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The Pilot Wednesday. April 8, 2009 Page A5 - Sports Softball ’Dogs play hardball, defeat Coastal By Lanny Newton Pilot sports editor Christine Murray won two games in two days to lead the Bulldogs to a series victory over con ference foe Coastal Caro lina. In the final game ’ of the series Sunday, Gard ner-Webb took a 2-1 vic tory over the Chanticleers. For pitching two complete game wins in back-to- back days, Murray was named the New Balance Pitcher of the Week. “We got on the board 2-0, and Christine Murray just shut them down the whole rest of the way,” said Head Coach Tom Cole. “In the sixth inning she gave up a solo home run to make it 2-1, but we played solid defense and we got the runs we needed to win. “It was an all-around team effort. It was an im portant weekend from the standpoint that we got Mandy Ward back, we hit the ball well, got key hits, and so it was a very good weekend for us.” Ward had missed 15 games due to injury and had played 15 others as the designated hitter, but was back behind the plate catching for the first time this year. She started 82 games as catcher in her first two years. The Bulldogs started out fast; with one out in the first inning, senior Adrienne Smith got things started with a single to the shortstop. Junior Melody Harrell then singled to first, while fellow classmate Christa Fullwood followed with a single to center to score Smith from second. After Ward drew a walk to load the bases, sophomore left-fielder Kelly Witter hit a deep fly ball to right field to score Harrell from third, and put Gardner-Webb up early at 2-0. Ward came up big for the Bulldogs hitting a home run in the first game of the series on Saturday. She also drew two walks and threw out a baserun- ner at second in the sev enth inning of the game Sunday. Gardner-Webb returns to action on Friday as the Bulldogs host the Liberty Lady Flames in a double- header starting at 1 p.m. at Varsity Field. Coach Cole appreci ates all supporters. Diamond ’Dogs drop series Golfers win university Cup again By Lanny Newton Pilot sports editor Gardner-Webb’s high- powered offense was unable to keep up with Coastal Carolina, which was ranked number 19 nationally. In the series finale the Diamond ’Dogs fell 10-4 on Sunday. “Coastal Carolina is one of the top teams in the country and is nation ally ranked and I thought we played well, but right now they’re a cut above everyone in the league,” said Head Coach Rusty Stroupe. “One of the strong points of our team is how well we’ve hit the ball, if we can continue hitting and get our pitch ing straight our defense is good so hopefully we can finish the season strong.” GWU scored at least 4 runs in each game of the series versus a team that didn’t even allow that many runs to UNC, Ten nessee or Kentucky, each of which Coastal Carolina has defeated at least once this season. After jacking multiple home runs in the first two games of the se ries, the Chanticleers kept the Bulldogs in the park, forcing them to play small ball. Coastal jumped out to a 5-0 lead before the Bulldogs woke up. Justin Loyd led off the inning with a single, but he was picked off at first base. Kurt Fulginiti singled and went to second on a wild pitch. The Chanticleers walked Ty Boyles and both runners moved up on a wild pitch. Matt Riz- zuto scored Fulginiti on a groundout, but the Bull dogs were unable to plate any more runs in the in ning. After 5 more runs by Coastal, the Bull dogs started to rally in the eighth. Rizzuto, Jake Watts and Aaron Miller all walked with one out, before Adam McFarland brought in 2 runs with a double to right center field. Jon Aheam then cut the deficit to 10-4 with a run-scoring groundout, ending the scoring for the day. “We’ve had a few of our seniors and most vet eran pitchers, three seniors and a junior, go down with injuries and that’s put a lot of strain on people we didn’t think would pitch as much. “If we could get ev eryone healthy I think our pitching would be pretty good,” said Stroupe. With a couple of them coming back soon, the Bulldogs will look to im prove on their 14-13 (4-5 Big South) mark as they travel to Davidson tonight at 6, and Friday to VMI to kick off a three-game se ries. The Diamond Dogs re turn home April 17 to play UNC-Asheville at 3 p.m. Coach Stroupe appreci ates all the fan support given. By Blake DuDonis Pilot editor in chief For the third consecutive year, Gard ner-Webb’s men and women’s golf teams took down Appalachian State to win the University Cup. The event is a mixed-team tourna ment, with a male and female pairing up during the round. The format was stroke play and the tournament saw six mixed teams compete, as well as four single matches. Alex Finke and J.J. Regan picked up the two single match points for Gard- ner-Webb. Finke shot a solid 78, while Regan beat his opponent by five strokes with a score of 80. In the mixed-team matchup, the duo of Immu Korevmaa and Yayoi Garcia were able to notch a win, squeaking out a victory by one stroke. All but one of the other mixed-teams tied, earning each school a half point. The team that did not tie was the duo of Andrew Rickard and Courtney Meyer. Rickard and Meyer, two of the strongest golfers on the team, shot an impressive round of 71, easily defeating the App State twosome. On a special note, GWU freshman Kristopher Gray was named the Choice Hotels Big South Men’s Golfer of the Week for the events played March 26- April 1. Gray, a native of New Castle, Eng land, tied for 10th at the Larry Nelson Collegiate Invitational with a three- round score of 219. The men’s golf team will return to action Saturday and Sunday at the UK Bluegrass Invitational in Lexington, Ky. Lady bulldogs make last match special By Blake DuDonis Pilot editor in chief Last Saturday marked senior day for the women’s tennis team at Gardner- Webb, as Amy Beavers, Jenny Gomez and Laura Kriett were all honored. The three seniors made sure that the post-match ceremony was not the only happy time during the day, as all three won their single