banner sports season was capped off in dramatic fashion as junior Skip Ivery (Columbus, Ohio/Groveport-Madison) won the 110-meter high hurdles at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championship Meet at St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY, May 22-24.
Another banner spring sports season has reaped rich rewards for 51 Wittenberg University athletes who were selected to All-North Coast Athletic Conference teams over the last two weeks.
The Tiger softball team came up big over the weekend, winning three straight games to capture the 2003 North Coast Athletic Conference softball championship at Denison. The clincher came Saturday as the Tigers, the No. 2 seed after finishing second in the regular season, upended two-time defending champion and No. 1 seed Denison 2-1 in the championship game.
The Tiger softball team had an up-and-down week, sweeping a doubleheader from Kenyon on Wednesday, losing two straight from Denison on Thursday and splitting a doubleheader at Allegheny on Saturday to finish the week 3-3 in six key NCAC games.
The Tiger softball team won two more games last week to run their recent hot streak to six wins in the last seven games. Wittenberg defeated Thomas More 5-4 and 13-3 in a doubleheader on Tuesday at Betty Dillahunt Field.
The Tiger softball team continued to play well last week, splitting a doubleheader with fellow North Coast Athletic Conference title contender Wooster on Tuesday, sweeping conference rival Hiram on Saturday and splitting a doubleheader with Defiance on Sunday. The action brought the Tigers to 16-12 overall, and more importantly 7-1 in the NCAC heading into the stretch run of the 2003 season.
The Tiger softball team may be picking up steam at just the right time. Two North Coast Athletic Conference doubleheader sweeps over rivals Ohio Wesleyan and Oberlin last week and a split with one of the preseason favorites, Wooster, on Tuesday put the Tigers atop the standings with a 5-1 record.
If a tie is like kissing your sister, what does that make a doubleheader split? Better than losing and not as good winning, perhaps, but as spring weather finally arrives in Central Ohio, the Tiger softball team will gladly take the three wins and three losses of last week and move on into NCAC action this week.
Like the baseball team, the Tiger softball squad happily departed for Spring Break in Ft. Myers, Fla. Unlike their baseball brethren, however, the softball team didnt light up the scoreboards and returned home 5-5.
After a disappointing sixth-place NCAC finish in 2002, the Tiger softball team returns 11 letterwinners, including eight starters. Head Coach Becky Hall believes the Tigers have what it takes to make it back to the top of the conference again.