by Jesica Parsley | Aug 26, 2014 | News Slider, Sports
Lady Bison basketball released the competitive 2014-2015 schedule on Aug. 20. The highlight of the schedule for fans will be the game on Dec. 7 against the Tennessee Lady Vols at Allen Arena. “Hosting Tennessee at home is exciting,” red-shirt junior Danay Fothergill said. “We want to look at it as just another game. We want to use our advantages to be competitive and just have fun.” The regular season tips off Nov. 14 with Georgia Southern and Nov. 16 against Wright State. Both non-conference games will be played in Allen Arena. The highly anticipated Battle of the Boulevard matchup will be played Dec. 2 at Belmont. Before ending the non-conference schedule, the Lady Bisons will travel to Ohio to face Xavier on Dec. 20. After the Christmas holidays, Lipscomb takes on Georgia Tech in Atlanta Dec. 29. On Jan. 5 in Allen Arena, Trevecca will be the last team the Lady Bisons play before Atlantic Sun Conference play begins. The last 14 games on the regular season are A-Sun matchups. “We just want to make sure we end non-conference play after Christmas with energy going into conference,” Fothergill said. Jan. 10 starts conference play against Northern Kentucky in Allen Arena. The Lady Bisons are ready to show they belong in the stacked A-Sun conference. The first real A-Sun test may come on Jan. 29 against Florida Gulf Coast in Allen Arena. “Florida Gulf Coast brings a lot to the conference and are always a tough matchup,” Fothergill said. “We have something to prove and are ready to show what we have been working on.” The last three out...
by Erika Thornsberry | Apr 28, 2014 | News Slider, Sports
Senior night is always a special time for a team, but for Lipscomb’s softball team it was that much sweeter. Having a senior-led team, the women celebrated seven of their 20 players. Pitchers Ashley Anderson and Heather Parker, catcher Rena’ Cothron, shortstop Bridgette Begle, first basemen Kristen Sturdivant, right fielder Kelsey Cartwright and designated hitter Haley Elliot make up the senior class. “The standards are high, and the bar was raised for this team this year,” head coach Kristin Ryman said. “We have played so well this year.” The Lady Bisons took the sweep against Northern Kentucky this past weekend. They won the first game in a run-rule fashion 10-0, the second game 6-0 and on senior night won 6-3. This series may have been the seniors’ last, but it had a lot of firsts for them. Anderson was the winning pitcher in game one pitching her first no- hitter in her college career. “I wasn’t even paying attention; I didn’t even know until after the game because I was just thinking about how well we were hitting,” Anderson said. Begle hit her first grand-slam in her career with two outs in the fourth inning. Also in game one Heather Parker got her first hit of the season. “The seniors are a really special group. There’s not too many classes that are that big that you can say every single one of them are a key contributor to the team,” Ryman said. “They are a very unique group, five of them have been together for the long haul, and then we added Kelsey Cartwright and Heather Parker who transferred...
by Carter Sanderson | Apr 15, 2014 | News Slider, Sports
The dedication of Smith Stadium had the Lipscomb softball team hitting their stride, winning three in a row this weekend against the Mercer Bears at Draper Diamond. The softball stadium was officially dedicated to Michael Smith and his son Derek Smith, who are owners of Rio Grande Fence Company. The Smiths are heavily active in the softball program, giving the university one of the best fields in the Atlantic Sun Conference, if not nationally. The field was dedicated to the Smiths after the 9-1 blowout win against Mercer on Saturday afternoon, and right before the 5-4 win that took eight innings to get it done. Their streak continued on Sunday when they hosted Mercer for the third and final game, and after trailing 1-0, they forced extra innings yet again and senior infielder Kelsey Cartwright drove in the winning run. “Well, yesterday, [Mercer’s pitcher] was jamming me a lot, so I was expecting more in, but the pitch before was out,” Cartwright said. “Thankfully, Paige [Neely] got on to even give me the opportunity, but they came back again with the outside, and I was able to luckily get a hit up the middle.” Neey, the junior infielder who scored the winning run, also contributed heavily on both sides of the ball all weekend for the team. She said both sides were needed in each win. “Their team definitely kept us motivated, Neely said. “They were scratching and clawing, and we just had a motivation to not let them win and that went from defense to offense.” The weekend sweep puts the Lady Bisons at 34-9 overall and 14-6...
by Jesica Parsley | Apr 8, 2014 | News Slider, Sports
The Lady Bisons softball team got the sweep over ETSU this past weekend at Draper Diamond. Lipscomb run-ruled the Bucs in both games of the double header Saturday. The first game ended after five innings with a score of 9-0. Game two ended after five innings as well with a score of 10-1. The Lady Bisons combined for 18 hits, three home runs, two doubles and a triple in Saturday’s games. Senior infielder Kristen Sturdivant, senior catcher Rena’ Cothron and junior outfielder Brianne Welch all got to trot around the bases. “We hit extremely well in the beginning of the season, and it’s not like we’re hitting bad now, but to get so many hits this weekend is great for the team,” Welch said. “I expect our hits to keep coming the rest of the season.” Part three of the series on Sunday proved to be a closer game. ETSU got one across in the top of the first, but the Lady Bisons answered in the bottom half. Sophomore outfielder/infielder Brittany Elmore led off with a double, then scored on an ETSU error to tie the game 1-1. In the fifth inning, Elmore and junior infielder Paige Neely both reached on hit by pitches. Senior infielder Kelsey Cartwright blasted a three-run home run, which ended up being the difference in the game. The Bucs scored one more run in the sixth. The Lady Bisons finished the sweep 4-2. Sunday’s game was also “Strike Out Cancer” day to help bring awareness for breast cancer. The Lady Bisons wore pink jerseys, and the first 100 fans received a free pink t-shirt. “Having...
by Bridgette Begle | Mar 17, 2014 | Opinion, Sports
In our home series against Jacksonville we took two big wins on Saturday and spent some time dancing in the rain on Sunday. Saturday’s first game was nothing short of a roller coaster ride. Until the fifth inning it was tied at zero, but both teams had hot bats. The Dolphins struck first scoring four runs in the sixth inning. We only scratched one that inning but labeled ourselves the “Comeback Kids” later in the game. Losing 1-4 going into the seventh is not an ideal situation at all, but with the help of Kristen Sturdivant, who earned A-Sun player of the week, we matched their three run lead. After we rallied back to take the game into extra innings, Jacksonville started the inning off with a solo home run and went on to score two more runs. We connected some hits here and there and found a way to comeback again even after trailing by three. In the top of the ninth, the Dolphins couldn’t find a way to push one across so all we had to do was score one. With two runners on, slapper Brittany Elmore sent one over the right field fence, pushing our lead and finishing score to 10-7. With pounding hearts, we all decided to make the next game a little less stressful for everyone, including our fans. We came out and run ruled Jacksonville in the fifth with a grand slam by Brianne Welch to lock it in at 11-0. The real fun started on Sunday when the rain delay was in effect and both teams moved into Allen Arena to kill...
