by Hannah Cron | Jul 26, 2021 | Sports
A Lipscomb administrator and veteran of Olympic press coverage said this year’s 2020 Tokyo Games — occurring beneath the shadow of COVID that delayed the competition a year and with strict pandemic alterations in effect — could be the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. Kim Chaudoin, Lipscomb’s assistant vice president of public relations and communication, covered a variety of events at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and forecasts a likely positive impact as the world takes a step toward recovery in Tokyo. “I mean, they were able to have the NCAA tournament,” said Chaudoin, noting those basketball competitions that were held in a bubble in Indianapolis this year after being canceled in 2020. “I know this is a lot more people, but I hope that they’re able to do it. “But hey, if they survive all that and then the big melting pot of it, then maybe you know it’s like, ‘Oh, OK, we’re all good now.’” The Games feature more than 11,000 athletes from more than 200 countries. The Tokyo 2020 Olympics – which were not renamed despite the year-long delay caused by the COVID pandemic – has athletes competing in 339 events across 33 sports. New sports for the Tokyo Games include surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing, karate, baseball and softball. While some might consider the Olympics occurrence as a positive step toward normalcy in the unpredictable pandemic, this year’s Games are anything but normal. The city of Tokyo has been in a state of emergency multiple times in the past weeks due to a resurgence of COVID cases. A year ago, if the games...
by Erika Plunkett | May 3, 2021 | News Slider, Sports
After a rocky start to the weekend, Bison Baseball closed out their series against North Alabama with a strong 14-5 victory. The series kicked off Friday afternoon with the Lions’ making early progress as Bison pitcher junior Max Habegger allowed four runs in his inning and two thirds of work. Meanwhile, offensively the Bisons could not get anything going, until the Lions had already extended their lead to five. Finally, in the fifth inning junior center fielder Maddux Houghton brought home a run with an RBI-triple and scored off of a wild pitch bringing the Bisons back within striking distance. Senior infielder David Graves added to the Bisons score with a home run in the bottom of the sixth, but a North Alabama insurance run in the seventh and four runners left stranded by the Bisons clinched the game one victory for North Alabama, 6-3. Saturday, the Bisons looked to bounce back and were able to take the early advantage with sophomore infielder Robbie Merced’s run brought home by freshman outfielder Tiger Borom. North Alabama evened the game at 1 in the fifth inning before Houghton added to his RBI total and Merced scored another run. The Lions would not stay at bay, however, and once again the game was tied. Lipscomb thought they had the winning run in the bottom of the sixth when sophomore catcher Chaz Bertolani hit an RBI single, but the back and forth trend continued, and the game was tied at 3. Sophomore closer Tyler Guilfoil, who came in during the fifth inning, was tasked with finishing the game for the Bisons, but struggled...
by Erika Plunkett | Mar 5, 2021 | News Slider, Sports
Due to COVID-19 safe play policies, Lipscomb’s baseball team announced the cancellation of six games on their schedule. The games include a midweek matchup at Austin Peay that was scheduled to be played on Tuesday, March 2nd; a four-game weekend series versus Kansas that was scheduled to be played Friday, March 5th – Monday, March 8th; and a midweek matchup against Belmont on Wednesday, March 10th. This is the second year in a row that the home series against Kansas has been canceled due to COVID. Softball’s Battle of the Boulevard matchup on the 10th is still scheduled to be played. As of now, the Bisons are on track to travel to Georgia for a three-game series against the Bulldogs and to Auburn for a midweek matchup against the Tigers before returning home to host Kennesaw State in their ASUN opener. Continue to check Lumination network for updates on Lipscomb...
by Erika Plunkett | Feb 27, 2021 | News Slider, Sports, Uncategorized
In their 2021 home opener, the Lipscomb Bisons baseball team fell to Creighton 11-4, as the Blue Jays scored four home runs. Debuting their brand new cream uniforms, the Bisons came into the afternoon with a 2-1 record after beating Murray State twice on Monday and falling to Memphis on Tuesday afternoon in Hoover, AL. Junior pitcher Noah Thompson got his first start for the Bisons in nearly two years after missing the shortened 2020 campaign with a foot injury. In his three innings of work, Thompson allowed four hits and five runs off of a sacrifice fly and two home runs in the second, third and fourth innings. Meanwhile, the Bisons could get nothing going offensively as it was nine batters up and nine batters out in the first three innings behind expert pitching from sophomore pitcher Dylan Tebrake. In the fourth inning, the Bisons tried to close the scoring gap behind an offensive surge from senior outfielder Carter Smith and junior infielder Malik Williams that brought three runs home for Lipscomb, bringing the score to 5-3 in favor of the Blue Jays. However, this two-run deficit would be as close as the Bisons would get for the rest of the afternoon. Several Bisons pitchers came in in relief, but none could manage to stop the bleeding as Creighton continued to add on runs in the sixth, eighth, and ninth innings. Senior infielder Dax Roper led the way for the Blue Jays tallying two hits and two runs on the afternoon including a home run in the eighth. For the Bisons, Williams finished the afternoon 3-4 from the...
by Grant Ledgister | Apr 16, 2020 | COVID-19, News Slider, Sports
Telling Lipscomb athletes that sports for the semester had ended hurt Athletic Director Philip Hutcheson as much as it hurt the athletes. “It was totally heartbreaking knowing what that meant for all of our spring sport athletes,” Hutcheson said. “When I went and told the baseball team about it, I felt like I was talking to 35 guys who had all torn their ACLs at the same time and their careers were over.” From quarantines and stay-at-home orders to school closing and everything in between, the coronavirus (COVID-19) has changed daily life for people across the world. For collegiate athletes and administrators, the virus has flipped their seasons upside down. In an announcement made in early March, the NCAA canceled the seasons of all spring and winter sports. This included the popular March Madness national basketball tournament. “Obviously there are many worse things going on in the world right now than not being able to play a sport,” Hutcheson said. “But for all of these students it’s very important and something they’ve worked towards for a long time. They realize that it’s not just games they’re going to miss, it’s time with their teammates and coaches.” To make up for the inability to play, the NCAA made the decision to give athletes playing spring sports an extra year of eligibility. Some athletes, however, may not be able to take advantage of this. “We know already that about half of the seniors will not be coming back,” Hutcheson said. “The rest of them – some financial decisions have to be made. Most spring sport athletes, if not all of them,...
