, eliminated by the Wallace State team from Hanceville, Ala., that finished second to Miami Dade.
Lady Flames ousted
The second-ranked Lee University softball team lost 7-6 after leading by four runs against Trevecca Nazarene in the game Monday that decided their pool winner in the NAIA softball tourney in Decatur, Ala.
That put the Nashville team instead of the Lady Flames (57-5) in double-elimination play, and the Lady Trojans lost 3-1 late Monday against Shorter.
Emily Clements was 2-for-3 for Shorter’s Lady Hawks (51-14) in that game, after former LaFayette High teammate Charlsie Broome had an RBI in their 2-1 final win in pool play.
Lee leadoff batter Savanna Bell went 3-for-4 with four RBIs and Hernanza Ruiz hit a homer as the Lady Flames went up 6-2, but Trevecca scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and three in the seventh with the help of an error. Lady Flames starting pitcher Johana Gomez was also their fourth pitcher, as Brittany Balough relieved her after a single in the seventh and was followed by Sara Mitchell and Gomez again. Trevecca (44-16) scored the winning run on a squeeze bunt.
Caitlin Haley was 2-for-4 and matched Krista Goodlet with two runs for Lee.
Lee’s and Tennessee Wesleyan’s baseball teams open play Friday in the NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho. Lee faces Lubbock Christian; TWC meets Embry-Riddle with that winner taking on Cumberland.