2012 Meredith Softball has breakout year; Finish 2nd in USA South Conference

2012 was a breakout year for the softball Avenging Angels. The team won the most conference games in team history (12), beat Christopher Newport for the first time, had seven (7) representatives on the USA South All-Conference teams, and was also represented on the North Carolina Sports Information All-State team.  

Great team play and a fun atmosphere made for a great year, fun times, and a lot of great memories!

  How do you like your turkey smoked?

Meredith Softball Team Awards
Amanda White - Team MVP-Offense
Sara Cranford - Jack Huber Softball Award
Amanda Beirne - Dean Burris Coach's Award

Season Awards

USA South All Conference - First Team, Alex Warren (SS)

USA South All Conference - First Team, Amanda White (2B)

USA South All Conference - Second Team, Emily Cooke (OF)

USA South All Conference - Third Team, Jessica Dzeskewicz (P)

USA South All Conference - Honorable Mention Team, Lorri Cole (C)

USA South All Conference - Honorable Mention Team, Amanda Beirne (P)

USA South All Conference - All-Sportsmanship Team, Ashley Green (OF)

USA South Coach of the Year, Kim Scavone

USA South Softball Pitcher of the Week (4/2/12) - Jessica Dzeskewicz

USA South Softball Rookie of the Week (4/9/12) - Amanda White

NCSSIA All-State Team - First Team, Amanda White (Infield)

USA South 2012 Season and Tournament Recap
(see Coach Scavone talk about her Coach of the Year!)

White Named to NCCSIA 2012 North Carolina All-State College Division Softball Team

From Meredith Sports Information Department

Greensboro, N.C. – Twelve student-athletes, representing seven different schools, comprise the 2012 North Carolina Collegiate Sports Information Association (NCCSIA) College Division All-State Softball Team released Thursday. The ninth-annual team consists of non-NCAA Division I student-athletes from North Carolina colleges and universities. Sports information professionals from across the state submitted the nominees, and NCCSIA members voted for the all-state team, which consists of two starting pitchers, one catcher, four infielders, three outfielders, one designated player and a utility player.

Meredith's Amanda White, the lone freshman on this year's all-state team, was the Avenging Angels' leader in batting average (.415), RBI (35), hits (49), home runs (6) and doubles (10). She earned First Team All-USA South recognition and ranked fourth among the league's batting leaders.

NCAA Division II Southeast Regional finalist Lenoir-Rhyne University placed four students on the team. Chowan University and Methodist University both had two students honored. Guilford College, Mars Hill College, Meredith College, Queens University of Charlotte each received one selection.

NCCSIA Website

44 Meredith Student-Athletes Named to USA South Academic All-Conference

From Meredith Sports Information Department

Fayetteville, N.C. - The USA South Athletic Conference has released its 2011-2012 Academic All-Conference Team.  Meredith had 44 student athletes qualify for the honor.

A student-athlete must have earned a 3.0 GPA in each of the two semesters of a given year to be eligible. Any student-athlete participating in any varsity sport at any Conference institution is eligible. The sport does not have to be a Conference-sponsored sport.

Softball was represented by the following student-athletes:

Juniors: Kristin Piner and Alex Warren

Sophomores: Lorri Cole, Leah Friedman, Carrie Webster, and Whitney Williams

Freshmen: Kayla Lane and Katelyn Whitehead

USA South website

Softball Falls to Hornets 2-0, Eliminated From USA South Tournament

From Meredith Sports Information Department

Coach Scavone rallies the team in-between innings

Burlington, N.C. - The Meredith softball team dropped their second game of the USA South Tournament with the loss on Saturday. The Avenging Angels were eliminated from the tournament with a
2-0 loss to Shenandoah and the Hornets remain alive. Meredith (27-13) ended their season with it's highest finish in the USA South and 12 conference wins.

The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the third inning when Shenandoah (22-16) put one run across the plate. Heather Sink had an RBI-single to score Ashley Crawford. The Hornets put another run across in the sixth as a bloop triple down the right field line scored Jordan Wolford.

Meredith had a last inning rally in the seventh but couldn't get the run across. Leah Friedman led the inning off with a single. Amanda White's one-out single to right center field moved the runners to first and second. A hit back to the pitcher by Lorri Cole loaded the bases with only one out. Shenandoah pitcher Brooke Over struck out Emily Cooke and then had Ashley Green pop up to the catcher to end the game.

Over picks up her 12th win as she struck out five Meredith batters. Amanda Beirne is credited with the loss as she held Shenandoah to four hits.

Box Score

Softball Drops Opener 4-3 to Averett in USA South Tournament

From Meredith Sports Information Department

Tournament action!

Burlington, N.C. - The #2 seeded Meredith softball team opened up play in the USA South Athletic Conference tournament against the #7 seeded Averett Cougars on Friday. The Cougars' seventh inning comeback dropped the Avenging Angels 4-3.

