Saturday, the Covenant College men’s baseball team (14-16) suffered their second and third loss in a three-game, weekend series against Reinhardt College at Highlands Park. In front of a small crowd of a bleacher-full of Covenant fans and a hodge podge of College work-study students, the Scots lost 5-3, 5-3 in an afternoon doubleheader.

“We don’t have fun losing. At least we battled and gave our best,” said Head Coach Doug Simons, who has coached the Scots for four years since the program’s resurrection in 2006. “This was not a team that was better than us. We lost three games by two runs each. We battled hard; they just got the better of us.”

In the first game of the doubleheader, no runs were scored until the fifth inning and it was not until the sixth and seventh innings, that Reinhardt, a college in North Georgia associated with the Methodist church, came from behind to win. Covenant had a chance at the end of the first game with bases loaded, two outs. They could not pull it out.

“We hit the ball hard; we just put it in all the wrongs spots,” said senior Cody Baxter, who, during his four years at Covenant, has played both soccer and baseball for the school. “We gotta put it where they ain’t.”

In game two of the doubleheader, the Scots never took the lead, but they avoided a disaster inning like the day before when Reinhardt scored five runs in the second inning. In the bottom of the seventh, the final inning of the game, freshman Sterling Witt hit a solo home run, but it was not enough. Reinhardt’s pitching suffocated Scots batters with three strikeouts to end Covenant a second time for the day.

“They nibbled away at us. A little dinker here, a little dinker there,” said junior Brandon Hagopian, who, after the game, was a little annoyed at the thin crowds, “It’s kinda weird being the home team but feeling like the visiting team when they have more fans than we did. Oh well.”

For Coach Simons, the team’s conduct on and off the field is the most important thing. “I’d rather lose the right way than win the wrong way,” he said. “I’m proud of the guys, the way they act and their attitudes towards it. It seems like the whole series, we got behind early and had to battle back,” said Simons, who is encouraged by the tenacity of this year’s team compared to other years. “The difference between this team and teams in the past–they keep battling. They believe they can battle back.”

The Scots play Tennessee Temple on Thursday and they will be looking for their first win in five games.

When preview weekends roll around, Covenant College students steel themselves for the intense physical challenge that lies ahead of them–battleball. Halls gather together, don the appropriate apparel, and parade down to Barnes Gym to reignite old rivalries for another semester.

This spring was no exception. Ghetto arrived shirtless but wearing ties, and Founders arrived in their typical assortment of colorful costumes. The more subdued halls sported less obvious marks of their kinship. Second Central arrived in white t-shirts, Andreas wore an assortment of red and jerseys, and Mac wore various shades of red as well. The gym filled with chants and cheers as the teams took their places in the stands.

After Athletic Director Tami Smialek gave preliminary instructions, the first teams took the court for the opening game–Ghetto versus Mac. In a stunning turn of events, the Founders team, which traditionally has a heated rivalry with Ghetto, broke out in cheers for them while the rest of the gym quickly began to cheer for Mac. With both sides sufficiently spurred on by their supporters, the buzzer rang and the game began.

After a few minutes of play, the field was whittled down to one player from each team. Ghetto’s Dillon Griffin and freshman Andrew Alexander of Mac circled each other, getting balls from their teammates behind the competition line. Finally, Griffin launched a fireball at Alexander. The crowd erupted as the ball hit the jumping Alexander in the legs. And with that, the tournament’s first game came to an end.

The tournament proceeded fairly uneventfully after the first game. Second Central put away Andreas fairly easily, and despite placing their sacred picture of Rob Jackson on the basketball goal for inspiration, Founders could not overcome Ghetto’s vicious attacks. Andreas came back to handily take out Mac, but the pattern would not last. In the next game, Second Central and Ghetto battled each other with vigor that had not been seen since the opening game. The field was once again brought down to two players; this time it was sophomore Matt Higgins of Ghetto and freshman Tyler Morrison of Second Central. Morrison and Higgins grabbed two balls and circled each other as the crowd screamed for both of them. Finally, Morrison launched a ball at Higgins, and, as Higgins dodged the first ball, Morrison launched the second ball which hit Higgins squarely to win the game for Central.