matches in straight sets against the opposition from rival Presby terian College. Kriett won from the one spot for GWU, winning 6-3, 6-2. Gomez, seeded third, took down her opponent 6-0, 6-4. Beavers won with a similar score of 6-0, 6-3, from the five spot. All three seniors also won their doubles matches, although Presbyterian went out with a fight. Paired up with Rita Gouveia, Kriett and her teammate were able to win hand ily 8-3. The other two matches, however, would prove to be much closer. Beavers and Kasey Ellis matched up at the second doubles slot and, after ty ing up the match at 7-7, and to enter a little “overtime.” The ladies were able to pull off two wins in a row and get the point, winning 9-7. Gomez and Tavernier Black paired up, pulling out an 8-6 win. The win snaps a four-match skid for the ladies. The team will return to action April 16-19 during the Big South Con ference Tournament help in Rock Hill, S.C. Track and field team continues its successful outdoor season Photo by Tyler Kucifer Senior Ryan Bernthal practices his forehand as he and the GWU tennis team prepare for the Big South Conference Tournament. Men’s tennis preps for post-season play By Blake DuDonis Pilot editor in chief Despite a recent loss to Radford, Gardner-Webb’s men’s tennis team has won three out of their last four matches, thanks to victories over Presbyterian, Liberty and Queens University. In the matchup against Presbyterian, the doubles teams of Evgeny Slesarev/ Rafael Altmayer and Carlos Quijano/An- drew Veeder came up with two big wins to start GWU on the right foot. During the singles, Veeder, Jamie Lawlor and Ryan Bemthal all narrowly lost in their matches. Slesarev, Altmayer and Quijano were all able to pound out victories, giving GWU a 4-3 victory. The team travels to Appalachian State Thursday for a 2 p.m. match. By Blake DuDonis Pilot editor in chief Gardner-Webb’s track and field team found themselves spread out over two states in three different events last week end. Competing at Duke University, North Caro lina A & T and at Texas, team members produced 21 Topic finishes over the three meets. At the A&T meet, se nior Kelly Bridges con tinued her dominance in the women’s pole vault. Bridges’ height of 3.50 meters gave her first place as she adds on to her illus trious career. Senior Bree Tharpe also impressed at the meet, finishing the 5,000 meter run in second-place with a time of 19:46.62. The women have been running well in the 3,000 meter run this year, and this meet was no excep tion. Laura Scott led the way for the Bulldogs with a time of 10:51.55, putting her in second-place. Scott was followed by Carrie Minard in third-place at a time of 11:03.84. Diana Palka splashed her way to a third-place finish in the 3,000 meter steeplechase with a time of 12:42.19, breaking her old personal record in the event by more than 20 seconds. Gwenetta Jones and Caryn Daane finished fourth and sixth, respec tively, in the shot put. Jones toss traveled 13.02 meters, while Daane was not far behind with a dis tance of 12.53 meters. On the men’s side of things, Paul Steinke and Nick Kelly ran their way to third-place finishes in their events. Steinke took third in the 400 meter hurdles with a quick time of 52.66, while Kelly took third-place in the 3000 run with a time of 9:12.28. Red-shirt freshman Christoph Hutschalik also came in third-place, his event being the hammer throw. The German native turned in an impressive toss of 54.86 meters. At the Duke meet, transfer Jason Wenzel, along with Kelly, finished in the top-20 in the men’s 1,500 meter developmen tal run. Wenzel cruised across the line in a time of 4:03.97, and Kelly fin ished right on his heels, in a time of 4:05.67, putting them in 11th and 17th- place respectively. The Bulldogs will take Easter weekend off before returning to action April 16-18 for the Big South Conference meet at Rad ford University in Rad ford, Va. GWU judo novices faring weii in national competitions By Molly Phipps Pilot staff writer Three Gardner-Webb students won high marks in a national judo compe tition held in Durham on March 28. Justin Lindly, Tyler Willoughby and Travis Millsaps placed first, sec ond and third, respective ly, in their divisions. The students, all fresh men, just started training last semester with GWU student Aaron Allison, known'around campus as “Judo.” “I’ve been doing judo for 13 years,” said Al lison. “Me and my dad started together as kind of a father-son bonding thing.” Allison said he has al ways taken judo seriously, to an extent, but more so now. “I guess recently, when I got to college actually, I started training real hard and going to some clinics and such,” said Allison, “So I guess that’s when I started getting better.” Allison described judo as a martial art with many throws and grap pling moves. All of these are done in a ghee, which is the traditional uniform worn in judo. The competition in Durham was open to ev eryone. Individuals had to sign up online. The na tional event was divided into classes: weight class es and belt ranks. Allison won in the me dium-weight black belt di vision. The three students competed in the white-belt division in varying weight classes. Allison said teaching judo to good students is something he enjoys and would like to do possibly for the rest of his life. He also said having three students compete and place in a competition was a first for Gardner- Webb. Allison said he could always tell that his three students had potential. But the students are no strangers to success. Lindly won second place in a competition in Atlan ta a few months ago. He and Millsaps also competed in November at the University of Tennes see, where Lindly placed third. Next, the students will travel to the South Caro lina State Championships April 26. All three students and their teacher will com pete; the students in the white/green belt division and Allison in the black- brown belt class. “I’m just really thrilled to see three of my students excel,” said Allison.
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