Jags Open 2015 Auburn Regional on Friday
The 22nd ranked South Alabama Jaguar softball team will participate in their fourth-consecutive NCAA Regional starting on Friday in Auburn.
The Jags (38-11) will face Southern Conference regular season and tournament champion Chattanooga (35-13) on Friday at 3pm at the 2015 NCAA Auburn Regional. It will begin the double-elimination event which will send one winner to face the winner of the Lafayette Regional.
SEC Tournament champion and 4th ranked Auburn (49-9) will play Tennessee Tech on Friday at 5:30pm. The winners of both Friday games will meet at noon on Saturday for the first slot in the final. A pair of elimination games will be held at 2:30pm and 5pm to determine who will advance to the final as well.
Ahead of the Regional action, the Jags had two players named to the 2015 National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division I All-Region on Thursday.
Sophomore designated player Chloe Rathburn was named to the second team while freshman right-handed pitcher Kalen McGill was named to the third team.
The awards honor softball student-athletes from the Association’s 10 regions with first, second and third team selections for each region. The teams were voted on by NFCA member coaches from each respective region and all the honorees will be eligible to be selected to one of three 2015 NFCA Division I All-American teams that will be announced on May 27.
Jag Baseball Hold Steady at #29 In Latest Collegiate Baseball Poll
The University of South Alabama baseball team hold steady at #29 in the latest Collegiate Baseball Poll released on Monday after taking two out of three from Louisiana-Lafayette over the weekend.
In game one, Kevin Hill continued his excellent pitching with his ninth consecutive win by allowing only five hits with eight strikeouts and only three walks to extend his scoreless streak to 15 consecutive innings. He faced the minimum over the final four innings to give the Cajuns their first shutout loss of the season.
In game two, righty Ben Taylor earned his sixth win of the year with 2 2/3 innings of relief by allowing one run on one hit with three strikeouts and a walk.
Austin Bembnowski threw six innings and allowed just one run on six hits with five strikeouts and a pair of walks in a no-decision.
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fifth inning when the Cajuns scored the first run of the game. Joe Robbins led off the inning with a single to left field and was advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt. Then a one-out single up the middles scored Robbins.
The Cajuns would load the bases later in the inning with two outs, but Bembnowski would work out of the jam with an inning-ending strikeout to minimize the damage to just one run.
In the top of the sixth, the Jaguars answered with their first run of the game. Ben Gann hit a double to the right center gap with one out. He was advanced to third on a one-out single to left field by Bud Collura. Then Adam Ballew hit an RBI single to right field to drive in Gann and tie the game at 1-1.
In the top of the seventh, the Jaguars earned their first lead of the game after Jared Barnes reached on a one-out single to center field, and advanced to second on a wild pitch then moved to third base on a pinch-hit single to right field by Danny Martinez. Ryan Raspino followed with a sacrifice fly to right-center field to score Barnes for a 2-1 Jaguar lead.
The Cajuns would answer in the bottom half of the inning on a suicide squeeze bunt.
Read more
Jaguar Softball Travels to Auburn for the 2015 Auburn Regional this Weekend
The South Alabama Jaguar softball team learned their destination on Sunday at Heroes Sport Bar and Grill during their NCAA Selection Show gathering. | Photo credit: usajaguars.com
The 23rd ranked South Alabama Jaguars road to the championship this season goes through Auburn as announced on the NCAA Selection Show on Sunday.
On Sunday evening the Jaguars found out that they were selected to participate in the NCAA Auburn Regional this weekend, May 15-17 and that they will face the national #4 seed Tigers, Chattanooga and Tennessee Tech.
This will be the Jaguars fourth appearance in the NCAA Regionals in as many years after earning the SBC automatic bid with their third title in four years. Previously the Jaguars participated in the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional in 2012 and 2014 and hosted the 2013 Mobile Regional, which was a first for the program.
USA (38-11) will open play on Friday against Chattanooga at 3pm.
Auburn (49-9) won the Southeastern Conference Tournament title on Saturday with a 6-5 extra innings defeat of 11th ranked Tennessee in the championship game.
Chattanooga (35-13) defeated USA 3-1 at the South Alabama Invitational on February 20, won its 13th Southern Conference Tournament title last weekend with a 3-1 win over Mercer.