The last few games were routine. Andreas quickly put away Founders and then Ghetto, and then, in the final, they destroyed Second Central in both games to become the Spring 2010 Preview Weekend battleball champions. We will have to wait until the fall to see if the halls make any tweaks to improve their teams. Until then, Andreas will remain the King of Battleball.

Can you smell it? I’m talking about that aroma that’s getting more potent every day. I’m talking about the smell of sunscreen, sweat, chlorine, ice cream, and freshly cut grass. Wise men and scientists call this smell “summer.” Like hide-and-seek, it’s coming, ready or not.

Seniors are preparing to exit the Covenant community and begin life after college while a new batch of young people are preparing to enter. Finals are right around the corner. The end of the year is within sight. So what are the sports fans going to miss from athletics? What are the spectator stories that ten years from now we’re going to say, “Remember when…?” But furthermore, what has made us want to hold our breath for next year’s seasons?

Our men’s soccer team will miss the senior leadership that led their impressive run through the NCCAA national tournament, claiming 3rd place in the country. Led by a plethora of upperclassmen talent, our men manifested all season long how good of a coach Nathan Pifer is. We have reason to be excited to see the development of youth and the progression of the annual stars.

We will remember the late season surge after a rocky start by our Lady Scots soccer team to take 4th place in Nationals. If you look in Webster’s dictionary for the word “perseverance,” you will see a picture of our Lady Scots soccer team.

We will fondly remember the efforts of our Cross Country, men and women. Can you say discipline? In addition, all our women’s volleyball team ever does is compete, compete, compete. Replacing two key seniors will be a task, but with the youth and talent that will only be getting better, can you say “break-out season?” Because I feel one coming. Very soon.

A year after losing their All-American point guard and head coach, our Women’s Basketball team picked themselves up and gave us reason to believe that the future holds great things. With a solid set of upperclassmen and promising recruits, Coach Tami Smialek will have all the tools necessary to post an impressive season next year.

In addition to the women, in an interview with some of the men’s basketball players, I asked them if they could give me the definition of the word “quit.” They couldn’t give me an answer because they had never quit themselves. All season long, our men’s team showed heart and determination, even when undersized and outmanned. Under the leadership of Coach Kyle Taylor, there’s going to be a lot of “fight in this dog” when next season rolls around.

While our spring sports are yet to be concluded, all of them have the ability to compete deep into their regional tournaments and hopefully on to nationals. However, it’s not just the performances on the courts and fields that we will remember and miss. The fact of the matter is while our programs compete at a high level, some programs are stronger than others, and a majority of Covenant’s athletes are expected to do more than just their athletic duties.

They are part of the Covenant community and we will miss all the seniors that are moving on to the next chapter of their lives. And this does not apply to only the intercollegiate athletes. Anyone who has been at Covenant for more than one year would agree with the notion that every year is different. With every group of seniors that leave and with every group of incoming freshmen, the atmosphere changes a bit. Next year will be different from this year whether we like it or not.

For many, it is almost time to take the beloved three-month break called summer. For some of us, pages of life are turning. Warm weather, camping trips, water adventures, and eating s’mores, hot dogs, and hamburgers to the point or vomiting is coming nigh. A wink of relaxation and forgetting of tests and papers approaches. However, do not cremate this year’s memories, including the athletics.

Appreciate the athletes. Appreciate the dedication and appreciate their efforts as ambassadors of the college. Thank the seniors and congratulate them for the race run. Encourage those who have time to improve. But also remember the other seniors whom you might not have seen on the playing fields or courts. Take a minute to take a snap shot of the past year, because before you know it, next year will be here, and so much will have changed.

Not to get sappy, but one of my favorite movies of all time is “Friday Night Lights,” about high school football in the great state of Texas. One of my favorite parts of the movie is where the coach comes in and gives the always-effective halftime pep talk. As the team is losing to a far athletically superior team, the coach makes the point that after the game is over, the seniors on the team will be done. They will most likely never play organized football the rest of their lives. The coach then says with his southern Billy Bob Thorton accent, “I want you to look around the room. I want you to look your teammates in the eye. And I want you to put each other in your hearts forever. Because forever is about to happen.” While this may be a little corny without the setting, it applies to our setting as the end of the year approaches.

