by Charissa Ricker | May 1, 2019 | News Slider, Sports, Student Spotlight
Jordan Fortel is no stranger to overcoming obstacles in her softball career, but despite her unconventional journey to Lipscomb and her recent injuries, she continues to pull through for her team as both a hitter and pitcher. Fortel is halfway through her senior season at Lipscomb and is leading the team in multiple-hit games, hitting streaks and a reached base streak of 35. “This season has been great so far,” Fortel said. “I think we’ve gotten off to a really great start, and I’m excited to see where we go from here.” Her college softball career has been nothing shy of success. She was named 2017 TCCAA Pitcher of the Year and D1 Softball and ASUN Pitcher of the week for her no-hitter game against Ole Miss last year. She has quickly become a key player for the team, but she hasn’t always been a Bison. “Lipscomb is actually the third school that I’ve attended,” Fortel said.” I’ve only been here since last year when I transferred. I kind of had some connections here, and it just worked out. It’s been a good journey.” After attending the University of Tennessee Chattanooga for a year, Fortel moved closer to her home in Greenville to attend Walter State. “I was led by the Lord to leave UTC, and it just wasn’t working out,” Fortel said. “I’ve ended up in a lot better situations.” She grew up playing travel softball with junior Hannah Duvalt, and with only one year of eligibility at Walter State, Fortel made the move to Lipscomb. “This community is just so much different than communities I’ve been a...
by Charissa Ricker | Apr 17, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb baseball team beat the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders 12-10 Tuesday night in a nail-biting game at Dugan Field. Middle Tennessee (15-22, 9-6 C-USA) started the game with two runs in the top of the first, but the Bisons (19-17, 3-6 ASUN) quickly took the lead in the bottom of the second. David Graves tripled to right center, sending Josh Martinez to score. Brian Moore hit a home run afterward, sending Graves home and giving Lipscomb the edge to start third inning, 3-2. Lipscomb’s lead didn’t last long, as Middle Tennessee scored five runs in the top of the third. However, the Bisons lessened the gap to 7-5 as Graves hit a double in the bottom of the third inning, sending Cade Sorrells home, later followed by Chris Bashlor. The fourth and fifth innings were scoreless for the Bisons with Middle Tennessee scoring two runs in the top of the fourth, but the Bisons recovered and scored four runs at the bottom of the sixth, tying up the game 9-9. In the bottom of the seventh the Bisons took the lead 11-9 after three scoreless innings for Middle Tennessee. While the Blue Raiders tried to make a comeback at the top of the eighth with one run, they struck out, leaving Lipscomb the chance to score once more before the ninth inning. Despite the Blue Raiders’ strong lead in the third inning, Lipscomb was able to gain some momentum that led to the win. “When Max Habegger came in in the fifth inning, he gave us three scoreless innings,” Lipscomb coach Jeff Forehand said. “When he came in,...
by Charissa Ricker | Apr 16, 2019 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider
Lipscomb University invited donors of $1,000 or more annually to a night highlighting innovation on Monday. The fourth annual IMAGINE event featured special musical performers Dr. Wintley Phipps and Natalie Grant and guest speakers Mark Cleveland and Walter Isaacson. IMAGINE serves as a celebration of Lipscomb’s achievements and has also been the platform of several big announcements for the university, such as a $23 million donation at last year’s IMAGINE. This year’s focus was Lipscomb Leads, the $250 million fundraising campaign. Student body president Sierra Sparks shared with the guests the 200,000 hours of service students have pledged to contribute to the Lipscomb Leads campaign. After a performance by Phipps, Lipscomb alumnus and CEO of Hytch Mark Cleveland was welcomed to the stage. Lipscomb is a huge supporter of the rideshare app, and Cleveland shared with the donors his vision for the company and the innovative steps it’s taking. “We have a strategy to protect our cities by taking pressure off our infrastructure,” Cleveland said. “We are on a mission to reward people for reducing their carbon footprint every time they share a ride with Hytch.” Cleveland said that he wanted to be a part of the Lipscomb community because he wanted to join a group of problem-solvers. He joked about getting an A on his paper about Hytch, and he urged the audience to find their community of innovators. “On your daily commute the empty seat in your car is both a problem and an opportunity,” Cleveland said. The event’s second musical guest was seven-time Grammy nominee and five-time Dove Award winner for Female Vocalist of the Year...
by Charissa Ricker | Apr 15, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
The Lady Bisons closed out a 2-1 series win against North Alabama this weekend at Draper Diamond, scoring nine runs with three home runs to win the final game in five innings. The Bisons (29-13-1, 8-4) won the first game on Saturday 4-1 thanks to a home run from Hannah Devault in the bottom of the third inning and a two-out two-run double from Peyton Ward at the bottom of the fourth inning. Saturday ended in a split doubleheader when North Alabama (18-16, 4-8) clinched the second game 5-4, pulling ahead in the sixth inning on a bases-loaded error, sending North Alabama in for a go-ahead run. The Bisons kept pace with the Lions scoring back-to-back doubles in the second inning and tying up the game 2-2 in the third inning. In the fifth inning, the teams traded two-run outings, tying up the game 4-4 but ultimately fell short at the end. Head softball coach Ryman said she felt the win didn’t fully show the potential of the team despite the big hit from Devault and the win from Pitcher Mandy Jordan. “We did have some clutch moments,” Ryman said. “We just never really strung it all together to capitalize on a bigger inning. “We’ll go back to work this game, but at the end of the day it’s still a good conference win, and I thought Mandy gutted it out and found a way to finish it off for us.” Going into the second game on Saturday, Ryman said the team needed to be more intentional about supporting the strong at-bats and playing more cohesively. “We just need...
by Charissa Ricker | Apr 12, 2019 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider
American Idol finalist and award-winning Gospel singer Colton Dixon performed with Cody Fry in Collins auditorium Wednesday night. The concert, presented by the College of Entertainment and the Arts, included the Lipscomb a Cappella Singers, the Chamber Orchestra and commercial music students throughout the performance. Music professor Ben Blasko has been friends with Dixon for several years and reached out to Dixon about the performance. Though Dixon said he would trust Blasko “with his life,” he said he was originally nervous about playing with the students. “If you have any of my records, they don’t sound anything like this, but that’s kind of the fun of music, right, you get to reimagine songs that were created in my head,” Dixon said. Blasko is not Dixon’s only tie to Lipscomb, he said he considered attending the university before his American Idol audition. The singer-songwriter auditioned for season 10 but didn’t make it to the top 25. Dixon came back the next year to support his sister, unexpectedly auditioned and made it to the top seven before getting voted off the show. “This music career has been quite a journey,” Dixon said. “It all started in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, just down the road, and I actually had a scholarship to come to Lipscomb. I wound up not really going to college anyway so it doesn’t really matter.” Dixon quickly made a name for himself in the Gospel community, winning a Dove award in 2013 and 2015. But instead of playing all of his well-known songs during the concert, he chose to perform a song that didn’t make the cut on his original...
