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Braves and their whoopin' stick win five of six
By Nicholas Kirby
Sports Editor
nkirby I @my. westga.edu
Those who attended
West Georgia’s four-game
series against Lincoln
Memorial last weekend may
have spotted anew addition
to the team in the dugout.
It was not anew player
or anew assistant coach. In
fact, it did not set foot on
the field at all. Its place is in
the dugout. That is where it
brings the team luck.
What was the new
addition?
None other than the
mighty whoopin’ stick.
The stick was found
by third baseman Mary
Carlisle as she retrieved a
foul ball during a game with
Valdosta State in March.
West Georgia took three of
four with the Blazers in the
series, and since then, they
have won 17 of their last
22 games, including five of
their six games last week.
The stick only comes
out when the Braves bat
in conference games, and
it played a major role in
West Georgia winning three
of four with the Lincoln
Memorial Railsplitters last
weekend.
The Braves were
hoping to strike gold when
they traveled North to
Dahlonega on Wednesday
to take on the North Georgia
Saints in a doubleheader.
The dominance of
freshman pitcher Kacie
Crider allowed the Braves’
offense to take a break in
the opening game.
Crider only allowed
five hits and pitched her
seventh complete game
shutout of the year. The
offense did its part, scoring
four runs on 11 hits to give
the Braves the 4-0 win.
The second game
began with West Georgia
scoring a pair in the top of
the first. But North Georgia
had Braves’ starter Alana
Bailey’s number in the
Braves mourn death of
a student-athlete
from staff reports
The University of
West Georgia and the
Athletic Department is
saddened to announce
the death of one of its
family members.
Helena Harbridge,
18, of Toronto, Ontario,
wasdiscovered in Bowdon
Hall by her roommate and
several friends after they
failed to contact her. She
was pronounced dead at
the scene by the Carroll
County Coroner. There
were no signs of foul
play.
According to Chief
Thomas Mackel, director
of UWG Public Safety,
the Coroner’s preliminary
finding is death of natural
causes. An autopsy will
be performed Monday
or Tuesday at the state
bottom of the inning as they
scored five runs on three
hits to end Bailey’s day on
the mound after only 2/3 of
an inning.
Kate Thompson came
in to relieve Bailey, and she
and Saints’ pitcher Dana
Lowery pitched shut out ball
for the next five innings.
With the come from
behind win in their last
at-bat against Arkansas-
Monticello the previous
week still fresh in their
minds, the Braves came to
bat in the seventh hoping
for a repeat performance.
Carlisle began the
inning with an infield
single and scored as Kim
Weaver belted a triple to
right field. Adrienne Clay
followed that with her
fourth homerun of the year
to tie the game at five.
Not satisfied with the
tie, the Braves continued
their assault. West Georgia
w ent on to score four more
times in the inning to take
an insurmountable 9-5 lead.
The Saints had no answer
for the onslaught in their half
of the inning and the Braves
swept the doubleheader.
Lincoln Memorial
came to town on Friday,
and they brought their ace
pitcher Jessica Stewart w ith
them. Coming into Friday’s
opening game, Stewart had
been nearly untouchable.
She came in sporting an
18-7 record with a 1.67
FRA to go along with 167
strikeouts.
The Braves and their
whoopin' stick were not
impressed. West Georgia
knocked Stewart around
the park, scoring five runs
on seven hits to chase her
from the game after only
4 2/3 innings. Included in
the seven hits were a pair
of homeruns off the bats of
Jessie Wise and Clay.
Crider pitched her
second shutout in as many
games, as she allowed only
two hits in seven innings of
work to pick up her 17th
crime lab. If an immediate
finding is not determined,
toxicology testing will
take place and the results
of that testing could take
up to 90 days. Harbridge
wasamemberofthe UWG
women’s golf team and
the team was preparing
to travel today to the
Gulf South Conference
Tournament in Arkansas.
Head Coach Jeff
King allowed the
players to decide if
they would participate
and they decided in a
Monday morning team
meeting to compete in
Harbridge’s memory.
The freshman was
an accomplished golfer
in her short career at West
Georgia. On October
23-24, 2005, Harbridge
competed with the Braves
in the Lincoln Memorial
Fall Invitational. In
win of the year. The Braves
won the opening game 5-0.
