SPORTS BRIEFS: Lee County baseball beats Tift County in regular-season finale

Lee Co. baseball beats Tift Co.

Lee County ended its 2015 regular season with a 7-3 victory over Tift County Friday night in Tifton. Michael Reddick earned the victory, allowing just one earned run in five innings. He struck out five.

Dean Tompkins earned the save.

Tyler Simon led the offense, going 2 for 4 with two doubles and three RBIs. Malik Spratling finished 2 for 3, while Manny Chavarria went 1 for 3 with two RBIs.

Lee County (16-8), who earned the region’s No. 2 seed, will play host to either Newton or Rockdale County in the first round of the state playoffs that begin on May 1.

Worth baseball shuts out

Americus-Sumter

A seven-run explosion in the fourth inning spurred the Worth County Rams to an 11-0 win in five innings over Americus-Sumter Friday night in Sylvester.

The Rams scored in the fourth on an RBI single by Shelby Cox, an error and sacrifice fly by Denzell Gowdy, a walk by Aaron Franks, an error, and a fielder’s choice.

Gowdy racked up three RBIs on two hits.

Austin Jackson shut down Americus-Sumter while he was on the hill. Americus-Sumter managed just one hit off of Jackson, who allowed no earned runs, walked two and struck out seven during his five innings of work.

Worth County never surrendered the lead after the first inning, scoring one run on a solo home run by Gowdy.

The Rams added three more runs in the bottom of the third. Gowdy singled, scoring Jonathan Cirullo to start the inning. That was followed up by Jake Jones’s double, bringing home Gowdy.

Worth County baseball beats Westover

Denzell Gowdy struck out 14 batters to carry the Worth County Rams to a 6-1 victory over Westover at Paul Eames Sports Complex late Thursday.

Aaron Franks racked up two RBIs on two hits for the Rams. He tripled in the fifth inning and singled in the seventh inning.

In the first inning, Westover pushed across its only run of the day on an error.

Worth County never trailed after scoring three runs in the fifth on an RBI single by Jake Jones and a two-run triple by Franks.

ASU softball

players, Skinner get SIAC honors

Albany State seniors Alexa Lopez and Chelsea Hicks, sophomore Kayla Alexander, and head coach Robert Skinner were recognized when the SIAC released its 2015 SIAC Women’s Softball All-Conference teams on Friday.

Lopez, a native of Valrico, Florida is the SIAC Pitcher of the year. This season, Lopez threw 110 innings for the Lady Rams finishing with a 4.99 ERA and 35 strikeouts. She is also a member of the league’s first team.

Skinner is the SIAC Coach of the Year. For the third time in four years, he led Albany State to the SIAC East Division title with a 16-3 conference record.

For the fourth consecutive season, Hicks (Marietta, Georgia) is a member of the all-conference’s first team. This year, she recorded a .342 batting average with 27 hits and 15 RBIs while playing first base. She also had a 5-4 record as a pitcher.

A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Alexander is on the first team as an outfielder. She had 19 hits and eight RBIs to go with a .275 batting average. Alexander also added 69 put outs.