Tennessee Tech (32-26) won it’s seventh Ohio Valley Conference Tournament title last weekend as well with a 3-2 win over top-seeded Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.
The winner of the Auburn Regional will advance to the Super Regional and will face the winner of the Lafayette Regional which features the 13th seeded Cajuns (39-9), Baylor (38-14), Mississippi state (35-19) and Weber State (38-17).
All games this weekend will be broadcast on the SECNetowrk+ and WatchESPN.com. Links directly South Alabama games will be provided by the USA Softball Schedule page as they are made available. More information about the tournament including tickets can be found at the 2015 NCAA Auburn Regional Tournament Central website.
Jaguars Win 2015 Sun Belt Conference Championship
Photo credit: sunbeltsports.org
The Jaguars had to play an extra game on the way to the Sun Belt Conference Championship Game, but in the end the Jags fought through and defeated the 10th ranked Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns for the trophy.
On Friday, the Jags faced Louisiana-Lafayette in the Championship Play-In game in San Marcos, Texas. Though the Jaguars got on the board first with two runs in the top of the first inning, the Ragin’ Cajuns answered back with six unanswered runs from five home runs, the most allowed by USA since March 24, 2007 as they lost to the 10th ranked Cajuns 6-3.
The Jags, then facing an elimination game against Georgia State for the right to face the Cajuns again for the winner-take-all Championship Game played spectacularly against the Panthers.
Emily Messer got on base with a single to start the game then scored on Chloe Rathburn’s single to left field to take an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.
In the fourth inning they doubled their lead after Messer tripled to center field which scored sophomore center fielder Amanda Minahan after she led off the inning with a bunt single.
USA added a third run to their total after Stephanie Pilkington hit a one-out single to center field then was brought home by Kaitlyn Griffith’s double.
In the top of the sixth inning, Georgia State loaded the bases after Farish Beard hit the leadoff hitter, followed by a Jag fielding error and a hit into shallow right field for the Panthers first and only hit of the game.
Beard responded by striking out the next batter looking, but Lauren Coleman lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to score the only run for the Panthers.
Beard would then retire the Panthers in order in the top of the seventh inning to seal the game as the improved her season record to 11-4 with a complete game victory after striking out four with four walks and allowing an unearned run on one hit.
The Championship Game was a battle of two heavyweights.
Jag Softball Set To Face #6 Seed UL-Monroe This Evening
The first day of the Sun Belt Conference Softball Championship completed on Wednesday which also concludes the single-elimination portion of the tournament.
Now the Jaguars know who they will face today.
In Game 2 of the Tournament, #6 seed UL-Monroe defeated #7 defeated UT-Arlington 6-1 to advance to game 4. Then, in Game 4, ULM used their momentum from the first game to defeat #3 seed Texas State, and tournament host, 3-0.
In the first game today (Game 5) #1 seed UL-Lafayette will face #5 Georgia State who defeated #8 Georgia Southern 8-0 in game 1 and #4 Troy by a score of 9-3 in Game 3. First-pitch is scheduled for 2PM in San Marcos, Texas.
In game 6, the second game of the day, the #2 South Alabama Jaguars will face #6 seed UL-Monroe. First-pitch is scheduled for 5PM in San Marcos, Texas.
The losers of Games 5 and 6 will move to the losers bracket and will face each other on Friday in Game 7 at 11AM. Meanwhile the winners will continue to advance in the winners bracket to face each other in Game 8 on Friday at 2PM.
Finally on Friday, the winner of Game 7 and loser of Game 8 will face each other to determine who will advance to the Championship game to face the resulting team from the winners bracket (Game 9).
Jags Softball Earn #2 Seed in 2015 SBC Tournament Bracket
The #22 ranked Jaguar Softball team will begin play in the 2015 Sun Belt Conference Tournament on Thursday, May 7 at 5pm in San Marcos, Texas after drawing a #2 seed for the tournament which earns them a bye for the first two rounds of the tournament.
The tournament will use both a single elimination and double elimination format to determine the confernece’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The first day will be single-elimination then, beginning on day two, will begin the double-elimination format. All nine teams who sponsor softball will be eligible to compete for the tournament title.
