BCSP Notes . . .

Hampton has won seven overall All-Sports Trophies since joining the MEAC in 1996 (winning three men's trophies, including back-to-back victories in 2003 and 2004, and four women's awards).

This is the second Hill All-Sports Award for Norfolk State, as they captured the 2001 men's trophy.

Hampton's women finished nine points ahead of their closest opponent (Florida A&M) with 71 total points. The Lady Pirates captured MEAC titles in cross country and indoor track and field, while finishing second in basketball, tennis and outdoor track and field. Hampton, who was ousted early in the 2004 softball championships, picked up nine points this year after nearly playing in the finals. Florida A&M finished with 62 points, winning volleyball and softball titles, Howard was third with 59 points, followed by Morgan State with 55 and Maryland-Eastern Shore with 53.

Norfolk State received a big boost form their surprise finish in baseball, as the sixth seeded Spartans played North Carolina A&T for the championship. The Spartans accumulated 55.5 points. FAMU was second with 55 points and Hampton, who led Norfolk State by 4.5 points heading into the Spring Championships, finished a close third with 53.5 points.

The Bethune Award, named after the founder of Bethune-Cookman College, is awarded to the top overall women's athletic program during the course of one full academic year. The first Mary McLeod Bethune Award was given in 1987 to Delaware State. Florida A&M leads all MEAC schools with nine women's awards from 1993-2000.

The men's All-Sports Award is named after the late Talmadge Layman Hill, a former player and coach at Morgan State, and former chairman of the MEAC Steering and Planning Committee, as well as the league's first president. Howard University was the recipient of the first Talmadge Layman Hill Award in 1972.

B-CC makes more history; Wins Regional softball title
Bethune-Cookman scored five runs on nine hits in the championship game to defeat South Florida, 5-2 en route to winning the NCAA Region 13 Tournament at the Florida Softball Stadium. The Lady Wildcats advance to the NCAA Super Regional to play Texas.

"I'm glad this is over because we have been there so many times," said B-CC head coach Lauren Watten. "We always said that when we won one game in the regional, we would just break it wide open."

The Lady Wildcats first NCAA tournament in the history of the program was a victory over the Florida Gators Friday afternoon.

"We bounced back from losing the (Mid-Eastern Athletic) Conference tournament, said Watten, of the Lady Wildcats who got into the Regional on their first-ever at-large bid. "I said when we lost the conference 'Who needs a conference championship ring when you win a regional championship?' This is much bigger. We earned it and we made it known that we belonged in this tournament."

B-CC senior pitcher Lauren McCoy moved her record to 21-12 with the victory, while sophomore Kasey Cash took the loss for the Bulls to finish her season with a 9-6 record.

"We have always been competitive and scrappy," said McCoy in the post-game interview. "The idea of realizing our potential is really exciting."

The opening inning set the tone for the game as Bethune-Cookman's Amber Jackson scored the first run of the game. A base hit by teammate Rachel Kilbert brought in two more runners. The Wildcats ended their first at bat with four hits and three runs. South Florida answered back in the bottom of the first scoring two runs, but it wasn't enough.

The win gives Bethune-Cookman its first NCAA Regional title in school history after earning its first-ever at-large berth. The two wins over South Florida in the tournament broke a 14-game losing streak to the Bulls. The Lady Wildcats have now won five of their last six games.

W. Va. State headed to Div. II World Series
The Yellow Jackets of West Virginia State defeated West Chester 9-2 in the North Atlantic Regional championship game Sunday afternoon in Institute, West Virginia, to advance to the NCAA DII World Series.

Senior Nick Biron (7-3) allowed just three hits and one run in eight innings and Josh Grueser pitched the ninth for WVSU. The Yellow Jackets (43-14) outhit the Rams 14-3 and committed just one error in rolling to the title. WVSU broke open a tight game with a five run eighth with Josh Miller's bases loaded double being the big blow. Ryan Taylor extended his school-record hitting streak to 32 games with a pair of singles. Jonathan McDowell, Justin Gray, Kyle Jones and Gerald Hager also contributed two hits each to the attack.

Southern survives gun-shooting incident, extra innings to win SWAC baseball
Southern rose out of the loser's bracket to capture the 2005 SWAC Baseball Championship defeating Prairie View A&M 6-5 in fifteen innings. Southern Pitcher Joshua Kirk was named the tournament's MVP.

Entering Sunday's final day of the tournament, Prairie View was in charge with an undefeated 3-0 record coming out of the winner's bracket. Southern, the top seed from the West division, had lost its first round game to the Panthers, 16-13.

In the first championship game, Kirk pitched nine shutout innings to help the Jaguars cruise to an easy 6-0 win forcing a second game. That game, which began at 5:25 p.m., seemed to be in the bag early for Southern as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning, 4-0 after five innings and led 5-3 entering the ninth inning. But the Panthers battled back to tie the score at 5-5 on a 2-run home run by centerfielder Marcus Crocket in the top of the inning.

In extra innings neither team could push a run across the plate. In the bottom of the 15th, Southern catcher Brandon Mason led off with a triple to left field. Several moments later, several volleys of rapid gunshots were heard from the community surrounding the stadium and the field was cleared. The game was suspended for the safety of the players and fans and was resumed Monday morning (5/23) at 8:00 a.m. from that point. Upon the resumption of play, a pair of intentional walks followed by a base on balls by Prairie View led to the 6-5 win for Southern. The game officially ended at 8:10 a.m.

2005 SWAC All-Tournament Team
P ­ Jose Pena ­ Southern
P ­ Josua Kirk ­ Southern
P ­ Wraandal Taylor ­ Prairie View A&M
1B ­ Kevin Nelson ­ Southern
2B ­ Paul Johnson ­ Prairie View A&M
3B ­ David Arrendo ­ Texas Southern
SS ­ Zach Prenprase ­ Miss. Valley State
C ­ Brandon Mason _ Southern
OF ­ Anton Shinhoster ­ Jackson State
OF ­ Marcus Crockett ­ Prairie View A&M
OF ­ Gerrad Gause ­ Southern
DH ­ J.D. Stewart ­ Texas Southern

MOST OUTSTANDING HITTER
Kevin Nelson ­ Southern
MOST OUTSTANDING PITCHER
Jose Pena ­ Southern
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
Joshua Kirk ­ Southern

Anthony named top OVC athlete
Two-time league rushing champion Charles Anthony of Tennessee State has been selected as the Ohio Valley Conference 2004-05 Male Athlete of the Year.

Anthony becomes the first Tiger football player and the second student-athlete from TSU to earn the honor. The running back joins former basketball player Carlos Rogers who received the honor in 1994.

Anthony was a two-time consensus I-AA All-American and fifth-place finisher in Walter Payton Award balloting for each of the last two seasons. He was named the 2004 OVC Offensive Player of the Year after leading the nation in rushing average (158.1 ypg) while topping the 1,700-yard mark for the second consecutive season and recording the third-highest rushing yardage total in OVC history, re-setting his own school record with 1,739 yards.

© 2005 Azeez Communications, Inc.

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