Meredith got on the board early as the Avenging Angels put two across in the top of the first. Leah Friedman and Amanda White both got on base on singles and a steal moved the runners to second and third with two outs. A fielding error by the Cougar's third baseman scored both Friedman and White. The Avenging Angels added another run in the third inning as Lorri Cole's RBI-single to right field scored Alex Warren.

Averett answered in the top of the fourth as they scored three runs to tie the game at 3-all. The Cougars started the inning with two ground outs but took advantage of Meredith errors. Kayla Renn's RBI-single to left-center field scored Brooke Hensley. Lauren Averitt then singled to right to score Chrissy Pickett. Kayla Renn then scored on a fielding error on a pick off throw from the catcher.

The game remained tied at 3-all until Averett scored one in the top of the seventh. Emily Atkinson's two-out single to left field scored Morgan Jones to give the Cougars the one run lead. Averett took Meredith down in order in the bottom of the seventh to take the win.

Both teams move onto Saturday as Meredith next plays the winner of #8 Peace/#6 Shenandoah at 10am while Averett moves on to play #3 Ferrum at 12 pm.

Box Score

Softball Completes Regular Season With Split at Guilford

From Meredith Sports Information Department

Greensboro, N.C. - The Meredith softball team (27-11) completed their regular season on Wednesday with a non-conference split at Guilford. Meredith took the comeback win in game one with a 6-5 victory while the Quakers took the second game 4-0.

Game One: Meredith 6, Guilford 5 - The Quakers took the early 4-0 lead as they scored three in the bottom of the first and one in the third. Meredith put two up in the fourth to cut the lead to 4-2. Katelyn Whitehead started the inning with a single and Alex Warren hit a double to put two on at second and third. A 2-RBI single by Amanda White scored Whitehead and Warren. Meredth would put three runs up in the top of the sixth inning to take the 5-4 lead. Lorri Cole's single scored Warren and Kristen Piner's 2-RBI single scored Cole and White. Carrie Webster picked up the win as she struck out three and only gave up six hits.

Game Two: Guilford 4, Meredith 0 - The Quakers responded with a 4-0 win over Meredith in the nightcap. The Quakers scored four in the bottom of the fifth inning and that would be all they would need for the win.

Box Score - Game 1
Box Score - Game 2

USA South Softball Awards Announced: Scavone Named Coach of Year, Seven Players Placed on Teams

From Meredith Sports Information Department

2012 USA South All-Conference Selections

Fayetteville, N.C.- The USA South Athletic Conference has announced its 2012 All-Conference awards for softball. A total of 55 student-athletes have been named to the USA South All-Conference teams. Christopher Newport University's Sabrina Hill collected both Player and Rookie of the Year accolades while her teammate, Whitney Haller, earned Pitcher of the Year accolades. Methodist University's Kayla Malone picked up Rookie Pitcher of the Year honors while Meredith College's Kim Scavone took home Coach of the Year accolades. Also, the USA South recognized an All-Sportsmanship Team, consisting of one member from each competing school.

All honors were determined by votes from the softball coach at each institution.

In her second season at Meredith, Head Coach Kim Scavone collects her first Coach of the Year honor. She becomes the first Meredith softball coach to earn a USA South Coach of the Year award. Scavone has led the Avenging Angels to a 26-10 overall record and a program-best 12-6 conference mark, which tied for second place in the league standings. Scavone now takes her squad into the USA South tournament as the second-seeded team.

The Avenging Angels were also well represented on the playing field.  Meredith gained two players on the first team as the middle of the infield was dominated by the Avenging Angels.  Junior Alex Warren took the shortstop position while freshman Amanda White earned her position at second base.  Warren, the New Bern, N.C. (New Bern High School) native hit .311 while hitting six home runs, driving in 25 RBIs and stealing eight bases.  White, the Wilmington, N.C. native (John T. Hoggard High School) led Meredith with eight home runs, eight doubles, two triples and 33 RBIs plus had a team high batting average of .406.

Sophomore Emily Cooke earned a spot on the second team for her play in the outfield. Cooke, Ahoskie, N.C. (Ridgecroft School), led the team in triples (3) while also hitting four home runs and eight doubles.  Junior pitcher Jessica Dzeskewicz took a spot on the third team.  Dzeskewicz, Yadkinville, N.C. (Forbush High School) led the team from the circle with a high of 11 wins, nine complete games while striking out 62 in 81 innings pitced.  

Honorable Mention honors were given to sophomore catcher Lorri Cole and junior pitcher Amanda Beirne.   Cole, Kinston, N.C. (South Lenoir High School) was a defensive force behind the plate and helped control opposing runners while also batting .355 for the Avenging Angels.   Beirne, Bath, N.C. (Northside High School) led the team in strikeouts (100) while picking up nine wins and pitching 108 innings and 11 complete games.

Sophomore Ashley Green was placed on the All-Sportsmanship as Meredith's representative.

USA South website article - 2012