Beginning with the games on Friday, May 8 they will be televised on ESPN3 (11am, 2pm), the loser bracket game on Friday at 5pm and the Championship on Saturday at 1pm will all be televised on ESPN3.
The seeding for the tournament:
- UL-Lafayette
- South Alabama
- Texas State
- Troy
- Georgia State
- UL-Monroe
- UT-Arlington
- Georgia Southern
The Jags will play either UL-Monroe, UT-Arlington or Texas State in Game 6 of the tournament on Thursday at 5pm.
Jaguar Baseball Enters Collegiate Baseball Poll
After sweeping the then league leader Georgia State and following that up with a sweep against the then #2 team in the league on the road in Georgia Southern and moving their way into the top spot in the conference, the Jaguar baseball team has finally entered the Collegiate Baseball NCAA Division I poll.
On Monday, when the poll was released, the Jaguars had finally appeared at #29.
USA (32-17, 17-7 SBC) carries a seven-game conference winning streak into the week and have won nine of their last 10 conference games. This is the first time they have been ranked nationally since the final rankings in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Poll of 2013 where they were in 30th place.
The Jags will travel to Louisiana-Lafayette (30-17, 14-9 SBC) for a three-game conference series against the third place team in the conference. In addition to leading the conference entering the week, they also lead the conference in batting average (.285), ERA (3.33) and fielding percentage (.975).
Hill Earns Three Weekly Awards For His Performance Against Georgia State
Kevin Hill struck out a career-high 15 batters as he carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning in a complete game shutout of league leading Georgia State Friday night. His 15 strikeouts were the most since P.J. Walters’ 15 in 2006. | Photo Credit: John Adams usajaguars.com
Right-hander Kevin Hill has earned three weekly awards this week after he carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning in a one-hit shutout with a career-high 15 strikeouts against league leader Georgia State.
The game was his seventh consecutive win of the season and his second complete game of the year. He also retired 16 consectutive Panther batters from the third to the eighth inning in the game.
His 15 strikeouts were the most by a Jaguar pitcher since P.J. Walters’ 15 against Georgia Southern in 2006.
On Monday, he was named the Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. Hill is the first Jaguar to earn this distinction since Jake Overstreet did in March 2010.
On Tuesday, Hill earned two more weekly awards after he was named the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Week.
In eight starts this season Hill has a 7-0 record with a 2.22 ERA, 66 strikeouts, 21 walks, two complete games and one shutout in 56 2/3 innings pitched. He leads the conference in strikeouts entering the week as well.
Pete Tolbert Night of Champions Honors Jaguar Student-Athletes
Photo credit Press-Register/Victor Calhoun
South Alabama honored student-athletes Monday at the sixth annual Pete Tolbert Night of Champions at the Mitchell Center. The event recognizes the achievements, both in competition and academically, of the nearly 400 individuals who comprise the University of South Alabama athletics program.
Kaitlyn Griffith (Softball from Centre, AL) and Daniel Leitner (Men’s Tennis from Neiderfischbach, Germany) were named the Jaguar Female and Male Student-Athlete of the Year respectively, honoring the most outstanding Jaguars based on scholarship, athletic ability and citizenship.
Griffith, a senior shortstop for the softball team is hitting .296 with a team-high 11 home runs, with 38 RBI, 25 runs scored and helping the team to a 33-9 record thus far and a top-25 national ranking throughout the 2015 season. She is a three-time National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-America Scholar Athlete and is set to receiver her degree in May in exercise science. She has a 3.82 cumulative GPA.
Leitner, a senior, is the reigning two-time Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year in men’s tennis. He earned the award this spring after amassing a 28-5 overall record in singles play and a 22-6 record in doubles play. He was named to the first-team All-SBC in both singles and doubles, and as the highest-rated individual in the conference, will earn a berth to the NCAA Singles Championships in May. He will graduate with a 3.89 GPA in exercise science in May.
A pair of Griffith’s teammates on the Softball team also earned awards.
Farish Beard was chosen at the school’s NCAA Woman of the Year Nominee with Blair Johnson earning the Jimmy Taylor Scholarship.