Thompson pitched
a gem of her own for the
Braves in Friday’s finale.
The junior picked up her
first shutout of the year in
the Braves’ 4-0 win.
After back-to-back
complete game shutouts,
Crider took the mound
for the first game of the
doubleheader on Saturday
looking for the trifecta.
Lincoln Memorial
hit a pair of homeruns in
the first to give them an
early 3-0 advantage over
the Braves, and they were
not finished. Two innings
later, the Railsplitters Ux>k
advantage of some costly
West Georgia errors and
added four more to take a
74) lead.
The Braves were able
to cut the lead to four in the
bottom of the third, but that
would be as close as they
would get. The Railsplitters
would pick up one more run
for insurance in the top of
the seventh and went on to
win 8-3.
Braves’ head coach
Erika Swanson commented
on the loss after the second
game.
“I don't think we
necessarily played really
badly in the first game. It
just didn’t go our way,”
said Swanson. “Kacie
(Crider) made a couple of
mistakes with her pitching
and (LMU) got a lead,
and we kind of fell apart a
little bit.”
It would be all Braves
in the final game of the
series. Thompson pitched
brilliantly as she threw her
second complete game
shutout in as many days.
The offense did its
part. West Georgia scored
eight runs on 13 hits to win
the game and the series.
The team currently
finds itself second in
conference with a record
of 34-19 overall and 16-6
within the GSC.
two rounds at that
tournament, she shot a
score of 161, winning the
tourney and becoming
the first women’s golfer
at West Georgia to win a
tournament.
In the first spring
tournament of the year at
Montevallo, Harbridge
finished second with a
two-round score of 160.
Members of the
UWG Office of Student
Development were on
hand during the night to
offer grief counseling
for the members of the
golf team, other residents
of Bowdon Hall, and
Harbridge’s friends. King,
other coaches, parents of
members of the golf team,
and Ed Murphy, UWG
athletic director, were also
at Bowdon Hall during
the night to offer support
to the students.
l,f ■.. * * •’ _*** 1.. ........ '
.’jLm .- .. i v
Photo by Nicholas Kirb\
Kate Thompson pitched her first two shutouts of the year last week and lowered her ERA
Photo h\ Paul Lennon
Adrienne Clay hit two big homeruns for the Braves last week.
Softball team sets new
school record for wins
By Nicholas Kirby
Sports Editor
nkirby 1 @my. westga.edu
Hopefully, the West
Georgia record txx)k is
written in pencil.
The softball team has
put together one of the best
seasons in West Georgia
history this year. They have
set anew record for wins
in a season, doing so with
their opening game win
over North Georgia last
Wednesday.
The team also set a
new record for conference
wins when they won the
opening game of the Lincoln
Memorial series on Friday.
In total, the team now
has 34 wins on the year
and 16 in the conference.
Already well past the
previous marks of 29 overall
wins and 13 conference
victories, the team still
BRAVES
@O/7 Park L ickl
vs. Alahanui-Huntsville
Fri 5:00 p.m. (DH)
Sat 12:00p.in (DH)
has eight more games to
improve on their record.
Junior third baseman
Mary Carlisle believes
the team’s chemistry has
played a major role in
their success.
“Everybody’s just
coming together and starting
to play as one now, unlike
in past years,” said Carlisle.
Fellow junior
Jessie Wise echoed her
comments.
“There’s a lot better
chemistry (and) a lot better
attitudes,” said Wise. “We
have a good group of
freshmen that really are
excited to play."
Head coach Erika
Swanson credits the record
breaking season to her
team’s hard work.
“From the very
beginning of the year, they
have just demonstrated a
very strong work ethic and
a willingness to work hard,
and I think it’s paying off,”
said Swanson. "They don’t
do a lot of complaining, and
they just put the time in. 1
think when you have good
attitudes and the will to
work, good things happen.
It's what I like to see.”
Inside
the
Numbers:
number of wins the
Braves have this year ( a
new school record)
3L(S
number of conference
wins the Braves have
this year (also anew
sch<xl record)
SOFTBALL