Tennessee Wesleyan’s Ridge Hoopi-Haslam was honored as player of the year and Bryan’s Kenny Knudsen was the pitcher of the year as the Appalachian Athletic Conference baseball tournament was getting under way in Kingsport, Tenn., and TWC’s Wardy Polanco was newcomer of the year with Bryan catcher Jesus Astudillo the freshman of the year. TWC’s Billy Berry was coach of the year. Hoopi-Haslam led the AAC in batting average (.441), slugging percentage (.901, second in NAIA), hits (71), home runs (14), triples (5) and doubles (22) and drove in 53 runs in the regular season. Knudsen is 12-1 with eight complete games, five shutouts, a save, 96 strikeouts in 84 innings and AAC lows in earned run average (1.07) and opponents’ batting average (.136). The All-AAC first team included those two, TWC’s Polanco (.411, 13 HRs, 52 RBIs), Cody Albright, Logan Longwith and Shell McCain and Bryan’s Langston Calhoun, Preston King and Cody Rhinehart. Bryan’s John Cain, Chris Jeffries, Kevin Roberts and Joey Underwood and TWC’s Jordan Garrett were second-teamers. Calhoun was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI and L.J. Rowden was the winning pitcher with Cain getting a save as Bryan (40-15) edged Reinhardt 4-3 on Monday. Wesleyan (40-10) outlasted Truett-McConnell 5-4 as Polanco went 2-for-3 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored and Chase Edwards added two RBIs. The Bulldogs play tonight at 7 against Milligan, a 7-4 winner over Point. Bryan plays at 4 against Union (Ky.), which beat St. Andrews 9-4.
Softball
* University of Tennessee at Chattanooga junior catcher Anyssa Robles was the Southern Conference softball player of the week and freshman teammate Kailey Palazzola was the pitcher of the week after their parts in winning the regular-season championship. Robles was 6-for-12 with a home run and five RBIs as the Mocs went 2-2, and her two-out, two-run hit in the bottom of the eighth inning in Sunday’s series finale against Samford gave them the title-clinching 4-3 win after two losses. Palazzola pitched all eight innings, allowing four hits and two earned runs with eight strikeouts. She had a save in Tuesday’s win at Middle Tennessee State. UTC is the top seed and host for the SoCon tournament beginning Wednesday at Jim Frost Stadium.
General
* Red Bank High School football player Myles Smith was honored Sunday afternoon as the area FCA Christian athlete of the year. He was one of 19 candidates, all seniors, nominated by area schools. Smith is an all-region lineman who will be continuing his career at East Tennessee State, and his award at the Chattanooga Fellowship of Christian Athletes’ Annual Day of Champions includes a partial scholarship provided by the Maclellan Foundation. Whitwell volleyball player Kennedy Blair, bound for Lee University, also will receive some scholarship money as the runner-up. The Gerry Stephens Influence Award went to longtime FCA volunteers and board leaders Gary and Marseata Lockhart, the Legacy Builder Coaches Award went to Red Bank FCA huddle coach Sarah Spencer and the Jim Sattler Leadership Award went to Richard Hardy girls’ basketball coach Kelby Ferrell. The inaugural FCA Middle School Christian athlete of the year was Lookout Valley’s Alex Spence.
Lacrosse
* The Sewanee men’s lacrosse team drew fourth-seeded Lynchburg in the opening round of the 2015 NCAA Division III tournament and will play the Old Dominion Athletic Conference champion at 7 p.m. EDT Wednesday in Lynchburg, Va. The Hornets are 17-2 and beat Sewanee 25-4 in the first round last year. The Tigers are 11-3 this season and the regular-season and tournament champions of the Southern Athletic Association. They won 10-9 on Feb. 28 over Roanoke, which fell 17-12 in the ODAC tournament final Sunday. The Lynchburg/Sewanee winner will face Otterbein or Aurora.
* The Sewanee women’s lacrosse team received the program’s first at-large bid into an NCAA Division III tournament Sunday. Coach Michele Dombrowski’s Tigers (17-1), who were undefeated until the championship game of the SAA tournament, open Sunday at 1 p.m. against 10th-ranked Washington & Lee at Lexington, Va. The Generals (15-2) edged Randolph-Macon 8-7 for their 16th ODAC championship.
Tennis
* The Dalton State men’s tennis team learned Monday that it got the last at-large spot in the NAIA national tournament May 12-16 in Mobile, Ala., where they will join four other teams from their conference. In their second year of play and first year of postseason eligiblity, the Roadrunners (11-7) were ranked 15th in the final poll. “The guys have invested a tremendous amount of work over the last two seasons,” coach Zach Rogers said. “I am extremely happy to see them rewarded with the opportunity to compete at the national tournament.”
* The 12th-ranked Sewanee women’s tennis team was named Monday one of the eight NCAA Division III regional hosts. The Tigers (17-5) will open play Thursday at 10 a.m. CDT against Agnes Scott, followed by Hanover against Webster. Those winners will face nationally 11th-ranked Washington University and No. 2 Emory on Friday. The regional is set to end Saturday.