Beard, who currently has a 3.39 GPA, was selected as the nominee for that goes to a varsity letterwinner completing her intercollegiate eligibility by the end of spring sports season, who has excelled in academics, athletics, service and leadership with a minimum of a cumulative 2.5 GPA. She is also a finalist for both the Senior CLASS and 2014 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year awards. This season she is 9-3 with a 2.37 ERA with 87 strikeouts in 71 innings.
Johnson earned the award going to a student-athlete who holds a minimum of a 2.5 GPA, has completed their NCAA eligibility and with the assistance of the fund will graduate from USA within two consecutive semesters. She has earned All-SBC honors twice during her career and this year she is batting .254 with 12 extra-base hits, 25 RBI, and 14 walks to only eight strikeouts.
Sophie Haywood from Hull, England, earned the Auralia Crowell Freshman Scholar Athlete Awards given to the most outstanding freshman based on excellence in academics and athletics. She was named First-Team All-Conference after posting 19 points on seven goals and five assists in helping the Jaguar soccer team tow in the conference title and advance to the NCAA Tournament. She has a 4.0 GPA as an exercise science major.
Adam Ballew of the baseball team was awarded the Denny-Gottfried Scholarship Award that is presented to the student-athlete who has exhausted their eligibilty, maintained an outstanding GPA and achieved athletic accomplishment. In his final season at USA, he has helped the Jaguar baseball team to a 29-16 record thus far while batting .275 with five extra-base hits, 26 RBI and eight stolen bases. He is an exercise science major with a 3.38 GPA.
Derek Westbrook from Diamondhead, MS, received a pair of awards. He arned the Shirley Holt Scholarship Award as well as the Male Jaguar Athletic Fund Award. The former is given to a student-athlete who exemplifies outstanding “Team Spirit” and who has shown great character and concern for his or her fellow student-athletes. The latter recognizes overall support of Jaguar Athletics. Both awards exemplifies Derek’s contributions to South Alabama Athletics and also marks the second-consecutive year that he has garnered the JAG Award honors.
Caroline Beebe earned the Female Jaguar Athletic Fund Award. Which marks the second consecutive year that both she has earned the JAF Award as well.
Hunter Colemani was awarded the Tom and Barbara Corcoran Scholar-Athlete Endowed Scholarship Award which is given to a USA Junior who most excels in sports while maintaining at least a 3.0 GPA. The right handed pitcher has a 4.0 GPA in biomedical sciences in the classroom while on the diamond he has a 1-0 record with a 0.59 ERA with 14 strikeouts and 15.1 innings of work.
Jimmie Gipson III was awarded the Wilson Durgin Memorial Scholarship Award which goes to a minority student-athlete who has excelled in both the classroom and competition. Nikki Gittens was awarded the Female Perseverance Award after she suffered a stress fracture in her tibia that forced her to redshirt in 2013, she then returned and ranked third on the volleyball team with 243 kills and led the team with a .250 attack percentage and 83 total blocks while helping the Jags qualify for the SBC tournament despite tendinitis in her knee and hitting shoulder.
Ucambre Williams earned the Male Perseverance Award after undergoing three separate surgical procedures and requiring over six months of rehabilitation. After surgery on his right knee in September he returned in just 15 days and would go on to start 11 consecutive games while posting a team-best 90 percent overall grade and being named to the second-team All-SBC and helped the Jaguars play in its first-ever postseason bowl game.
Brandon Bridge was awarded the Mayer Mitchell Quarterback Endowment Fund Award as the Jaguars starter last fall. Matt Bolger earned the Clifton Inge Endowed Baseball Award. David Knapp earned the Forrest W. and Beverly B. Crowder Endwoed Scholarship for baseball. Mark Watts earned the McKinney Family Endowed Scholarship Fund for Track and Field. Emily Newton earned the George Smith Memorial Endowed Scholarship Fund for Track and Field as well.
Assistant Athletic Director for Ticket Operations Greg Keel was selected for the Matt Smith Award which goes to a member of the athletics staff who consistenly goes the extra mile, has the spirit of commitment, a strong work ethic, and a deep sense of pride in their job. The award is named in memory of former USA Sports Information Director Matt Smith who passed away in December of 2004.
