By: by Mark Toma
DeLAND, Fla. – As Kennesaw State plays in its first Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament this week, they will face a strong field of five other squads that will all be looking to win the conference’s automatic bid to the national tournament.
The first obstacle standing in the Owls path will be USC Upstate. The former Peach Belt Conference foes will rekindle their postseason rivalry on Thursday morning in the first game of the tournament. The teams have met four times in the postseason, the last time in 2005, when the Owls swept the Spartans in the regionals to advance to the NCAA Division II World Series.
A pair of all-conference performers lead the Spartans (38-13) in Crislyn Chewning and Morgan Childers. Chewning is third in the A-Sun with a .363 batting average while Childers had one of the finest pitching seasons in the history of the A-Sun. She finished the regular season holding a 0.94 earned run average and led the conference in wins (31), starts (34), complete games (28), shutouts (16), innings pitched (247) and had 405 strikeouts.
Lipscomb (44-10) enters the tournament as the favorite after rolling through the regular season with an 18-2 mark, which does include a loss to Kennesaw State. The Bisons are the best hitting and best pitching team in the conference and are led by A-Sun Player and Pitcher of the Year, Whitney Kiihnl.
Kiihnl led the A-Sun with a 0.71 ERA and posted a 28-2 record while also hitting a whopping .361, good for fourth in the conference. Lipscomb is hitting .318 as has three of the league’s top five hitters in Courtney Billington, Kiihnl and Mollie Mitchell. The Bisons have seven players topping the .300 mark.
Pitching wise, Lipscomb has the best one-two combination in the conference in Kiihnl and Christen Campbell. The Bisons have a conference leading, team ERA of 1.31 and conference best 27 shutouts.
The host Stetson Hatters (32-19) finished second and have one of the top pitching tandems in the conference in Amanda Lindsey and Nicole Perez. Lindsey has a 1.03 ERA in 36 appearances and is one of three 20-game winners in the league. Her 23-10 record tops a staff that has a 1.51 earned run average, ranking only second to Lipscomb.
The Hatters, who enter the tournament having won 13 of its last 15 games, swept a doubleheader from the Owls on Apr. 24, shutting down the 7-3 and 2-1 as Lindsey got the wins in both games.
Jacksonville (32-21) is led by their lone first-team all-conference pick in outfielder Kayla Ouellet. The sophomore is fifth in the conference in hitting at .352, but she is the lone Dolphin over .300 this season. The Dolphins swept the Owls in a doubleheader in Kennesaw, taking a pair of 2-0 decisions.
Campbell (23-29-1) is the only team in the field with a losing record, but did finish with a .500 mark in conference play. The Owls and the Camels split a pair of games at Bailey Park on Mar. 26 when they won the opener 8-0 before falling in the second game, 5-1. Amanda Miller and Sarah Forgacs lead the Camels with Forgacs being a unanimous all-freshman team selection. Forgacs joined Kennesaw State rookies Sharon Swanson and Ashlee Burkett as the only three unanimous selections.
The Tournament Field
Owls vs. The Field (3-7, .300)
No. 1 Lipscomb Bisons (1-1)
First Team All-Conference 6
4/10 at Kennesaw, Ga.
L 1-6, W 5-3
No. 2 Stetson Hatters (0-2)
Second Team All-Conference 4
4/24 at Deland, Fla.
L 3-7, L 1-2
No. 4 USC Upstate Spartans (1-1)
First Team All-Conference 2, Second Team 1, All-Freshman 1
4/16 at Spartanburg, S.C.
L 1-2, W 10-2
No. 5 Jacksonville Dolphins (0-2)
First Team All-Conference 1, Second Team 2, All-Freshman Team 2
4/29 at Kennesaw, Ga.
L 0-2, L 0-2
No. 6 Campbell Camels (1-1)
Second Team All-Conference 2, All-Freshman Team 1
3/26 at Kennesaw, Ga.
W 8-0, L 1-5
