Athletics

Pirate Baseball Brings the Heat

Starting pitcher, sophomore Brantley Freeman, was named to the 2009 CoSIDA ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District baseball second team for his outstanding sportsmanship and his 3.93 GPA. Freeman helped the Pirates close out the season with a fourth place finish in the SCAC.

Lady Pirate Golfers Above Par for Third Year Running

For three years in a row the SU women’s golf team has placed first in their conference, the NGCA All-West Region, and for each of those years Coach Dan Ruyle has been honored as Coach of the Year. There are 10 available positions on the NGCA All-West Region Team; four of those positions were filled by SU women’s golf team members: Marisa Mauldin ’09 and juniors Emily Bartholet, Kristen Davenport and Cody Wallace. Sophomore Victoria Dominguez earned the honor of selection to the SCAC Women’s Golf All-Sportsmanship Team.

The team’s outstanding conference ranking led them to the NCAA Championships in Port St. Lucie, Fla., the week after final exams. The team finished the tournament in fourth place. Mauldin earned third place individually. Mauldin and Bartholet were named to the NGCA Division III All-American First Team.

First Year’s a Winner

In its inaugural season, the SU women’s softball team performed like a seasoned team, finishing in first place in the SCAC West Division with a record of 9-3. Their high placement brought the team to the SCAC Conference Tournament where they finished the season with an overall record of 19-16.

Coach Angela Froboese was named a 2009 SCAC Coach of the Year. First-year student Kaitlyn Pavlicek (pictured) was named to the first team All-SCAC Softball team. Receiving all-conference honorable mentions were junior Katelyn Gola and first-year students Taylor Turpin and Blair Wallace. Turpin was also the recipient of the SCAC All-Sportsmanship award.

Athletics Scoreboard

Baseball: Named to the 2009 All- SCAC Baseball team were pitcher Wes Willis ’09 and catcher Michael Murphy ’09. Willis had the best ERA at 3.54, most wins with six, and led Southwestern in complete games with four, including a complete game shutout against conference rival Trinity University. Murphy led Southwestern at the plate with a .367 batting average, 55 hits, a .493 slugging percentage and doubles with 13, including three in one game against Austin College. Murphy was also named to the first-ever SCAC All-Sportsmanship team.

Men’s Golf: Finished in sixth place at the SCAC Championships, held in Tunica, Miss.

Track: Five new school records were set at the SCAC Championships, where the Southwestern men placed eighth and SU women placed seventh.

Tennis: The women’s tennis team finished seventh and the men eighth at the SCAC Championship Tournament.

Swimming: Jessie Carrier ’09 was Southwestern’s first Academic All-American. Both the men’s and women’s teams received All-American Team Awards. The women had the fourth highest GPA in all of Division III. Interim Head Swimming and Diving Coach Nicole Kaupp and Interim Assistant Coach Scott McLean were named to the 2009 SCAC Women’s Coaching Staff of the Year.

Leadership: Glada Munt, associate vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics, was named the 2008-09 Under Armour Athletics Director of the Year for the Division III West Region.

New Athletics Staff: Southwestern announces Dan Carrington as its new head swim coach for men and women. Dan Mulford is the new assistant lacrosse coach and Bill Bowman is a volunteer assistant lacrosse coach. Megan Hardin is the new sports information director.

New Web Site: This summer, SU Athletics launched its newly redesigned Web site: www.southwesternpirates.com. New features allow fans to follow and support the Pirates in a variety of ways: follow the department on Twitter or Facebook, purchase photos or shop for Pirate gear with a portion of the proceeds going to SU Athletics.