Each sport program also presented awards at the event. The winners of those honors were:
- Eddie Stanky Award (baseball), Bolger
- Goldie Ungar Heart of Gold Award (men’s basketball), Dionte Ferguson
- Jaguar Women’s Basketball NCAA Award (women’s basketball), Breanna Hall
- Female Distance Award (women’s cross country), Nicole Durham
- Male Distance Award (men’s cross country), Christoph Graf
- Jim Yance Heart of a Jaguar Award (football), Jesse Kelley
- Heath Slocum Award (men’s golf), Tyler Klava
- Beth Barry Award (women’s golf), Ingrid Hagen
- Lindsay Rogers Award (soccer), Alyssa Mayer
- Extra Mile Award (softball), Stephanie Pilkington
- Lubel Family Award (men’s tennis), Leitner
- Marilyn Lubel Award (women’s tennis), Laura Matuskova
- Most Outstanding Women’s Track & Field Student-Athlete Award (women’s track and field), Kaitlyn Beans
- Most Outstanding Men’s Track & Field Student-Athlete Award (men’s track and field), Jan-Louw Kotze
- Jaguar Volleyball Award (volleyball), Gittens
Prior to the naming of the Jaguar Student-Athletes of the Year, 46 current and former student-athletes who will graduate at the conclusion of the semester received gifts from the department.
Congratulations to all the award winners as well as all of the student-athletes who will earn their degrees. Thank you for representing the University in each of your respective sports with honor and character. Once a Jaguar, always a Jaguar.
Jags Weekend Review
Jags baseball complete a weekend sweep of first-place Georgia State while softball team split a pair of games with North Dakota State. Here’s the rundown.
Softball
The #21 ranked Jaguar softball team split a pair of games against North Dakota State over the weekend after the first of a scheduled doubleheader on Saturday was cancelled due to weather conditions.
On Friday night the Jags dropped a 7-3 decision to the Bison at Jaguar Field. In the opening inning both teams traded a pair of runs. Then the Bison pushed across a run in the top of the third inning to take a 3-2 lead over the Jaguars.
Then in the top of the fifth inning Amanda Minahan tied the game with her fifth home run of the season. But in the top sixth inning the Bison would score four runs to take control of the game.
Farish Beard suffered the loss to fall to 8-3 on the season after allowing seven runs (all earned) on six hits in five innings with eight strikeouts. Kalen McGill threw two innings of scoreless relief and only allowed on hit.
Emily Messer and Stephanie Pilkington each went 2-for-4 with Messer scoring the first run of the game and Pilkington had an RBI.
Chloe Rathburn was 1-for-3 with an RBI.
The lone game on Saturday was weather-delayed and cancelled one of the two that was scheduled for the day.
The Bison took the lead in the top of the first inning when they pushed three runs across. The Jags answered in the bottom half of the inning with two runs when Rathburn and Amanda Herron each drew bases-loaded walks.
In the bottom of the second inning the Jags tied the game at 3-each after Messer got on base with a one-out infield single followed by Kaitlyn Griffith’s RBI single through the left side of the infield.
The Bison regained the lead on a solo homer in the top of the third inning.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Griffith drew a one-out walk followed by Chloe Rathburn’s homer to put the Jags on top 5-4. Later in the inning Blair Johnson picked up an RBI by driving Minahan in with a single to right field to extend their lead to 6-4.
In the top of the seventh inning, the Bison tied the game up again with a two-run homer. The Jags went down in order in the bottom of the sevening sending the game to extra innings.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Jags loaded the bases when the Bison intentionally walked Messer. Haleigh Foster came in to pinch hit and ended up walking in the game-winnign run for the Jaguars.
Messer finished the game going 3-for-4 with two RBI. Johnson went 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI. Griffith finsihed 1-for-2 with a run scored and an RBI.
Farish Beard (9-3) got the win in 5 2/3 innings of relief and allowed a pair of runs (both earned) on three hits with four strikeouts and a walk.
The Jags (33-9) will travel to Troy for the final regular season Sun Belt Conference series of the season ahead of the Sun Belt Conference Championships to be held in San Marcos, TX.
Baseball
The Jaguar baseball team completed a three-game weekend sweep of Conference leading Georgia state.
Read more