Lastly, according to the unbelievably reliable source for historical accuracy, the movie “300” about the Battle of Thermopylae, King Leonidas gives one final request for his messenger to relay back to the people of Sparta before he dies. He said, “Remember us.”

Freshman Amanda Jane Saunders finished 18th overall in the Scots’ Reeder Cup last Monday and Tuesday.

Covenant College hosted the Reeder Cup last Monday and Tuesday at the Lookout Mountain Golf Club.  As students were returning from Easter Break, the men’s and women’s teams were competing in their only home match of the season.  Although Covenant had the benefit of playing on their home course, they were unable to take advantage of it, finishing in last place.

Covenant had three women compete in the event, which was not enough to fill out a whole team. Sophomore Jordan Agate finished in seventh place overall, and only ten strokes out of third place. Freshman Amanda Jane Saunders finished eighteenth, with sophomore Sarah Heintz coming in thirty-ninth.  West Georgia College took first place for the women.

On the men’s side, Huntington College ran away with the tournament, winning by thirty-nine strokes.  Covenant College was led by senior Trevor Potts, who shot ten over on Monday and nine over on Tuesday, which was good enough for fourteenth overall.  Junior Dave Wilkinson was second for the Scots, finishing just four strokes behind Potts.
Although the weather was nice, the course conditions were not easy.  The Lookout Mountain Golf Course is always a difficult course, and the windy conditions made it that much harder, lending to the poor scores amongst both the men and women golfers.  The greens were also firm and fast, making it difficult to stick the ball on the green and putt.

Although Covenant did not finish as well as they would have liked, the tournament was still a success.  The Lookout Mountain Golf Club was very hospitable, and the weather was very nice.  The Scots closed their season on Monday and Tuesday, with the men competing in an event at Stone Mountain, Georgia, and the weather women down in Prattville, Alabama.

Sophomore Chelsea Krafft pitched two shut-outs last Saturday against Montreat.

After losing their first twenty-three games, the Lady Scots had had enough. Riding the success of their first win of the season in Friday’s 15-1 slaughter of Virginia Intermont, the Scots swept the Montreat Cavaliers 2-0 and 2-0 in another double-header Saturday afternoon. Sophomore left-fielder Beth Harris and first baseman Courtney Wagoner, a freshman, led the team’s offensive attack, and sophomore pitcher Chelsea Krafft pitched two shutouts to lead the Scots to victory.

The Lady Scots started out the day with a bizarre strikeout. With two strikes already, Montreat shortstop Priscilla Silva stepped out of the batter’s box to take a few more practice swings. Upon doing so, the umpired ruled that Silva had struck out. Apparently, pitcher Chelsea Krafft had already begun her pitching cycle, and stepping out of the box constituted a strike for Silva. After this unusual incident, Krafft struck out the next batter, walked the next two, and struck out a third batter to end the inning. This superb start set the tone for the rest of the game. In the bottom of the first, the Scots’ Christine Core, a sophomore, hit a leadoff single to start the attack. After a sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch advanced Core to third, Beth Harris hit an RBI single to put the Scots on the board. The rest of the game was fairly uneventful, except for a dropped pop-out in the 3rd inning, which allowed the Scots’ Harris to score. Krafft finished the game strong, recording back-to-back strikeouts to end the game.

The second game progressed quickly, and most of the innings were 3-up, 3-down. During the bottom of the 5th, the Lady Scots rallied. With two outs, junior Kim Cuticchia singled up the middle, followed by Beth Harris and freshman Jennie Jobe beating out grounders. Courtney Wagoner then hit a single down the right foul line, allowing Cuticchia and Harris to score. Once again, Chelsea Krafft finished the game strong, though not without the help of second baseman Kristen Walker who made a spectacular diving stop to help retire the second-to-last batter of the game. Center-fielder Christine Core caught a lazy fly-out to end the game.

The Lady Scots were thrilled about their wins. “It feels great to start winning,” said designated player freshman Morgan Booker. “We’ve always had it in us; it was just about coming together as a team.”

The Lady Scots hope to continue their success this weekend against Judson College and UVA-Wise. The game against Judson is this Friday at 4 p.m. here on Lookout Mountain. Come out and support your Lady Scots!