Fort Valley State University

     Fort Valley State University’s softball season came to an end at the annual Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Softball Championships in Tuscaloosa, Ala., hosted by Sillman College.
     In first round action, the Lady Wildcats grabbed control of the game early and defeated the Lady Magicians 14-1. Fort Valley State opened the game with 12 runs in its half of the first inning. Johnika Price had the big offensive numbers for the Lady Wildcats as she scored three runs had had four RBI’s. In the second game of the tournament, the Lady Wildcats lost a close one to Clark Atlanta 3-2. The game was scoreless until the seventh inning. Fort Valley State scored in the top half of the seventh when Rachel Coode smacked a double through the gap, scoring Shevail Weston and Kimberly Hughes. Just when it looked as though the Lady Wildcats would advance in the winners bracket, Clark Atlanta mounted a rally in the bottom half of the inning. With one out and runners on 1st & 2nd, CAU’s Ashley Kennedy advanced to third on an error, scoring two runs. The next batter struck out, but Marissa Rosales singled in Kennedy for the winning run.
     Facing elimination in the loser’s bracket, the Lady Wildcats were matched up against their perennial playoff nemesis, the Throrobrettes of Kentucky State University. Kentucky State jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but the Lady’Cats managed to tie the game with one run in the bottom of the third inning and two more in the fifth. Kentucky State scored what turned out to be the winning run in the top half of the seventh inning. Fort Valley could not get on base in the bottom half, thus losing the contest 4-3. With the loss, the Lady Wildcats completed their season with a record of 16-21.
     Ronkeya Garner pitched all three games for the Lady Wildcats, giving up eight runs (three earned), 17 hits and striking out 19 batters with only 3 walks. She finished the tournament with a respectable ERA of 1.12. Tawanna Barker (1.000), Jazmine McDaniel (.375), Kimberly Hughes (.333) and Johnika Price (.300) all had good outings at the plate for FVSU.
     Despite completing the season with a sub .500 record, the 2008 editon of the Lady Wildcats gave the fans plenty of things to cheer about as well as some optimism for the 2009 campaign.  The team loses only two players, and several freshmen gained valuable game experience to form what could be a very strong nucleus to propel next year's unit.