by Brianne Welch | Nov 15, 2012 | Sports
Vanessa Medina, a senior softball player from Bakersfield, Calif., came to Lipscomb University to experience a different world. “I wanted to challenge myself,” she said. For four years, softball was Medina’s life. According to Medina, the sport provided her with some of her favorite memories. “One of my best memories was winning conference my sophomore year,” Medina said. “We danced to ‘Baby’ on the field.” Medina was injured her sophomore and senior years, which limited her playing time. She was offered a medical redshirt but decided not to use it. Instead, Medina said she is enjoying being a regular student during her last semester of college. “I do love being a normal student,” Medina said. “I also like being busy though, so I don’t think I could handle all this free time for more than one semester.” While softball was Medina’s job and took up the majority of her time, it was just a means to a desired end. Medina is majoring in public relations and wants to use her degree to remain involved in sports. “Maybe I’ll be a sports broadcaster or the person setting up the press conferences,” Medina said. “I want to do something in sports.” Medina’s dream is for that “something” to be a job in Major League Baseball. Though her favorite team is the New York Yankees, Medina has interviewed for a position with the Minnesota Twins, among other types of jobs. “I’ve had a couple of interviews, but nothing is set in stone.” Medina said sports helped her learn valuable life skills. “I learned a lot of time management because of softball,” she...
by Brianne Welch | Sep 17, 2012 | News Slider, Sports
The Lady Bisons softball team volunteered to work with the Boys and Girls Club at their annual fall picnic Saturday. This was the first year the softball team has worked with the Boys and Girls Club. The team assisted with a variety of activities including arts and crafts, face painting, hula hooping, kick ball and many other outdoor games. “We wanted to do something different this year,” said Head Coach Kristen Ryman. “We wanted to work with a different organization.” Ryman said the Boys and Girls Club is a great organization, especially since it gives older people the opportunity to mentor a younger generation. “It makes you realize there are people out there that are always looking up to people like us,” Ryman said. The girls on the team said they had a great time being around the kids and getting to play games with them. “It was good to just be a kid for a day ourselves and, at the same time, do something for them,” said junior Bridgette Begle. Begle and several other girls said they enjoyed face painting with the kids. Sophomore Gracey Aguirre was the celebrity of the day, doing the majority of the face painting. “My favorite painting was this little shark I did for this little kid,” Aguirre said. “He was having a blast with it, and I truly enjoyed it all.” Several team members said it was easy to connect with the kids by playing games with them. “I loved working with one little boy who loved to hula hoop,” said junior Kristen Sturdivant. “It was really fun getting to hang out with...
by Cory Woodroof | Aug 23, 2012 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb’s baseball, softball and women’s basketball programs have brought on new personnel to help coach their respective teams in preparation for their upcoming seasons. Baseball head coach Jeff Forehand announced the hiring of former MLB player Paul Phillips as an assistant coach, replacing Chris Collins, who accepted a job with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in June. Phillips is a veteran backstop, having played for the Colorado Rockies, the Kansas City Royals and Chicago White Sox during his 15 years in professional baseball. Having played in over 900 games, Phillips will end his time with the Las Vegas 51’s (of the Pacific Coast League) before joining the Bisons’ staff. Coach Forehand told athletics that he believes Phillips will be a great addition to the program. “The amount of knowledge and experience that Paul is going to bring to our team after 15 years in professional baseball and parts of seven seasons in the big leagues is huge,” Forehand said. “It will be a tremendous asset to not only our catchers but our pitchers and hitters as well. He’s going to be a great addition to our staff.” Phillips also seemed enthusiastic about being hired. “I’m really excited to start a new chapter in my life after 15 years of pro ball,” Phillips said. “Being able to stay at home with my family more so than I am now, being able to be in Nashville full time and being at Lipscomb is something that I’ve waited for, for a long time.” Phillips joins assistant coach Tyler Shrout. New women’s basketball Head Coach Greg Brown has hired Cara Hyatt as an...
by Emily Snell | Mar 29, 2012 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb softball team was robbed in San Francisco Sunday night while doing some site seeing at the conclusion of its spring break tournament trip. After traveling back to San Francisco from one of their games in San Luis Obispo, the team went on a night tour of Alcatraz and then out for dinner. When the team returned to the vehicles around 10 p.m., the girls said they saw glass on the ground and then realized that two of the four team vehicles had been broken into. “I freaked out and I immediately looked to see if my computer had been taken,” said Vanessa Medina, a senior public relations major. Medina was one of the lucky team members whose stuff was not stolen, but five others were not so fortunate. Brianne Welch, a freshman communications major, had her backpack stolen, including a Mac laptop, which she had just purchased in August, and a Kindle Touch, which her mother had purchased as Welch’s birthday gift only two weeks ago. “I felt like I was kind of in shock a little bit,” Welch said. “I called my mom. I cried; I don’t think I’ve ever been so mad before.” “As a collective group of girls, we were just so angry,” she continued. “It’s a terrifying feeling. You feel violated.” After realizing they had been robbed, Assistant Coach Lexi Myers called the police, and then the team waited in the parking lot nearly two hours before they arrived. “[Myers] was great when this happened,” said Bridgette Begle, a sophomore, whose stuff was not stolen. “I felt secure while I was there. She...
by Hunter Patterson | Jan 11, 2012 | News Slider, Sports
Since the first basketball game in 1931, the sports teams at Lipscomb have had the same name – The Bisons. Late Wednesday afternoon, the Department of Athletics announced a new set of logos that Lipscomb Athletics will be using from this point forward. “The updated brand reflects Lipscomb’s position as an NCAA Division I institution,” said Director of Athletics Philip Hutcheson. “The marks will allow us to increase the visibility of Lipscomb throughout the nation while also respecting the rich tradition of our department.” The logos were created by the design team of Luke Flener of Prolific and Logan Hartline of Hartline Studio – both Lipscomb graduates. “We aimed for a classic but fresh design in our new marks,” said Trevor Garrett, associate athletic director for external affairs. “The traditional design represents Lipscomb’s legacy of athletic success. Our new logos also incorporate some of the latest design trends giving the marks a fresh feel as a growing Division I school.” The logos can be seen in person on the new floor in Allen Arena on Don Meyer Court. Pictures can be found here. This is not the only thing that could be changing, though. If you saw Lumination’s game story from the Belmont game, you may have noticed something a little different. Over the break, the athletic department tried out using the name Bison, with no S, instead of Bisons, with an S. This was first noticed when Joey Garrison, reporter for The City Paper mentioned it in a tweet. Then, the Athletic Department changed their Twitter handle to @LipscombBison, with no S. During Battle of the Boulevard, their tweets all...
